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How to disable the auto-complete feature in Outlook?

Written by Saajid Gangat in Microsoft,Outlook,Outlook Guides Last Updated July 28, 2023

The AutoComplete list is maintained by Outlook. Both the automated name-checking and automatic completion features rely on the list. When you send email messages from Outlook, the AutoComplete list, also known as the nickname cache, is automatically produced. The list includes “SMTP addresses, LegacyExchangeDN” entries, and display names for individuals you’ve already emailed. The amount of entries you may store in the AutoComplete list in Outlook is limited. When you approach this limit, Outlook employs an internal method to choose the names to be removed from the list. It does so using a utilization weighting system.

When creating a new email, Outlook provides “Auto-Complete” suggestions for recipients in the To, CC, and BCC fields. These can be quite useful, but when you’re writing a fresh email to numerous recipients or groups with identical names, it’s possible that you’ll make an error.

Step by step process: How to disable the auto-complete feature in Outlook?

  • Firstly, sign into Outlook.
  • Now go to “File”.
  • From there go to “Options”.
  • You now need to go to “Mail”.
  • Untick the option “Use Auto-Complete List to propose names while entering in the To, Cc, and Bcc lines” under Send messages.
  • Finally, click “Empty Auto-Complete List” under Send messages. To confirm, select Ok.

We’ve also created a video to help you disable the auto-complete feature in Outlook. Watch it here:

The final step is optional however, it may help to remove the autocomplete feature much more effectively. The Autocomplete list according to Microsoft contains 1000 entries from 2003 to 2019. And if you have quite a few entries that are not required it might be worthwhile to clear the autofill list and start a new one containing email domains and mailboxes that are essential to you or your organization.

You just need to be aware that the next time you choose to send an email to the address you used previously, you will have to type out the full set of characters used for that email address as there will no longer be an entry available to store the information, and Outlook while it normally completes the rest of the address for you, will no longer complete it for you. This works great if none of your recipients have similar email addresses or if you wish to clear out unnecessary data from your server. As you type the first letter of the email address, for example, O, normally Outlook would display a pop-up box enabling you to choose the address you want, however, after this process, it will no longer do that for your domain.

Why have the Auto fill feature off?

Autofill services offered by organizations such as Outlooks allow users to keep a record of data they type out and store it for future reference. When you want to type this data out again you will no longer have to type out the full email address or domain as it will automatically fill it in for you. This is effective if you have users who are within your network, however, not effective if you have quite a few unnecessary email domains stored in the autosave folder taking up space within your domain. You may want to remove them to reduce the storage taken up by the auto-fill feature or you don’t want to use this feature if all the domains look similar and you may click the wrong one and send the file to a user that’s not supposed to receive it. Having type out the full email allows certain users to be more cautious about the content they send and the people they send it to.

Many web browsers include an auto-fill data function that displays all of your previous inputs. This allows you to view all of your previous inputs and select them from a menu, greatly accelerating the process.

Although beneficial, this function will display personal information such as your email address. Fortunately, there is a solution to secure your sensitive information, and we’ll teach you how to delete auto-fill data in Outlook now.

Tip – If you doubt your network is being corrupted or you need to remove your auto-fill data for security concerns, you might find the better alternative is replacing your Outlook domain with a fresh new one and this should only be reserved as a final alternative.

That’s it for this section, we hope our information has provided some form of guidance to help you decide if it’s the best option or not. Feel free to leave a comment on how you think it may impact the functionality of your own Outlook usage.

In depth step by step process: How to disable the auto-complete feature in Outlook?

Step by step breakdown:

  • First, sign into Outlook.

You will need to sign in with the application version as this process will only work on the application version of Outlook.

  • Go to “file” in the toolbar at the top.

As mentioned above the file option and the application version are the only ways to edit the add-ins as the web version does not directly sync add-in data with your desktop as there is no connected output, unlike the application version.

  • From there visit “options”.

Options are located at the bottom of the menu bar on the left side.

  • You now need to go to “Mail”.

