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Confluence Cloud – Attachment preview not working, files are downloaded instead

Magdalena Żabińska

Since last week, the attachment preview feature in Confluence Cloud has stopped working.

When I click the "Preview" option, the document does not open in the browser. Instead, a file download dialog appears, asking me where to save the file.

The preview feature was working correctly until last week.

I have already tested this in:

Google Chrome
Google Chrome in Incognito mode
Safari

The issue occurs in all three cases. My Chrome settings are configured to open PDF files in the browser rather than download them.

Could you please check whether this issue is related to a recent Confluence Cloud update or a known bug?

I would appreciate your assistance in restoring the attachment preview functionality so that documents can be viewed directly in Confluence without downloading them.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Accepted answers

All comments

Sarah Marenchino | Devoteam

Hi @Magdalena Żabińska,

I’m an Atlassian consultant at Devoteam France. Your tests in Chrome, Incognito mode and Safari make a Chrome-specific settings issue less likely.

Confluence’s documentation distinguishes Preview, which opens the file viewer, from Download, which saves the file locally. The behaviour you describe therefore does not match the documented behaviour of the Preview option.

Atlassian previously documented a similar issue in https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-81794 : after converting a page to the new editor, some PDF links triggered a download instead of opening the preview. However, that issue is marked Fixed and concerns a specific scenario, so it does not establish the cause of your current problem.

Could you clarify a few points?

Where are you selecting Preview: within the page content, in the page’s attachment list, or in an Attachments macro?
Does this affect all PDFs, only certain files, or other file formats too?
Are other users experiencing the same behaviour with those files?

A useful comparison would be to insert a small PDF into a new page using Add image, video, or file, publish the page, then try opening its preview. This would help establish whether the issue also affects newly inserted files.

If it also occurs on that new page, please raise a support request with Atlassian, including the exact date it started, the result of this test and a screenshot showing the Preview option you are using. The information available so far is not enough to confirm a connection with a recent Cloud update.

Martin Runge

Hi @Magdalena Żabińska,

It works for me on Jira and Confluence Cloud. Have you checked whether it is affecting only your browser or device, or other users as well? Is it only the PDF file you're trying to preview, since not all file types are supported?

I do not see any incidents in status.atlassian.com

Cheers, Martin

Magdalena Żabińska

Hi,

Thank you for your response.

I have now confirmed that all users in our organization are experiencing the same issue.

The problem affects our entire team, not just my account or device.

The issue occurs in several situations:

Clicking "Preview" in the Attachments macro downloads the file instead of opening the preview.
Clicking directly on the PDF file name also triggers a download.
Opening a link to a Confluence attachment from Jira also results in the file being downloaded.
The same behaviour occurs in Chrome, Chrome Incognito mode, and Safari.

Everything was working correctly until last week.

Since all users are affected, this appears to be a site-wide issue rather than a browser or individual account problem.

Could you please advise whether this could be caused by a recent Confluence Cloud update or a change in the attachment preview functionality?

Is there anything our administrator can check or change to restore the preview feature?

If necessary, could this issue be escalated to Atlassian's technical support team?

Thank you for your assistance.

Magdalena Żabińska

Hi Martin,

Thank you for your response.

I can confirm that all users in our organization are experiencing the same issue, so it is not limited to my browser or device.

The problem affects multiple file formats, including PDF, Word documents (DOCX), and JPEG images.

Whenever we click "Preview" in Confluence, the file is downloaded instead of opening in the preview viewer.

The same happens when clicking directly on the file name or opening a link to a Confluence attachment from Jira.

Everything was working correctly until last week.

We have tested this in Chrome, Chrome Incognito mode, and Safari, with the same results.

Since this issue affects all users and multiple file formats, could it be related to a recent change in our Confluence Cloud instance, even though no general incidents are reported on the Atlassian status page?

Gabriela - LeanZero

Hi Magdalena,

Since it's every user, in every browser, starting on the same day, the thing you all share is your company network, so I'd test that before you raise anything. Ask one person to open the page on a personal phone or personal laptop on mobile data, not a work laptop, because the security agent on a managed laptop can still send traffic through your proxy even when it's off the office network, and click Preview on the same PDF you've been testing with. If the preview opens there, my guess is that something on your network side changed last week, like a proxy, web filter or TLS inspection rule. I couldn't find an Atlassian page that says a proxy breaks previews, but their page on domains for Cloud products does ask you to allowlist the Atlassian domains and to consider excluding them from TLS inspection, so your network team can check their rules against it.
https://support.atlassian.com/organization-administration/docs/ip-addresses-and-domains-for-atlassian-cloud-products/

No admin setting turns previews off. The link from Jira is a separate case, because a plain link to an attachment downloads the file by design, so I wouldn't read too much into that one.

If it still downloads off the network, it's the site, and if you're on a paid plan your admin can raise it with Support along with the start date and a HAR file of one failed preview, which this article explains how to capture.
https://confluence.atlassian.com/kb/generating-har-files-and-analyzing-web-requests-720420612.html

Gabriela

Magdalena Żabińska

Hi Gabriela,

Thank you for your help.

I have tested the attachment preview on my personal phone using mobile data, with Wi-Fi disabled, and unfortunately the same issue occurs. The files are downloaded instead of opening in the preview viewer.

The problem therefore also occurs outside our company network.

Gabriela - LeanZero

Hey Magdalena,

Thank you for testing that on your phone. The same download on mobile data with Wi-Fi off rules your network out. Since it hits every user, every browser and every file type you tried, it now looks like something on Atlassian's side for your site, and only Atlassian Support can look at that. Before you raise it, I'd try Sarah's test and see whether a freshly inserted PDF on a brand new page does the same. I'd also check whether anyone turned on a custom domain for your site around the time it started. I'd mention that to Support, even though the closest known bug, CONFCLOUD-84243, only covers images inserted by URL showing "Preview unavailable" (https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-84243). If you're on a paid plan, the Support route I mentioned still stands, and I'd add your phone result, the fact that every user, browser and file type is affected, and any Console errors next to the HAR file. A HAR file carries your session cookies, so I'd attach it to the Support ticket rather than posting it here.

I'll keep an eye on this thread.

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