ThumbsPlus database

File Format
Name	ThumbsPlus database
Ontology	Electronic File Formats Graphics ThumbsPlus database
Extension(s)	.dat, .idx, .tud, .tux, .tdb, .td4, .tpdb8, others
Released	1993

ThumbsPlus is an image file management and thumbnailing application for Windows. It was developed by Phillip Crews and Cerious Software, later by ThumbsPlus.com. Originally named ThumbsUp!, it was renamed to ThumbsPlus at version 2.

The name is sometimes written Thumbs+Plus. There's also a related product named ThumbsCD (or Thumbs+CD), which might use the same database formats.

Versions through 2.x are for Windows 3.x. Version 3+ is for 32-bit Windows. Major versions numbers go up to at least 10.

Discussion

Version 1.01 (for example) stores image thumbnails and other data in a .dat file, with a companion .idx file. Versions 1.3 through 2.x use extensions .tud and .tux, though the formats appear to be the same as v1.01. These formats are presumably native to ThumbsPlus.

Versions 3.x and higher use third-party database formats such as Access, with various filename extensions. (More research needed. It appears that v3 uses .tdb, and v4 uses .td4.)

Early versions may put the main database files (e.g. "thumbs.tud") in the user's "windows" directory, or in the ThumbsPlus installation directory.

Identification

TUD/DAT files start with bytes be ba da be.

TUX/IDX files start with ed 3b be ba.

Software

• ThumbsUp v1.01
• ThumbsUp v1.3d
• ThumbsUp v1.4
• ThumsPlus v2.0e
• ThumsPlus v3.0-S beta 2
• ThumsPlus v4.0.2(?)

Sample files

• Media Plus.iso/viewers/thumbsup/*.tu*

Links

• ThumbsPlus website
  • Database Support in ThumbsPlus