Mail is the option where you will be able to manage email-based including the auto-complete feature.

  • Untick the option “Use Auto-Complete List to propose names while entering in the To, Cc, and Bcc lines” under Send messages.

This is the main step for you to keep in mind as it’s directly linked to the autocomplete section.

  • Finally, click “Empty Auto-Complete List” under Send messages.

The final step is optional however, it may help to remove the autocomplete feature much more effectively. 

  • Click “OK” when all the settings are complete.

That’s it for this Blog — thank you for taking time out to read our content. Please feel free to email our team about how it went if you followed the steps or if you need more help with the questions we answered in this Blog.

How to delete a corrupt OST file: Outlook

Written by Saajid Gangat in Microsoft,Outlook,Outlook Guides Last Updated July 28, 2023

OST files are the Exchange server’s offline replicas of user mailboxes. On the user’s computer, there is an OST file. As a result, it is prone to a variety of problems. They frequently exhibit undesired behaviour, such as inaccessibility, corruption, or synchronization difficulties, as a result of factors such as the unintentional deletion of a user account on Exchange Server, virus infection, server slowness or crash, power outage, and so on. In such cases, the user may need to investigate alternatives for repairing or recovering the inaccessible OST file, in this case, we will be looking at how to delete a corrupt OST file, follow the steps below to delete the OST file.

How to delete a corrupt OST file in Outlook:

  1. First, go to your file explorer.
  2. Now navigate to the OST file by following this chain, (C:\Users\“your-login-name”\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook).
  3. Locate the corrupt OST file you wish to remove and right-click it.
  4. Finally click on delete.

arrow link You can use Stellar OST to PST Converter to access OST file contents.

Follow these steps and it will help to eliminate the corrupted OST file in Outlook. We’ve also created a handy video that explains how to delete OST files — watch it here:

When an OST file is damaged or unavailable, it is usually best to delete it. The benefits and drawbacks of deleting an Outlook OST file are discussed below. The main benefit of removing the OST file is that it allows you to build a fresh, healthy one. This procedure of deleting and rebuilding an OST file may also be regarded as a means to repair an OST file because the newly generated OST file retains the existing data. However, removing the OST file may have unintended repercussions.

By setting the cached exchange mode, the OST file is stored on your computer’s hard drive and functions as a local copy of Outlook that remembers changes made in the absence of internet access. Because the OST file contains emails, settings, reminders, and other information, it’s critical that the OST file syncs with the exchange server to reflect changes performed offline.

As a result, if an OST file becomes unavailable, retrieving emails from it might be difficult. In this article, you’ll discover how to delete and rebuild an Outlook OST file, as well as how to recover emails from an offline storage table (OST) using a variety of safe and reliable techniques.

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PST & OST files in Outlook

PST and OST files are the two kinds of Outlook Data Files that Outlook recognizes. OST files include data downloaded from your Exchange Server, whereas PST files contain data kept in your personal folders. Because Outlook can’t import straight from an OST file like it can from a PST file, if you wish to transport your offline data to another computer, you may either set up your email client to connect to your server and generate a new OST file or convert your OST content to PST format.

Why shouldn’t you delete an OST file in Outlook?

Manually deleting and resetting an OST file is usually more difficult and risky than utilizing specialized software or an OST to PST converter.

There are several drawbacks to recovering emails from an OST file by deleting and rebuilding it. For example, removing OST does not allow you to retrieve data from an OST file that has not been synchronized with the Exchange server. This implies that whatever data you contributed to it before it was corrupted, such as emails, contacts, and so on, would be lost. As a result, emails, as well as any other data on the Outlook OST file, may be lost.

Always make use of a dedicated software tool to assist with OST to PST software to recover Outlook data such as emails, calendar, reminders, contacts, etc. safely without deleting and recreating Outlook OST files. This is of course if there is a chance to recover the file. Corrupted files are generally not recoverable and therefore a new patch is often necessary to restore lost data.

