Introducing Communities Document Preview

The Document Preview feature provides the ability to preview certain documents in the media galleries before downloading them. Here are some things to know about this function:

  • You can download a file that has a Document Preview.
  • The size of the preview can only be restricted by setting size restrictions on the media gallery.
  • If a preview is not available for a file, you only have the option to download the file.
  • Each time a file is edited, a new preview version is created and the old preview is deleted (the time required to generate such a preview can vary based upon the size of the file and the interval at which the conversion process runs).
  • While the new preview of an edit is being automatically created and posted, only download is available for the file.
  • Everyone in a community who has write- or read-access to a media gallery can access the previews.
  • Enabling Download Disclaimers on a Media Gallery does not stop a document preview from rendering.
  • Document preview has been tested with PDF and Office 2010 files (for the latter, it may work with previous versions as well, but these have not been tested).
  • Document Preview uses Flash, so your Web browser must support Flash to view previews. Document Preview may not be available from some mobile devices.

Document Preview can be configured to handle switching to full screen mode in one of two ways:

  • Full-screen Mode without keyboard support -- This is the default experience in which full screen mode is rendered within Flash and you use the escape key to return to the standard mode. When using this option, the keyboard will not be available when in full screen. This is a security limitation of Flash.
  • Open in browser window -- In this mode, the viewer fills the current browser window or tab rather than the whole screen. This allows keyboard commands to be accepted. Depending on the browser, the experience can vary between the viewer loading in the current window or tab or opening a new one.  In the scenario where it opens in the current window or tab, you can use the back button in your browser to return to the normal view.

An example of this is shown here.