diff --git a/src/Tools/freecad-thumbnailer.py b/src/Tools/freecad-thumbnailer.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..6ac97e892b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Tools/freecad-thumbnailer.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+
+import sys, zipfile, md5
+import getopt
+import gnomevfs
+
+opt,par = getopt.getopt(sys.argv[1:],'-s:')
+inpfile = gnomevfs.get_local_path_from_uri(par[0])
+#inpfile = par[0]
+outfile = par[1]
+
+#print "fcthumbnailer"
+#print inpfile, outfile
+
+try:
+	zfile=zipfile.ZipFile(inpfile)
+	files=zfile.namelist()
+	#print files
+	# check for meta-file if it's really a FreeCAD document
+	if files[0] != "Document.xml":
+		sys.exit(1)
+
+	image="thumbnails/Thumbnail.png"
+	if image in files:
+		image=zfile.read(image)
+	else:
+		freecad=open("/usr/share/freecad/freecad-doc.png")
+		image=freecad.read()
+
+	thumb=open(outfile,"wb")
+	thumb.write(image)
+	thumb.close()
+
+except:
+	sys.exit(1)
+