Inline document preview Pro

FileDeck lets visitors open a document in a preview lightbox without downloading it. The free version previews PDFs (in the browser’s built-in viewer) and images; FileDeck Pro extends the lightbox to Office documents, which display right in the lightbox, and to audio and video files, which play in a built-in player. File types that cannot be previewed simply fall back to the normal download.

FileDeck Pro — Office, audio, and video preview is included in all Pro plans; PDF and image preview is free. See pricing

Supported file types

• PDFs (free) — rendered by the browser’s own PDF viewer inside the lightbox.
• Images (free) — shown directly in the lightbox.
• Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive links (free) — pasted share links on external documents render as live documents.
• Office documents (Pro) — displayed in the lightbox, so visitors can read them without downloading.
• Audio and video (Pro) — played with inline players, so visitors can listen or watch without leaving the library.
• YouTube and Vimeo links (Pro) — external video links play through each provider’s embed player.

Anything else — archives, for example — is not previewable in the browser, so those documents keep their standard download behavior. Visitors are never shown a broken viewer.

Enable preview in your library

1. Go to Documents → Settings → Features in wp-admin.
2. Turn on Document preview lightbox.
3. A Preview button appears alongside the download link for supported documents in your library layouts.

Visitors can then check a document is the one they want before committing to a download — useful for long PDFs and media files.

Preview and protected files

Access is checked when the library row is rendered: a visitor who is not allowed to view a document never gets a Preview button for it. Previews of protected files go through the same signed, expiring URLs as downloads, so permission is re-checked on every request. Protected Office files are the exception — rendering them would require handing the file to an external viewer service, so they offer a download button instead.

FAQ

Which file types can be previewed?

PDFs and images in the free version; Office documents and audio and video files with Pro. Other types fall back to a normal download link.

What happens when a document cannot be previewed?

Non-previewable types, such as archives, are offered as a standard download instead — the preview lightbox is only shown for supported types.

Can visitors preview documents they are not allowed to download?

No. Preview goes through the same permission check and signed-URL mechanism as downloads, so access rules apply equally to previewing.

Does preview require any browser plugins?

No. The preview lightbox works in any modern browser without plugins or extensions.