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Search > Search Features > Document Preview Module

Use the Search > Search Features > Document Preview Module page to perform the following tasks:

• Enabling the document preview module
• Disabling the document preview module
• Changing image resolution setting
• Changing the maximum pages to preview
• Showing Previews for Documents from Databases or Feed Data Sources

About Document Previews

Document previews enable users to view an image of a document without leaving the search results. The search appliance supports document previews for the following formats:

• Microsoft Word (doc, docx)
• Microsoft PowerPoint (ppt, pptx)
• Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf)

Document previews are not available for .doc, .pdf and .ppt files in zip files. Document previews are also not supported in custom front ends.

The document preview module generates document preview images. When you enable the document preview module and configure a front end to show document previews, a magnifying glass icon appears next to search results in supported formats. When a user hovers the mouse over the icon, a floating window shows either the preview image or one of the following preview generation status messages:

• "Initializing"-The request to preview the URL has just been sent to the document preview module.
• "Connecting"-The document preview module is trying to get the document for previewing.
• "Pending"-The document preview generation and display is in progress.

If the preview generation is completed but the image cannot be shown, one of the following messages appears:

• "Transformation Error"-An error occurred during preview generation.
• "Preview Unavailable"-The preview is not available for the document. Situations where the search appliance might be unable to show a document preview include:
  • The search appliance cannot fetch the document.
  • There is a problem creating the preview.
  • The document is corrupted or not in actually in the specified format.
  • There were system errors during preview generation. If there were system errors during preview generation, the file will be re-generated the next time it's recrawled.

When a user selects a preview image, she can also page through and enlarge the document preview.

If the icon does not appear next to a search result, a preview request has not been sent to the document preview module yet or the document preview module timed out while constructing the preview. Also, document previews are not shown when the "cache" or "text version" link is not available for a search result.

Enabling the Document Preview Module

The document preview module is disabled by default. To enable the document preview module, click Enable. After you enable it, you can show document previews in a front end.

Document previews are only generated during crawl time after you have enabled the document preview module. To show previews for content that was crawled or fed before you enabled this feature:

• Recrawl URLs
• Refeed content feed data sources
• Resync content from databases

If you upgrade to 7.0 from an older version, your content must be recrawled, resync'd or refed after enabling this feature to get document previews.

Showing Document Previews in a Front End

To show document previews in a front end:

1. Click Search > Search Features > Front Ends and click Edit for a particular front end.
2. Under Page Layout Helper on the Output Format tab, click Search Results.
3. Check the Show Document Previews checkbox.
4. Click Save.

To hide document previews in a front end, clear the Show Document Previews checkbox and click Save. You do not need to disable the document previews module.

Disabling the Document Preview Module

Disabling the document preview module removes any preview images cached by the search appliance. If you re-enable the document preview module after disabling it, you cannot retrieve the images that have been removed. The preview images must be re-generated during crawl.

To disable the document preview module:

1. If you have shown document previews in front ends, clear the Show Document Previews checkbox on the Output Format tab of the Search > Search Features > Front Ends page.
2. Click Save.
3. On the Search > Search Features > Document Preview Module page, click Disable.

Changing the Image Resolution Setting

The search appliance caches document preview images, which can be large and use significant disk space. Also, the size of document previews might affect search appliance performance. By using the Search > Search Features > Document Preview Module page, you can change Image resolution (lower resolution requires less disk space).

To change document preview module setting:

1. From the Image resolution pull-down menu, select a setting.
2. Click Save.

Changing the Maximum Pages to Preview

By default, the search appliance caches five pages to preview for each document. Because document preview images can be large and use significant disk space, you can improve performance by lowering the maximum number of pages to preview.

To change the maximum pages to preview for each document:

1. In the Maximum Pages Per Document, enter the number of pages to preview.
   To generate previews for all pages in each document, enter 0. Take note that setting this number to 0 or a large value might cause serious performance problems.
2. Click Save.

Showing Previews for Indexed Documents from Databases or Feed Data Sources

To show document previews for indexed doc, docx, ppt, pptx, or pdf from databases or feed data sources, perform the following tasks:

1. Enable the document preview module.
2. Sync the database or push documents from the database or feed data sources.

Removing Document Previews

To remove document preview images cached by the search appliance, reset the index using the Index > Reset Index page.

For More Information

For more information about document previews, see "Creating the Search Experience: Best Practices," which is linked to the Google Search Appliance help center.