Once the process of deleting and rebuilding a corrupt OST file, you may retrieve emails from it. If your OST file is corrupted or unavailable. Then, to safely restore emails, the process works effectively to erase and rebuild OST files in Outlook 2016, 2019, 2013, 2007, and previous versions.

Repair corrupt OST files in different Outlook versions

In various versions of MS Outlook, the OST file repair options are varied. The Detect and Repair tool was included in MS Outlook 2000 and 2003 for data file recovery. The Detect and Repair tool was replaced with an Office Diagnostics tool in MS Outlook 2007. Although the Repair option was present in MS Outlook 2010 and 2013, it was only for fixing the Outlook installation files and registry information. However, newer versions of Outlook, such as Outlook 2016 and 2019, make it easier to restore and rebuild OST files.

How to delete a corrupt OST file in Outlook

Step by step breakdown:

  • First, go to your file explorer.

File Explorer, often known as Windows Explorer or Explorer, is a file browser that has been included in every version of Microsoft Windows from Windows 95. It is used to explore and manage your computer’s discs, folders, and files. File Explorer on Windows 10 is seen in the image below.

  • Now navigate to the OST file by following this chain, (C:\Users\“your-login-name”\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook).

Use the chain above, this will directly take you to the necessary files to delete. The corrupted files are also located within these areas, you may need to continue searching to find the necessary files.

  • Locate the corrupt OST file you wish to remove and right-click it, then click on delete.

This will delete the OST file and allow you to remove the corrupted patch that was present within the server.

If there is no synchronization issue between your OST file and Microsoft Exchange Server, removing and rebuilding the OST file will allow you to view your emails. However, if the OST file is badly damaged, the only option to retrieve your emails or Outlook data is to use the Remo Convert OST to PST program to convert the OST file to a PST file.

That’s it for this Blog — thank you for taking time out to read our content. Please feel free to email our team about how it went if you followed the steps or if you need more help with the questions we answered in this Blog.

How to prevent saving of Outlook password

Written by Jack Mitchell in Microsoft,Outlook,Outlook Guides Last Updated July 26, 2023

Although having your password saved on Outlook is the most convenient option, some people may choose to opt out of Outlook’s option to autofill your credentials when you log in. The biggest reason for this is for security, especially if you are being sent important files or documents to your Outlook account or vice versa. This means that every time you want to access your Outlook account, you have to enter your login credentials every time as Outlook will not automatically enter it. In this blog post, I will demonstrate how to change your Outlook settings to ensure that Outlook always prompts for your login credentials. 

Disabling the ‘remember password’ option in Outlook: 

  1. Log into your Outlook account using your credentials
  2. Type ‘Account Settings’ into the search bar and click on ‘Account Settings’
  3. When the window appears, click on the ‘Email tab’
  4. Then double click on your email account
  5. Select ‘More Settings’
  6. Click on the ‘Security’ tab
  7. Under the ‘User identification’ section select the check box for ‘Always prompt for login credentials’
  8. Click ‘OK’

Please note that changing these settings can only be done on the Outlook desktop app and not on the browser version of Outlook. 

Security implications of password saving:

Although it saves a lot of hassle when signing into your account every morning, by having your password saved on Outlook, your co-workers and other people in the office can easily access your emails. Even if their intentions behind signing into your email may not be malicious, it could result in opening you or the company up to compromise. For Outlook users who may work from home, it is a similar situation around family members or children who could potentially access your Outlook as your credentials and passwords are already saved. 

As briefly mentioned previously, this could be detrimental to your work and to the company, especially if your email account holds important documents for your company/ organisation. Although it may seem easier to allow Outlook to save your credentials, it may be that the safest option is to disable the autofill option. This is particularly useful if your job role requires your emails to be a host to crucial documents or files. 

Step by step process of disabling the ‘remember password’ option in Outlook:

  1. Log into your Outlook account using your credentials 

For this tutorial, I will be singing into Outlook using an example email and password.

