Is there a way to turn off the "preview" feature and have the file download automatically when you click on the link or thumbnail?

[Eduardo Mallmann · Accepted solution]

Hello Magali.

You can disable the Confluence Previews plugin under your System add-ons section. To do so you just need to go under your Manage add-ons page, select All add-ons on the drop box and then type Confluence Previews into the search field. Then disable it and the preview feature will not longer work.

I hope it helps! 

Eduardo

[Deividi Luvison]

Nice one!

[Yngve Levinsen]

Do I misunderstand, or is this just something that admins can perform for the entire instance? I do not find this option in my user settings. It is not possible for an individual user to disable previews?

[Florian Zöllner [Communardo]]

You're right. admins only for the entire instance.

[Stephen Deutsch]

I noticed that even if you don't disable the preview, but right-click on the link and open in a new window/tab, the file will download instead of opening the preview window. So that's also an option.

[Deividi Luvison]

Hey Magali,

Can you check the Confluence secure settings regarding attachments as per below KB:

https://confluence.atlassian.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=370704789

In Confluence 5 series the files usually are downloaded  instead of being previewed.

Hope it helps.

Thanks and Regards,

David| The Engineer that like Windows for realsies.

[Magali Sourbes]

It's the main new feature of 5.7: https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/DOC/Confluence+5.7+Release+Notes

"The powerful new preview means you can view many file types right from your Confluence page, no need to download the file first."

Some of our users are getting confused, as when you click on the arrows on the left and right, it takes you to the next attachment (or previous version). They don't know to scroll up and down to get to the next page.

[Deividi Luvison]

Sorry, I've forgot about that one :p, I think we can't disable that however I will check around and see if I can find some way to do it.

[Magali Sourbes]

Thanks! I think it's a great feature, but I guess we need to "train" our users on how to use it. :)

[Aaran Stent]

I am having a similar issue with users printing from the preview window.  They get a garbled mess with a header mixed in with the PDF files.  Users are not aware they need to download and then print the PDF file to get a true print of the document.

[Olga Plisko]

This feature doesn't work properly in chome browser. "Edit" option presented by "..." is missing .

[Kevin Hughes]

not answer but the "preview" we had of .txt files now does not to work.......download only.Another example of improvements under the bonnet that simply don't help

[Stefan Baader]

See this issue and vote for a required solution: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-36899

[Deirdre Clancy]

Note that I am working in an environment where many files are shared on Confluence, but a colleague who is dependent on screen-reading software cannot download files due to the File Preview feature.