CDR Thumbnail (CorelDRAW) Generator for GNOME

Thumbnailer for the GNOME desktop environment that displays thumbnails for CorelDRAW (.cdr) files in the file manager (Nautilus/Files).

It works by extracting the embedded thumbnail that already exists inside the .cdr file (which is actually a ZIP archive in versions X4+).

Features

• Extracts embedded thumbnails from .cdr files (tries multiple internal paths: previews/thumbnail.png, preview.png, metadata/thumbnails/thumbnail.png).
• Optionally resizes the thumbnail to the requested size if ImageMagick is installed.
• Integrates with GNOME to display thumbnails in the file manager.

Dependencies

• Bash: Script interpreter.
• unzip: To extract the thumbnail from the .cdr file. Install with sudo apt install unzip if needed.
• GNOME Desktop Environment: Required for thumbnailer integration (Nautilus/Files).
• ImageMagick (optional): To resize thumbnails. Install with sudo apt install imagemagick.

Installation

First, make the scripts executable:

chmod +x install.sh uninstall.sh

Then run the installer:

./install.sh

The script will:

1. Check that unzip is installed.
2. Copy cdr-thumbnailer.sh to /usr/bin/ and make it executable (requires sudo).
3. Copy cdr.thumbnailer to ~/.local/share/thumbnailers/.
4. Update the paths in the .thumbnailer file.

Note: The thumbnailer script must be installed in /usr/bin/ because GNOME 43+ runs thumbnailers inside a bubblewrap (bwrap) sandbox that only has access to /usr, /lib, and /lib64. Scripts in ~/.local/bin/ are not accessible inside the sandbox.

After installation, clear the thumbnail cache and restart Nautilus:

rm -rf ~/.cache/thumbnails/*
nautilus -q

Uninstallation

./uninstall.sh

After uninstalling, clear the cache and restart Nautilus:

rm -rf ~/.cache/thumbnails/*
nautilus -q

Manual Installation

If you prefer to install manually:

1. Copy the script to /usr/bin/ and make it executable:

sudo cp cdr-thumbnailer.sh /usr/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/cdr-thumbnailer.sh

2. Create the thumbnailers directory (if it doesn't exist) and copy the configuration file:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/thumbnailers
cp cdr.thumbnailer ~/.local/share/thumbnailers/

3. Update the paths in the .thumbnailer file:

sed -i "s|^TryExec=.*|TryExec=/usr/bin/cdr-thumbnailer.sh|" ~/.local/share/thumbnailers/cdr.thumbnailer
sed -i "s|^Exec=.*|Exec=/usr/bin/cdr-thumbnailer.sh %i %o %s|" ~/.local/share/thumbnailers/cdr.thumbnailer

4. Clear the cache and restart Nautilus:

rm -rf ~/.cache/thumbnails/*
nautilus -q

How It Works

GNOME uses .thumbnailer files in ~/.local/share/thumbnailers/ (user-level) or /usr/share/thumbnailers/ (system-level) to generate thumbnails.

The cdr.thumbnailer file specifies:

• MimeType: MIME types for CorelDRAW files (application/x-cdr, application/vnd.corel-draw, image/x-cdr, image/cdr, application/x-vnd.corel.zcf.draw.document+zip).
• TryExec: Path to the script. The system checks if it exists before using it.
• Exec: Command executed by GNOME. %i = input file, %o = output file, %s = requested size.

The cdr-thumbnailer.sh script receives these arguments, attempts to extract a thumbnail from the .cdr (ZIP) file trying multiple possible paths, and optionally resizes it with ImageMagick.

GNOME 43+ runs external thumbnailers inside a bubblewrap (bwrap) sandbox for security. The sandbox only mounts /usr, /lib, and /lib64 as read-only, which is why the script must be installed in /usr/bin/.

Troubleshooting

• Thumbnails not showing:

  • Check that unzip is installed: which unzip
  • Verify the paths in ~/.local/share/thumbnailers/cdr.thumbnailer are correct.
  • Check that cdr-thumbnailer.sh is executable: ls -la /usr/bin/cdr-thumbnailer.sh
  • Clear the cache: rm -rf ~/.cache/thumbnails/* and restart: nautilus -q
  • Check logs: journalctl --user -b | grep -i thumb

• Manual script test:

/usr/bin/cdr-thumbnailer.sh /path/to/file.cdr /tmp/test.png 256

Contributing

Feel free to open issues or pull requests if you find problems or have suggestions.