Preview a file

Drive can show you the contents of a file without opening a separate app or tab. Images, PDFs, videos, audio, text files, contact files, saved emails, and calendar files all have a built-in preview. Text files over 1 MB show the file card instead.

Open a file in the preview

Open a file by clicking it to select it, then clicking it again (or pressing Enter). What happens depends on the file type:

• Images, PDFs, videos, audio, and most other files open in the full-screen preview overlay.
• Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, boards, and drawings open straight away in their own app.
• Text and code files (such as .md, .txt, .json) open in a text editor in the browser.
• Contact files (.vcf) show each contact in the file as a card, which you can import to Contacts from the preview.
• Saved emails (.eml) read as the message itself: subject, sender, recipients, date, and the body. The files that came with the message are listed by name and size under the header.
• Calendar files (.ics) list the events in the file with their times, where they repeat, their location, and their guests.

Use Quick preview from the menu

Quick preview lets you glance at any file without leaving the list.

1. Right-click the file (or click its ⋮ button) to open the menu.
2. Choose Quick preview.

The preview opens as an overlay on top of the list. Press Esc or click the dark area around the file to close it.

You can also select a file with the keyboard (use the arrow keys to move through the list) and press Space to open Quick preview. Press Space again to close it.

Navigate between files

When the preview is open, you can move to the next or previous file without closing it:

• Click the previous and next arrow buttons in the top-right corner of the preview.
• Press the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard.

Download from the preview

The bar at the bottom of the preview has a Download button that saves the file to your computer. For text and code files, there is also an Open button that opens the file in the editor.

Some files get extra buttons in the same bar:

• Convert to Sheet for an Excel file (.xlsx), and Convert to Document for a Word file (.docx). Eigen makes a copy in its own format and opens it.
• Import to Contacts for a contact file (.vcf). It adds the cards in the file to your contacts.
• Import to Mail for a saved email (.eml). It puts the message back in your inbox. See Import an email from a file.
• Import to Calendar for a calendar file (.ics). Eigen asks which calendar the events go into. See Import events from a calendar file.