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Content Previews

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Lynne H.
  • Updated
This article describes a feature available to DocSend Personal, Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise customers.


Overview

Content Previews, including your file thumbnail and title, provide an enriched viewing experience when DocSend links are shared on external websites, or when adding individual files to Spaces.

For enhanced control over how your content appears when shared, you can set a custom thumbnail and configure content preview visibility settings to control when and where your thumbnails and content titles are visible. 

Skipping Ahead

Configure Custom Thumbnails

Content thumbnails can be customized for any content shared with DocSend. When configured, your thumbnail will appear anywhere your content is shared, including within Spaces and when shared on external websites. Custom thumbnails can be configured from the document page or within your Space.

Note: At this time, DocSend supports .jpeg and .png thumbnail images with a recommended aspect ratio of 1:1.

Edit your Thumbnail from the Content Page

  1. Select the desired file. 
  2. Click the pencil Thumbnail edit icon or expand the More Options menu (...), and select Update thumbnail from the dropdown menu. 
  3. Choose your image and crop if needed. 
  4. Save and confirm your changes.
  5. Once confirmed, the new thumbnail image will update anywhere your content is shared, including within all Spaces that contain the file.

You can delete your custom thumbnail and revert back to the auto generated thumbnail at any time by expanding the More Options menu, and choosing Delete thumbnail.

 

Edit your Thumbnail in Spaces

You can edit the thumbnail of any file currently housed in one of your Spaces by following the steps outlined below: 

  1. Within your Space, expand the More Options menu next to the file you’d like to update.
  2. Choose Update thumbnail. 
  3. Upload your new thumbnail image and crop if needed. 
  4. Save and confirm your changes.

To revert back to the automatically generated thumbnail, expand the More Options menu, and select Delete thumbnail.

Content Preview Settings

You can manage the visibility of external content previews, including your thumbnail and content titles, by adjusting the following settings on the Privacy & Security Settings page.

content_previews_1.png


Important: Content previews can't be disabled while on the Limited Trial plan. However, upgrading to a paid subscription will allow you to manage these settings.

 

Show content preview when sharing links on external website

When enabled, the preview will reflect the first page of the document, an automatically generated thumbnail using Open Graph tags, or your custom thumbnail image.

content_previews__2.png


Note: If there is no automatically generated or custom thumbnail image available, the preview image will be a generic icon. This is typical for content not hosted directly in DocSend, including URL links, images, and video files.

content_previews__3.png


When disabled, or if no thumbnail image is available, the preview will default to the company logo (if any) configured in your Custom Branding Settings.

 

Show content title when sharing links on external websites

When enabled, the preview will show the title of your content.

content_previews_4.png


When disabled, the preview will only show the content type — for example, DocSend Document. 

content_previews_5.png

Sometimes thumbnail previews can reveal important information, so protect your content by enabling any of these settings: 
  • Require email to view
  • Passcode
  • Access Control
    • Restrict Access
    • Email Authentication
  • Require Agreement to view
Shared DocSend links that have one or more of these settings enabled will appear with basic DocSend information in the preview. The preview will display your shared link and the message “DocSend - Simple, intelligent, modern content sending. DocSend helps you communicate more effectively by telling you what happens to content after you send them and letting you keep control in real time.” 
Both custom and non-custom thumbnails and titles will appear with the basic DocSend information too. Learn more about DocSend link settings.
If you disable all of these settings, the thumbnail and your link title will appear in shared link preview. We strongly recommend you review the information displayed in the thumbnail preview before sharing that link, or enable one or more of these settings to keep your content safe. 

Show Space title and subtitle when sharing Space links on external websites

By default, DocSend will automatically use the Space’s cover image or the logo if available. If no cover image or logo is set, the configuration from your Custom Branding Settings will be used. 

When enabled, the preview will show the Space title and subtitle.

content_previews_6.png

When disabled, the preview will show “DocSend Space” as the title instead.

content_previews_7.png

Things to Consider

  • Only one custom thumbnail can be configured for each file, and the same thumbnail will be shown everywhere the content is displayed. 
  • For Spaces with Watermarking enabled, watermarks will be displayed on automatically generated thumbnails. Watermarks will not be included on custom thumbnails.
  • Your thumbnail image will not be saved to your Content library or elsewhere in DocSend.
  • Thumbnail images are supported for individual files only and cannot be configured for Space folders.
  • Content Previews (also known as Custom Thumbnails) can reveal important information, so protect your content by enabling any of these setting for both custom and non-custom thumbnails: 
    • Require email to view
    • Passcode
    • Access Control
      • Restrict Access
      • Email Authentication
    • Require Agreement to view

Related Reading

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