Preview PDFs and/or see thumbnails of attachments in Smartsheet

Laura Shear

Is there a way to preview attachments without opening them in Smartsheet? (Similar to the preview window in File Explorer?) If not, then is there a way to activate thumbnails? It would be helpful if at least the first page of an attached PDF showed up as a thumbnail image in my sheets as I sort through the list of attachments.

Per this Smartsheet news release it says that thumbnails are activated as-of March 2020, but all of my attachments only have the type icon as a thumbnail (e.g. pdf, word, msg, etc.) Image Thumbnails for Attachments | Smartsheet

Thanks!

Krissia B.

Hello @Zoot ,

Upon reviewing & testing this, this is an expected behaviour. In the example of PDF, attaching a complex & larger PDF will not provide a preview but vice versa, will. Some files (for example, images) that were uploaded from a computer or mobile device can be viewed directly in Smartsheet. Others, you may need to download to your own device in order to view or edit them. This is also with the complexity and size (example a PDF) of the file that is being attached.

This Help Center article outlines in further detail downloading and viewing attachments: Downloading & Viewing Attachments

I recommend submitting an enhancement request to have the above features & limitations be considered for future development!

Cheers,

Krissia

Laura Shear

Thanks, Krissia. Based on your response I tried again with a very small/simple pdf saved on my desktop, but I still see the pdf logo for the thumbnail instead of the first page of the file (I'll add that I primarily access Smartsheet from my desktop computer). The help center article you shared has a screen shot example that only shows .png files, so it looks like right now Smartsheet thumbnails are limited to images. I appreciate you adding the link for submitting an enhancement request, because I just submitted one for this topic!

Thanks,

Zoot