diff --git a/src/backend/core/Project.cpp b/src/backend/core/Project.cpp
index 477d3124b..8b001fff5 100644
--- a/src/backend/core/Project.cpp
+++ b/src/backend/core/Project.cpp
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
 #include <QMenu>
 #include <QThreadPool>
 #include <QUndoStack>
+#include <QBuffer>

 #include <KConfig>
 #include <KConfigGroup>
@@ -223,10 +224,8 @@ QString Project::supportedExtensions() {
 //##############################################################################
 //##################  Serialization/Deserialization  ###########################
 //##############################################################################
-/**
- * \brief Save as XML
- */
-void Project::save(QXmlStreamWriter* writer) const {
+
+void Project::save(const QPixmap& thumbnail, QXmlStreamWriter* writer) const {
    //set the version and the modification time to the current values
    d->version = LVERSION;
    d->modificationTime = QDateTime::currentDateTime();
@@ -240,10 +239,25 @@ void Project::save(QXmlStreamWriter* writer) const {
    writer->writeAttribute("fileName", fileName());
    writer->writeAttribute("modificationTime", modificationTime().toString("yyyy-dd-MM hh:mm:ss:zzz"));
    writer->writeAttribute("author", author());
+
+   QByteArray bArray;
+   QBuffer buffer(&bArray);
+   buffer.open(QIODevice::WriteOnly);
+   thumbnail.save(&buffer, "JPEG");
+   QString image = QString::fromLatin1(bArray.toBase64().data());
+   writer->writeAttribute("thumbnail", image);
+
    writeBasicAttributes(writer);

    writeCommentElement(writer);

+   save(writer);
+}
+
+/**
+ * \brief Save as XML
+ */
+void Project::save(QXmlStreamWriter* writer) const {
    //save all children
    for (auto* child : children<AbstractAspect>(IncludeHidden)) {
        writer->writeStartElement("child_aspect");
diff --git a/src/backend/core/Project.h b/src/backend/core/Project.h
index 2558c9cd4..8bd3aee86 100644
--- a/src/backend/core/Project.h
+++ b/src/backend/core/Project.h
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ public:
    bool hasChanged() const;
    void navigateTo(const QString& path);

-   void save(QXmlStreamWriter*) const override;
+   void save(const QPixmap&, QXmlStreamWriter*) const;
    bool load(XmlStreamReader*, bool preview) override;
    bool load(const QString&, bool preview = false);

@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@ private:
    class Private;
    Private* d;
    bool readProjectAttributes(XmlStreamReader*);
+   void save(QXmlStreamWriter*) const override;
 };

 #endif // ifndef PROJECT_H
diff --git a/src/kdefrontend/MainWin.cpp b/src/kdefrontend/MainWin.cpp
index da62a398d..2dba76f64 100644
--- a/src/kdefrontend/MainWin.cpp
+++ b/src/kdefrontend/MainWin.cpp
@@ -1097,8 +1097,10 @@ bool MainWin::save(const QString& fileName) {
    if (file->open(QIODevice::WriteOnly)) {
        m_project->setFileName(fileName);

+       QPixmap thumbnail = centralWidget()->grab();
+
        QXmlStreamWriter writer(file);
-       m_project->save(&writer);
+       m_project->save(thumbnail, &writer);
        m_project->undoStack()->clear();
        m_project->setChanged(false);
        file->close();





+QVariant WelcomeScreenHelper::getProjectThumbnail(const QUrl& url) {
+   QString filename;
+   if (url.isLocalFile())  // fix for Windows
+       filename = url.toLocalFile();
+   else
+       filename = url.path();
+
+   QIODevice* file;
+   // first try gzip compression, because projects can be gzipped and end with .lml
+   if (filename.endsWith(QLatin1String(".lml"), Qt::CaseInsensitive))
+       file = new KCompressionDevice(filename,KFilterDev::compressionTypeForMimeType("application/x-gzip"));
+   else    // opens filename using file ending
+       file = new KFilterDev(filename);
+
+   if (!file)
+       file = new QFile(filename);
+
+   if (!file->open(QIODevice::ReadOnly)) {
+       qDebug() << "Could not open file for reading.";
+       return QVariant();
+   }
+
+   char c;
+   bool rc = file->getChar(&c);
+   if (!rc) {
+       qDebug() << "The project file is empty.";
+       file->close();
+       delete file;
+       return false;
+   }
+   file->seek(0);
+
+   //parse XML
+   XmlStreamReader reader(file);
+
+   while (!(reader.isStartDocument() || reader.atEnd()))
+       reader.readNext();
+
+   if (!(reader.atEnd())) {
+       if (!reader.skipToNextTag())
+           return false;
+
+       if (reader.name() == "project") {
+           QString thumbnail = reader.attributes().value("thumbnail").toString();
+
+           thumbnail.prepend("data:image/jpg;base64,");
+           qDebug() << "Return thumbnail " <<thumbnail;
+           return QVariant(thumbnail);
+       }
+   }
+
+   return QVariant();
+}