  1. Type ‘Account Settings’ into the search bar and click on ‘Account Settings’

When you begin to type in ‘Account Settings’ at in the search bar at the top of the screen, the correct option will appear as a suggestion (where the cursor is)

  1. When the window appears, click on the ‘Email tab’

Once this window appears, make sure that you are on the email tab from the panel at the top.

  1. Then double click on your email account

As I mentioned before, here I am using an example email address and log in for the purpose of this demonstration. 

  1. Select ‘More Settings’

A new window will then appear. On this page, click on ‘More Setting which can be located at the bottom of the window.

  1. Click on the ‘Security’ tab

From the top panel, select the ‘Security’ tab.

  1. Select the tick box for ‘Always prompt for login credentials’ 

Under the ‘User identification’ section, Click the box for ‘Always prompt for login credentials’. Once selected, a tick will appear in the box.

  1. Click ‘OK’

Finally, once you select ‘OK’ from the bottom of the window, the changes to your account will be made and the ‘remember password’ option will be disabled. This means that you will have to manually enter your credentials every time you sign in to your Outlook account. 

Thank you for reading! We hope this blog post helped you with your Outlook password issues. If you have any comments or further questions about this blog post, feel free to leave a comment below and we’ll be happy to help.

After reading about how to prevent Outlook from saving your Outlook password, here are some of our other blog posts and tutorials to help you get the most out of using Outlook: 

This blog post outlines how to create a new rule for your inbox to allow you to automatically BCC or CC yourself into emails that you send. This is a great way to stay on top of your emails and ensure that you remember to respond and follow up on certain emails. 

When adding a delegate to your inbox, rather than giving them complete access over your inbox, it is a better option to consider why they are being added as a delegate and then choose the permissions they need to allow them to carry out their tasks. This blog post demonstrates how to do this. 

If you have an inbox filled with emails from many years ago, it can be difficult to search for one particular email from a list of so many. This blog post looks at how you can search for an email using the exact date it was sent in order to make the process quicker and easier than manually scrolling through years’ worth of emails. 

Here we look at the easiest method for organising your inbox by deleting emails that are older than a certain date, which you may not need anymore. Take a look at this step by step guide on how to make your inbox more organised and up to date.

Prevent admin accessing all mailboxes Microsoft 365

Written by Saajid Gangat in Exchange,Exchange Guides,Microsoft,Outlook,Outlook Guides Last Updated July 27, 2023

You can’t stop Global admins or Exchange admins from looking into other people’s emails. They can always revert such settings, even if you remove the relevant command-let (which is a specific sort of command offered in Windows PowerShell) from the Role-Based Access Control roles or establish exclusive scopes, assuming they have previous knowledge of how to configure those settings. Anyone who has been given the role of Global Admin has complete control over the domain and network with which they are linked. However, you can turn on notifications for when inboxes are delegated this way you are well aware that admins are accessing your Mailbox.

Step by step process: How to Prevent admin accessing all mailboxes Microsoft 365?

  • Firstly, login to Office 365.
  • Use the app launcher to navigate to “Outlook”.
  • Click on Outlook.
  • Click on “Settings” > “View Outlook settings”.
  • Now go to “general” in the left panel.
  • Then click on “notifications”.
  • Make sure all the checkboxes are ticked in the “In app notification” panel.

Whenever as a delegated member an admin above your administrative region has accessed your Mailbox you will be notified of this, making you aware that there is an administrative body in your Mailbox.

Members of the Organization Management role group have administrative access to the entire Exchange organization and, with a few limitations, may execute nearly any operation against any Exchange element. Members of this job group are unable to execute mailbox searches or handle underscore top-level management responsibilities by default.

It is possible to encrypt mail messages on both ends. However, this would drastically limit the number of people with whom you might exchange email. You’ll probably want the administrator to be able to install and troubleshoot the encryption software.

Detect Mailbox changes to permissions to prevent admin accessing all mailboxes:

You can also detect permission changes in Exchange Online mailboxes, which is important for security and compliance. Anyone with permission to read, modify, delete, or move mailbox content to other mailboxes in Exchange Online can do so (even ones outside the organization). To protect critical mailbox content and avoid data leakage, you’ll need to keep a constant eye on mailbox permission changes.

