Preview files
Read PDFs, spreadsheets, CSV, text, Markdown and images in place, without downloading them.
You can read most files directly in SPARK, without downloading them. The same previewer appears wherever a file opens: the Files page, a file's own page, the file picker, a canvas, a task, a thread's context and a space.
Preview from the Files page
- On the Ecosystem tab of the left sidebar, open More > Files.
- Click a row in the file table.
- A preview panel opens on the right, headed by the file's uploaded name.
The panel is resizable: drag the handle between the table and the panel to give either side more room. Click Close preview (the × at the top right of the panel) to return to the full-width table. The panel's header also has a Pin button.
If you click a file whose type cannot be previewed, no panel opens and a short notice appears reading Preview not available for .ext files, where ext is the file's extension. If a supported file cannot be read, the panel says the preview could not be loaded.
Supported formats
| Type | Extensions | How it shows |
|---|---|---|
| The document, in the browser's own PDF viewer | ||
| Spreadsheet | xlsx, xls | A grid with column letters and row numbers, one tab per sheet |
| Delimited data | csv | A table of the first rows |
| Plain text | txt | The first lines of the file |
| Markdown | md | Rendered, with headings, lists, tables and links |
| Image | png, jpg, jpeg, webp | The picture, scaled down to fit and never enlarged |
Word (docx), PowerPoint (pptx), JSON and DAT files upload but have no preview. Download them from the row ⋯ menu to read them.
Spreadsheets
A workbook previews the way Excel shows it: column letters across the top, row numbers down the side, and the first row of the sheet as row 1 rather than as a header. Cells show the values the file holds, so 720000 stays 720000 and a text value such as NA is not blanked. A formula shows the result the file stored, or the formula itself when the workbook was never calculated, which is typical of a file a script wrote.
A workbook with several sheets shows a tab per sheet above the grid. Each sheet shows its first 50 rows, and a sheet with nothing in it says This sheet is empty. Where the preview opens in a dialog, from a canvas or a task, its header also counts the rows shown out of the sheet's total, for example 50 of 1,204 rows.
CSV and text
A CSV shows its first 20 rows as a table, and a text file its first lines. The panel header says how much is shown, for example 20 of 3,512 rows or the number of lines out of the total.
Markdown
A Markdown file renders as an agent's answer does in a thread. Raw HTML in the file shows as text, and script links are dropped. Very long files render their first 200,000 characters, cut at a line break, and the foot of the preview says so.
Images
PNG, JPG and WebP images show whole in the middle of the panel. A file the browser cannot draw, such as a renamed HEIC or a truncated JPEG, shows that the preview could not be loaded.
Preview from a link
When a preview is open, the page URL carries the file reference, so you can copy that link and reopen the same file's preview later, or share it with a teammate who has access to the workspace. Opening such a link takes you straight to the Files page with the panel already showing that file.
A file also has a page of its own, which opens from links such as the files a workflow step produced. It shows the preview full width, with an All files button back to the list.
Preview from other places
- A canvas. When a record on a canvas references a file, it shows as a chip with the file's name. While you are viewing the canvas (not editing its layout), click the chip to open the same preview in a dialog. See Files on a canvas.
- The file picker. In Select files (or Select a file), a click on a row previews the file and selects it at once: Click the files to use, to preview and select them. In a picker that takes one file, the next click replaces it; in one that takes several, they add up. Select confirms what is ticked, Cancel keeps what was there.
- A task. Click a file on a task's Files tab to open the same preview in a dialog. See Create a task.
- A thread. A file in a thread's context, or attached to a message, opens in the same previewer. See Start a thread.