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Files - PDF File Preview

In files, previewing a PDF that has been uploaded or sent to files will not work for many chrome users.

Upon opening in files, it gives the error "This file can't be previewed with this browser."

This occurs if the user has google chrome, and has google chrome set to "Download PDFs" instead of "Open PDFs in Chrome."

Many people have chrome set this way. Other sites have somehow managed to make their PDF preview still work...hopefully Xero can implement this. The current setup makes it very hard to review uploaded files when they are in PDF format, as they have to be downloaded and opened, rather than properly previewing.

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Carlo Emami shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
not planned  ·  AdminKelly Munro (Community Manager, Xero) responded  · 

Thanks for the detail in your last message, Carlo. We appreciate some users may expect this to work differently, however as you have noted the files preview for PDF's is driven by the browser settings.

If you're finding your PDF's download rather than being able to view them in your browser we would recommend looking at your browser settings to make sure the option to view in browser has been selected (as per the screenshot you shared).

Being upfront this is not behavior that we're looking to change in the near future.

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  • Carlo Emami commented  ·   ·  Report

    @kelly

    No adblock or similar browser extensions are installed. It's related to the settings as I've described above.

    If Chrome is set to "download PDFs" the preview function in Xero files doesn't work. If Chrome is set to "open PDFs in Chrome" it does.

    However, the expected functionality is regardless of the user's chrome settings for handling of PDF links (open in chrome vs download), the functionality of previewing PDFs within the files app should work correctly.

  • michael togias commented  ·   ·  Report

    Same issue for me in both chrome and firefox.
    Seems to be a Xero problem or at least as paid subscribers Xero should be helping it's clients overcome 3rd party issues with their product.

  • Diane Mathers commented  ·   ·  Report

    Xero is pointing this back at the browser to resolve. However, this has worked fine for me for years in Firefox, and now it does not. I tried Chrome and have the same issue.
    It makes the workflow extremely tedious.
    I believe Xero is the product that has changed, and they should stop passing the buck and look into the problem.
    They have told me it doesn't happen on their system, therefore it's not a problem!!!!

  • Beverley Weis commented  ·   ·  Report

    PDF not being previewed by Firefox either now, have cleared cache & cookies, but still not working. Have tried to save the file and sent to xero but not working still getting 'this file is not supported by this browser'.
    Yet i had an old file that I had previously viewed still under files - but cant preview that file now.
    I dont feel it is the browser, when it was working and now not?
    Xero support HELP

  • Jen Heath commented  ·   ·  Report

    I note this issue also occurs in Firefox. Xero has advised that the issue has to be solved at the browser level so we may be hard out of luck, but perhaps Xero's dev team could ensure the PDF preview process is operating as efficiently as possible, or find a way to 'work around' these browser issues.