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PDF viewing in trello update: impractical

Wes Harrison

We use PDFs in Trello a lot. In a recent update, we lost the ability to preview PDFs on cards and flip between them with a mouse click or arrow key. Previously you could click off the preview and it would disappear, leaving you viewing the card you were viewing. You could print directly from the preview and effortlessly skip to the next PDF to print/view it.

With the update, PDFs open in a new browser tab if you select them from the attachments list, or worse, if you select them from a link in someone's comment, they open in the SAME tab, and the only way to go back to where you were is to click back in your browser and the ENTIRE page has to reload (annoying for slow connections). The amount of times I've also closed this tab thinking I'm closing the PDF, and then have to re-open trello from scratch...

I'm just wondering why the change..?

Thanks,

Wes

Accepted answers

All comments

Jens Vogel

Same, it's annoying

Nicholas Bazanov

Same problem

Yan Masterson

Same here - it's gone from simple to burdensome.

Eric Johnsa

Same here. I can't open pdf's in the traditional viewer on the trello card.

Amish Solanki

Same issue as well.

Wes Harrison

It's actually gotten slightly worse now. It now opens as a download in the downloads bar, which I then need to click, and THEN it opens in a new tab.

Jens Vogel

I reached out for support and like to share the answer with you

>This behaviour changed as a result of the way you access attachments on Trello boards now. In order to view attachments, you now need to be logged in to your Trello account whereas previously it was a public link (albeit not possible to guess). Due to this and the way the authentication works, it isn't possible to show the preview as an overlay of the card anymore and why we open this in a new tab usually. I'll definitely note down your feedback - perhaps this is something that we can review again in the future. However, this is intentional as we've chosen to optimise for security of attachments on your boards.

>You might also notice that right now attachments automatically download rather than opening a preview. This is a temporary step while we investigate a browser vulnerability.

Amish Solanki

Well thats a good reason for me to look for something else. This one a huge reason I use trello was to have PDF's within cards and being able to quickly view documents in one area with a shared team. Now there is a chance of them downloading the file to their computer and potentially seeing a older version rather than having the most up to date PDF within trello.

Jeferson Kist

Amish i have the same feeling as you. I dont know if you are a premium member of Trello, but im. We pay in dollars to use it. Im not in US and its not a cheap price to use Trello here in my country.

We use it because we need productivity, and now its ruining our work by here.

Check this post. There is many others too in comunity.

preview stopped working - how to fix? (atlassian.com)

Jeferson Kist

The same situation here. This update ruined us by here. Im very upset about it.

Jeferson Kist

Many days have passed and nothing have been done to solve this problem.

I dont know if Trello team are worried about it.

arnaud_3829

I hope they change that soon...

Jeferson Kist

Me too arnaud_3829 ... me too.

Bình WP

Me too. Wish PDF is back.

Eric Johnsa

I am livid this issue still hasn't been corrected... every time I click on a PDF it downloads and is clogging up my downloads folder because the PDF viewer is not working. And I just accidentally forwarded important business documents that were not properly labeled there were downloaded into my downloads folder because now I have 200 PDFs that are clogging up on me instead of being able to view them ... I have been very worried about Trello when it changed ownership on whether or not it was going to be maintained in the way in which I've come to trust over the years I mean hell I've got my entire business on this system and when it starts getting messed up or when they move all the buttons around or change things too much it disrupt my workflow quite unnecessarily

Jenn Jorgl

This is so extremely disruptive to our workflow and creating MORE work having to clean up unnecessary and unwanted downloads. Sure hope Trello prioritizes this fix above all others. Bring back a PDF-preview feature ASAP!!!

jmyers_o8oyb9

Same problem - please restore the functionality for PDF viewing.

리아

Same problem here. I understand they did this for security, but still, it's not that productive for users.

It's been many days Trello team still not doing any changes to it.

I may need other tools...

Highner

Guys same here, this new update is horrible

if they dont change i have to look for something new

this function was crucial

Wes Harrison

Hi Jens,

When you say you "reached out for support," what did you mean? I made this discussion thinking I was reaching out for support. Is there a better way of doing it, or one to which Trello will respond?

