# Delete Preview Thumbnails

**URL:** <https://forums.plex.tv/t/delete-preview-thumbnails/794768>\
**Category:** General Discussions\
**Tags:** server-windows\
**Created:** [May 29, 2022, 6:08am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/delete-preview-thumbnails/794768 "2022-05-29T06:08:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![EricD1973](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ericd1973/32/81776_2.png) [@EricD1973](https://forums.plex.tv/u/EricD1973)\
**Post date:** [May 29, 2022, 6:08am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/delete-preview-thumbnails/794768/1 "2022-05-29T06:08:00Z")

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I’m trying to get rid of the preview thumbnails for movies in Plex. I cleared the checkbox in advanced library settings. I also clicked the delete preview thumbnails button. That came back with an immediate “your thumbnails have been deleted” but the hard drive space didn’t free up. I have a ton of thumbnail data so no way it could have been removed that quick.

What else can I do here to free up space?

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**Author:** ![OttoKerner](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ottokerner/32/10079_2.png) [@OttoKerner](https://forums.plex.tv/u/OttoKerner)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2022, 8:48pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/delete-preview-thumbnails/794768/2 "2022-05-30T20:48:48Z")

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I’d Defrag database, followed by Clean Bundles.

It is also possible that the storage space is only freed after the next server maintenance cycle.

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**Author:** ![Volts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a5b964/32.png) [@Volts](https://forums.plex.tv/u/Volts)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2022, 11:03pm UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/delete-preview-thumbnails/794768/3 "2022-05-30T23:03:14Z")

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I think they’re start to be deleted immediately, but I wonder if the deletion Is processed in the background.

Do the VPTs still appear when playing media?

If you `Get Info` on some of the media in Plex, is there an **Indexes sd** entry?

If you search for files named **index-sd.bif** in the Plex data directory, do files with that name exist?

[Where is the Plex Media Server data directory located? | Plex Support](https://support.plex.tv/articles/202915258-where-is-the-plex-media-server-data-directory-located/)

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**Author:** ![EricD1973](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/plex/user_avatar/forums.plex.tv/ericd1973/32/81776_2.png) [@EricD1973](https://forums.plex.tv/u/EricD1973)\
**Post date:** [May 31, 2022, 4:08am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/delete-preview-thumbnails/794768/4 "2022-05-31T04:08:12Z")

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Looks like they are gone now. Thanks for checking everyone.

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**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/plex/original/3X/2/a/2acb9765406f63293d357b4ec509ec39aa28f2ad.png) [@system](https://forums.plex.tv/u/system)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 4:08am UTC](https://forums.plex.tv/t/delete-preview-thumbnails/794768/5 "2022-08-29T04:08:16Z")

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