You can run commands in Windows EAC or Powershell however, with persistent chances of errors this may cause quite a lot of issues if you are choosing to run these commands. So if possible try to avoid and ensure you use minimal changes to the command directory.

Limitations:

In Exchange Online, a shared mailbox allows a group of users to access and send email from a single mailbox. Understanding the restrictions of shared mailboxes in Office 365 is critical for setting the proper expectations for users. Many users on the Office 365 forum have inquired about using shared mailboxes in Office 365.

Create a new rule to prevent admin accessing all mailboxes:

You may use mail flow rules (also known as transport rules) in Exchange Online organizations or standalone Exchange Online Protection (EOP) companies without Exchange Online mailboxes to detect and act on messages that travel through your organization.

Inbox rules, which are accessible in Outlook and Outlook on the web, are comparable to mail flow rules (formerly known as Outlook Web App). The major distinction is that mail flow rules operate on communications while they’re in route, rather than after they’ve arrived at their destination. Mail flow rules include a larger number of criteria, exceptions, and actions, allowing you to design a wider range of message regulations.

Follow the steps below to create a new rule to create alerts for a Shared Mailbox:

Note this only works if you have access to a shared admin portal or access to Exchange Outlook:

First, sign in to Office 365 using your login details or verified Skype account.

Then, using the app launcher illustrated by nine dots, navigate to “Admin”.

Under “Admin center” click on “Exchange”.

Under “Mail flow” click on “Rules”.

Click on “Create rule”.

Check “Sent to” and select the mailbox.

Finally, Check “Display in the New Item Alert window”, and click save.

The new rule has been made and from here any action being taken on a shared mailbox that has you as a participant will no longer go unnoticed as you will receive a notification in your mailbox activity tab of this. 

Mail flow rule components:

Determine the messages to which you wish to apply the actions. Some conditions look at the header fields of messages (for example, the To, From, or Cc fields). Other criteria look at the message’s characteristics (for example, the message subject, body, attachments, message size, or message classification). You must supply a comparison operator (for example, equals, doesn’t equal, or contains) and a value to match in most circumstances. The rule is applied to all messages if there are no conditions or exceptions.

Actions: Tell the rule what to do with messages that fit the rule’s requirements but don’t match any of the exceptions. Many options are accessible, including rejecting, deleting, or diverting messages, adding new recipients, prefixing the message topic, and including disclaimers in the message body.

Exceptions: If desired, specify which messages the actions should not apply to. Message-IDs are provided in exceptions in the same way they are in conditions. Exceptions override conditions and prohibit rule actions from being applied to a message, even if all of the set criteria are met.

In depth step by step process: How to prevent admin accessing all mailboxes Microsoft 365?

Step by step breakdown:

  • Firstly, login to Office 365.

Use your account details or if you have a current Skype account with the Office account in question, you can use this.

  • Use the app launcher to navigate to “Outlook”.

Outlook is illustrated by a button with the Outlook logo inside.

  • Click on “Settings”.

Settings are illustrated by a gear icon click on it for the next step.

  • Now click on “View all Outlook Settings”

This is where most of the Outlook settings reside and here you will be able to see will be able to edit notifications.

  • Now go to “general” in the left panel.

General settings are where the notifications click on it and view all the general related settings for Outlook.

  • Then click on “notifications”.

Now click on notifications.

  • Make sure all the checkboxes are ticked in the “In app notification” panel.

That’s it for this Blog — thank you for taking time out to read our content. Please feel free to email our team about how it went if you followed the steps or if you need more help with the questions we answered in this Blog.

