Eliminate WebView2 text preview!

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Adobe Wan Kenobi
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2023 6:15 am

Eliminate WebView2 text preview!

Post by Adobe Wan Kenobi »

Currently, there is NO WAY in Everything Search to disable the "WebView2" engine that comes with Microsoft Edge browser and instead continue to use "Notepad" as a text preview handler. (Or any other executable, for that matter.)

I changed the system settings in Windows 10 so the text preview handler is set to Notepad, and even Windows Explorer itself is using Notepad for text previews now, but in Everything Search? It's disregarding the system setting and merely says "Download WebView2 to display this file".

I DO NOT WANT to use WebView2 because it is _S_U_P_E_R___S_L_O_W_ to display the simplest of files. With Notepad as the text preview handler, I could hit the down arrow and milliseconds later see the full file in the preview window, but with WebView2 set as the text preview handler, each file — even if it had only one letter in it — would take over THREE SECONDS to display the file, the bulk majority of which was the WebView2 "Loading..." progress bar slowly filling in. Now it takes HOURS to go through 500 text files where I could do it in minutes before Everything Search forced me into using WebView2.
void
Developer
Posts: 15351
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Eliminate WebView2 text preview!

Post by void »

Everything uses the system to preview txt files.

Do you see the same preview in Windows Explorer?



If not, please make sure Everything is installed correctly and running as a standard user:
  • In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
  • Click the General tab on the left.
  • Check Store settings and data in %APPDATA%\Everything.
  • Uncheck Run as administrator.
  • Check Everything Service. (Please make sure this is tick-checked and not square-checked)
  • Click OK.
  • Exit Everything (right click the Everything tray icon and click Exit).
  • Restart Everything.


To override the default preview handler, you'll need Everything 1.5.

To set the preview handler for txt files:
  • In Everything 1.5, from the Tools menu, click Options.
  • Click the Advanced tab on the left.
  • To the right of Show settings containing, search for:
    preview
  • Select preview_handlers.
  • Set the value to:
    [{"filter":"*.txt","handler":"{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"}]
    -use a semicolon to add more file extensions, for example:
    [{"filter":"*.txt;*.htm;*.html;*.c;*.cpp;*.h","handler":"{1531d583-8375-4d3f-b5fb-d23bbd169f22}"}]
  • Click OK.
therube
Posts: 4610
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:48 pm

Re: Eliminate WebView2 text preview!

Post by therube »

(
WebView2
Since I'd never heard of that before today...
As as it is now the second time, today, that I've heard it mentioned, I'll just link (& agree with the comment):

ShanaEncoder 6.0.1 needs Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime.
Sorry, it is so stupid idea and progam degradation.


So it sounds like any program that uses "WebView2" has turned itself into a "web browser" - for better or worse [& I'd expect the worst part]. (And granted, the very same thing existed before - with MS & IE, where the IE "runtime" could be "exploited" to turn a program into a "web browser").
)
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