For example, when I try to preview a PDF in Outlook, I get the message “This file cannot be previewed because of an error with the following previewer: PDF Preview Handler for Vista”.

Fix PDF Previews the Easy Way

Just download the Adobe Reader preview handler x64 fixer by Leo Davidson, click the Apply Fix button…

And you can immediately begin previewing PDF files again. Yay!

Download the Adobe PDF Preview Fixer from pretentiousname.com

Fixing the Problem the Manual Way

If you’d rather not use some application to make these changes, you can make a manual fix by opening up regedit.exe and browsing down to the following key:

Then change the AppID to the following (make sure you’re on the right key, as indicated in the screenshot).

That should be it. All done!

Credits

Unlike most of the registry hacks on this site, we didn’t come up with this one! In fact, it was Leo Davidson who figured it out and wrote the easy fixer utility, and Ed Bott, author of the excellent Windows 7 Inside Out book who pointed us towards the fix. You should subscribe to their sites, and buy Ed’s book! (seriously, it’s an excellent book)