Viewing asset previews

Asset previews are images that show the contents of assets. They are displayed when you view an asset, view thumbnails on the home page, browse assets, and in collections in a project. Helix DAM uses Helix Search to generate asset previews.

If a preview cannot be generated, Helix DAM shows a default icon for the file type. To use a different image for a preview, you can upload an image.

Supported file types for generated asset previews

The file types that asset previews are generated for in Helix DAM depend on the version of Helix Search that Helix DAM uses.

For a list of supported file types, see Thumbnail generation: Supported file types in the Helix Core Search Developer Guide.

If a preview cannot be generated, you can download the asset to view it or upload a preview image. Some file types have specific supported versions. If there is an asset version that is not supported, a Version not supported message is displayed to indicate which version to use.

Uploading an asset preview

You can upload an image to use as the asset preview.

  1. In a project, open the asset.

    • If there is no preview image, click Upload preview image.

    • To replace the existing preview image, click and then click Upload preview image.

    The Upload preview image dialog box opens.

  2. Drag and drop an image file to the dialog box or browse for a file to upload. The following file types are supported: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, and .webp. The maximum file size is 5 MB.

    The preview image is displayed.

  3. Click Save.

Regenerating an asset preview

Regenerating an asset preview image is only supported if Helix DAM is using Helix Search 2023.4 and later. If Helix DAM is using an earlier version of Helix Search, Helix DAM displays an error when you try to regenerate an asset preview image.

You can regenerate an asset preview image if:

  • Helix DAM failed to generate a preview image when the asset was uploaded.

  • You want to revert a preview image to the original asset preview generated by Helix Search.

  1. In a project, open the asset.

  2. Click and select Regenerate preview image.

  3. Click Regenerate to confirm regenerating the preview image.

    When the regeneration is complete, a success message is displayed and you return to the asset.

    If regeneration fails, an error is displayed. See the Troubleshooting asset preview regeneration errors.

Regenerating multiple asset previews

Only Helix Search admins can regenerate multiple asset preview images.

To regenerate multiple asset preview images, re-index them in Helix Search. Re-indexing the entire Helix Core Server database can take a long time to complete. It is better to split the re-indexing task into a number of smaller batches. Assets can be re-indexed by date range, revision range, depot path, user, or use multiple criteria to re-index them.

To learn more, see Index Helix Search in the Helix Core Search Developer Guide.