Previewing Files

The Files.com web interface supports previewing a wide array of files, from images, to office documents and text documents to audio and video files. This allows users to verify the contents of a file without extra the steps of downloading the document and opening it in an external program.

Previewing some types of files is supported for visitors to Share Links. Any Share Link that allows visitors to download will also include the option for visitors to preview supported file types. You can choose to restrict the allowed actions for a Share Link so visitors can only preview files within the link but not download them to their own device.

Required Permissions for Previewing

In order to render image and PDF file previews within the Files.com web interface, the file contents are transferred to the user's browser and then rendered as a preview by that browser. Because of that, a logged-in user must have Read permissions in order to preview.

Inline Previews

The Files.com web interface includes inline previews for the Thumbnail and Grid listings of image, pdf and document files. Users who do not have Read permissions cannot see these inline previews.

Using the Thumbnail or Grid mode does not log any file transfers, and does not trigger any type of notifications or webhooks.

Files on Remote Server Mounts

In order to display inline previews for a folder on a Remote Server Mount, the Files.com platform must access the contents of the file in order to be able to display it. To save resources, Files.com uses an intelligent caching strategy, which prevents extraneous transfers for repeated viewing of a file that has not changed.

Viewing an inline preview is not considered a download by your site, and will not result in a download action logged, nor will it trigger any type of notification, automation or notification. However, the remote server may record the activity as a download, and it cannot distinguish between a transfer for creating previews or a transfer that is fetching the file. If the remote server automatically deletes files as soon as they are downloaded, consider using a Remote Server Sync to copy the files to a folder that is not mounted, so that if your users preview files, it won't trigger an auto-deletion on the source system.

File History and Notifications

Previewing an image, PDF, audio, or video file will not result in a download action logged in the file history. The transfer of a file for previewing does not trigger any type of notifications or webhooks.

Previewing text documents (source code, structured data, markdown or text) is logged in the file history, and will trigger notifications or webhooks.

Previewing office documents also transfers the file from your storage to the editor in order to be previewed, but this activity will appear in your history with the interface "Office." This transfer is logged, will trigger any type of notifications or webhooks.

Share Links

Visitors to a Share Link that allows downloading see an interface that is similar to the Files.com web interface file listing, including the ability to see inline image and PDF previews.

When the default view the visitor first sees contains mostly preview-able files, the view mode will default to Grid mode; if less than half of the items the visitor sees when they open the link are preview-able, the listing will default to List mode. Visitors can switch at any time between List, Thumbnail and Grid mode for the listing.