---
name: "thumbpdf"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "texlive-doc"
version: "2026.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/thumbpdf"
---

# thumbpdf(1)

generate thumbnail images for a PDF file created with pdftex

## NAME

thumbpdf - generate thumbnail images for a PDF file created with **pdftex**

## SYNOPSIS

**thumbpdf** \[ *OPTION*... \]  *PDF\_FILE*

## DESCRIPTION

**thumbpdf** is used to create thumbnail images of individual pages within a PDF (Portable Document Format) document.

## USAGE

First run [**pdftex**(1)](/pdftex/1.md) on your document to create a PDF file. Then run **thumbpdf** to generate the thumbnails, a PDF file containing the thumbnails, and a pdfTeX file to include the thumbnails in the PDF file.  Finally, run [**pdftex**(1)](/pdftex/1.md) on your file again to create the final PDF file.

**thumbpdf** calls [**gs**(1)](/gs/1.md) to generate PNG images of the pages within *PDF\_FILE*, and [**pdftex**(1)](/pdftex/1.md) to create a PDF file containing the thumbnail images.

## OPTIONS

- **--help**

  print usage

- **--(no)makepng**

  make PNG thumbnail images (default: true)

- **--(no)makepdf**

  generate new PDF file containing the thumbnails (default: true)

- **--(no)makedef**

  create a TeX file for [**pdftex**(1)](/pdftex/1.md) to read in (default: true)

- **--(no)quiet**

  suppress messages (default: false)

- **--(no)verbose**

  verbose messages (default: false)

- **--(no)debug**

  print debugging information while parsing (default: false)

- **--resolution** *res*

  resolution for GhostScript step (default: 9)

- **--compress** *n*

  \\pdfcompresslevel for **thumbpdf.pdf** (0-9; default: 9)

- **--device** \| **png***dev*

  GhostScript PNG device; *dev* = \`mono´, \`gray´, \`16´, \`256´, \`16m´ (default: \`png16m´)

## FILES

- *thumb*nn*.png*

  PNG thumbnail images

- *thumbpdf.pdf*

  PDF file containing thumbnail images

- *thumbpdf.tex*

  A pdfTeX program to include the thumbnails file

- *thumbpdf.log*

  pdfTeX log file

- *thumbpdf.sty*

  a LaTeX package to be included in files for which a user wants to generate thumbnails

## SEE ALSO

[**gs**(1)](/gs/1.md), [**pdftex**(1)](/pdftex/1.md).

Web page: \<https://ctan.org/pkg/thumbpdf/\>

## BUGS

Submit reports via the bug url on the CTAN package page.

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 1999.  **thumbpdf** is distributed under version 1, or (at your option) a later version of the LaTeX Project Public License.

## AUTHOR

**thumbpdf** was written by Heiko Oberdiek.

This manual page was written by C.M. Connelly for the Debian GNU/Linux system. It is now maintained as part of TeX Live.