Jens Vogel

Hi Wes,

at https://trello.com/contact#/ you can contact support directly. That may be reserved for paid users only.

Best Jens

Tara Seifert

I agree it is VERY cumberson. I could open over a 100 .pdf in 1 day which was only 100 clicks now I'm having to double click which makes 200 clicks & not to mention have to scroll up to top of download list to get the file you want to open. (I know you can clear out downloads but that also is extra unnecessary clicks.) Please get back to the old version prior the last update. If it's not broken why fix it.

Daniel Hutchinson

Please fix this issue - it is serious slowing down my team productivity. We do not want PDFs to download automatically. We need the preview window!

Daniel Hutchinson

SAme here

Wes Harrison

Hi all,

Here is another response from Trello support:

Hi Wes,

Thanks for reaching out! Really sorry for the trouble here.

This change is in response to a browser security vulnerability, one that could have (but didn't!) compromise data integrity. Disabling PDF previews temporarily is our way of protecting your data; I know it's less convenient this way, of course, and I'm sorry about that. Image and video previews continue to work as before.

Our team's already working on how we can resolve this in a better way, so hopefully this is only a very temporary state of affairs!

I recommend if you need to go back to previewing, you use a power-up such as Google Drive to upload your files so you don't have to download them. We don't have an ETA on a fix yet as we're working on a solution that is secure.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Alex | The Trello Team

ビジョンIM

It became inconvenient. I would like you to return to the previous specifications.
不便になりました。前の形式に戻して頂きたいです。
Best regards.
よろしくお願いいたします。

Jeferson Kist

(Blair - Trello)Hi João,

Thanks for reaching out! Really sorry for the trouble here.

Our team's already working on how we can resolve this in a better way, so hopefully this is only a very temporary state of affairs!

Don't hesitate to reach out if we can help with anything else, and have a great rest of your day.

All the best,

---

Me: Hi Blair,

See it: PDF viewing in trello update: impractical (atlassian.com)
I think it has been a month since the update and nothing has changed yet... We need the things working as we are paying for.
Do something please.
---

(Blair - Trello) Hi João,

I totally understand your point of view. Right now, our team is still working to provide another option. Because the root cause of this issue was associated with a browser vulnerability, it's important that we get this right. We don't want your data from PDFs to potentially be exposed to someone that shouldn't see it, so our team is taking this very seriously and we'll keep working on it from our side.

In the meantime, you can try viewing the attachment on a mobile device.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

The Trello Team

---

My conclusion is: they care less than they should.

I got tired of asking them.

Have a nice day.

Daniel Egan_n758in

I second everything said here.

We've lost the ability to preview PDFs too. This has caused serious workflow slowdowns and annoyances! The constant need to download PDFs in order to view them is especially inconvenient b/c I switch between two separate Trello accounts (for 2 separate companies I run). As a rule, I use the Trello MacOS app for one company and the web app for another. Now, when I click to view a PDF in the desktop app it triggers Trello to open in Chrome, which is logged into my other Trello account... giving me the error message: "Card Not Found!" Forcing me to switch accounts, and reload the page, etc. Something that worked so flawlessly has become incredibly cumbersome! Please fix this Atlassian!

Lachelle Via

Our company spends $$$$ for Trello. We are actively looking at other platforms. This renders the platform useless to us.

Jeferson Kist

Good morning Blair, do you have a forecast for Trello to get the preview back on?

Every day that goes by is more irritating to work in trello. It is no longer productive.

We are not getting to work right.

The community is in need of it urgently fixed.

Good day João,

Thanks for touching base on this topic. I'm afraid we don't have an ETA to share for when things might change. I know the team is still working on this. It's a sensitive process because of the vulnerability that was discovered, so the team is being very careful in implementing changes in order to completely avoid any risk to customer data.

If I hear any news, I can follow-up with you again.

All the best,

Blair
The Trello team

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