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I have an issue with HEIC thumbnails.

I can open heic files via the image viewer, however, I can't get the thumbnails showing.

when I try installing heif-thumbnailer by running

sudo apt-get install heif-thumbnailer

I get the following message:

Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 heif-thumbnailer : Depends: libheif1 (= 1.9.1-1~ppa1~ubuntu20.04.1) but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

What can I do to fix this?

UPDATE:

It gets weirder, as I noticed:

Some HEIC files do have thumbnails, but image viewer won't open them and Some do not have thumbnails, but the image viewer will open them...

Simon B
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ultranewbie
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  • what happens if you try: `sudo apt install libheif1` ? – Simon B Dec 10 '20 at 14:04
  • ibheif1 is already the newest version (1.9.1-1~ppa1~ubuntu20.04.1). – ultranewbie Dec 10 '20 at 14:31
  • "you have held broken packages": see https://askubuntu.com/questions/223237/unable-to-correct-problems-you-have-held-broken-packages – Simon B Dec 10 '20 at 14:32
  • Try running the command `dpkg --get-selections | grep hold` If you see some packages being held, remove them. Then run `sudo apt update` and finally install the package you want. – Tejas Lotlikar Dec 10 '20 at 16:16
  • [This link](https://askubuntu.com/questions/1298595/how-to-view-heic-photos-from-iphone-ios-11-on-ubuntu/1298597#1298597) was posted by @heynnema just the other day. (I read it when they answered his own question and just happen to remember.) In that, they indicate that thumbnails can be shown, at least with one file manager. I've gone ahead and added their username with the @ symbol, so hopefully they'll see this and chime in - if needed. – KGIII Dec 10 '20 at 23:45
  • Does this answer your question? [Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages](https://askubuntu.com/questions/223237/unable-to-correct-problems-you-have-held-broken-packages) – karel Dec 20 '20 at 22:07

1 Answers1

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As of September 2022 running

sudo apt-get install libheif1 heif-thumbnailer

instantly generated thumbnails for my heic images without the need to run any commands or restart anything :-) Works like a charm :-)

flob
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    As of April 2023 on Ubuntu 20.04.6 LTS (Focal Fossa) I confirm this worked for me :) It looks I already had `libheif1` installed, probably a dependency from Image Viewer (package `heif-gdk-pixbuf`), then just adding `heif-thumbnailer` displayed all thumbails without needing any reboot or manual restart of GNOME Files :) – Gabriele Buondonno Apr 03 '23 at 11:38