How to fix the error: “cannot connect to the server at this time” when importing from Excel to SharePoint

Written by Saajid Gangat in Excel Guides,Microsoft,Microsoft Excel,SharePoint,SharePoint Guides Last Updated July 25, 2023

Because SharePoint lists resemble Excel tables, many SharePoint Online users choose to utilize them. Microsoft allows you to export Excel tables to SharePoint lists and vice versa for improved interaction. The most common question from users is, “How can I import data from SharePoint to Excel?” What is the best way to extract data from SharePoint? In Excel, how can I make a SharePoint list? This blog post will show how to export tables from Excel to SharePoint lists and vice versa to assist you to answer these queries. There will be many methods addressed for fixing the issue of not being able to connect to a server and exporting data from Excel, as well as one technique for exporting data from SharePoint lists. This includes the error “cannot connect to the server at this time”. To resolve this issue follow the steps below.

Step by step process: How to fix the error: “cannot connect to the server at this time” Excel import to SharePoint?

  • Open your excel file that you wish to export.
  • Using the menu bar, go to “Data”.
  • Click on “From web” from the menu items available.
  • Type out the URL associated with your SharePoint account.
  • Click load to import the data feed.
  • Finally, go back to your SharePoint account and the list will be imported.

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Following these steps allows for a direct connection to the SharePoint server and allows you to export in a more effective manner without having to rely on security pass through as it’s verified through the domain you type out. 

When you use the Import Spreadsheet app to import Excel data into SharePoint, it can only be changed in SharePoint. The Excel Refresh button can bring changes from SharePoint down to Excel, but not the other way around. It’s also worth noting that you can’t modify the order of columns or exclude them from the import.

You may save time while building a Microsoft list by importing an existing Excel file. The table headers are converted to list columns, and the remainder of the data is imported as list items. You may also build a list without the usual Title column by importing a spreadsheet. When you use the Import Spreadsheet app to import Excel data into SharePoint, it can only be changed in SharePoint. The Excel Refresh button can bring changes from SharePoint down to Excel, but not the other way around. It’s also worth noting that you can’t modify the order of columns or exclude them from the import. While there are limitations, there are also quite a few errors to look out for.

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Reasons you receive this error:

Check to see if your local DNS server is up and running. It’s possible that the data throughput has been hacked, or that there isn’t a reliable source for SharePoint to get the data. It’s also possible that the DNS server has failed. If you have an internet connection but are unable to browse, the problem is most likely due to a DNS misconfiguration.

Check the SharePoint server has been granted access to actually receive the data from Excel. Many issues can relate to the connection of data access points where SharePoint is unable to access the data at this current point. You may need to restart SharePoint to have a verified account in order to proceed to transfer the data.

Whether you’re trying to connect to a shared disc that’s hosted locally or in the cloud. You’ll need to make sure your account has the required access rights. You may need to contact your IT provider to get access to particular drives or folders you have not previously accessed in times of uncertainty or when asking for access to certain drives or folders you have not previously visited.

You’ve probably connected to your small company server a hundred times without issue, and it’s become second nature to you. But think about what’s changed—do you have a different log-in? Has the password been updated recently? Is the equipment up to date? Are you connecting from a different computer? Is the internet working again? Is there a problem with the network? Is it the same browser you’re using?

You may learn a lot from error messages. Even if they don’t provide step-by-step directions, each error message will help you get closer to the solution. In a few cases, an error notice will explain what’s wrong or why the server or shared disc can’t be accessed right now. There are a few situations when an error message will explain what’s going on or why the server or shared drive can’t be accessed right now, such as if your password is incorrect, your computer has to be restarted, another program installation is in progress, and so on.

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In depth Step by step process – How to fix the error: “cannot connect to the server at this time” Excel import to SharePoint?

The following guide was created for the desktop version of Excel. If you don’t have the desktop version, you can download the app from Microsoft. If you have a subscription that includes desktop apps, you can download all available apps by going to Office.com, clicking “Install apps” in the top right, and selecting “Premium Microsoft 365 apps” from the dropdown list.

Step by step breakdown:

  • Open the Excel file that you wish to export.

You want to make sure it is saved or drafted in the correct format, XLS and XLSX file formats contain all the information from the worksheets in a workbook, including formatting, charts, images, formulas, etc.

  • Using the menu bar, go to “Data”.

The data tab is where you can see all of the workbook’s data connections. Data connections are external linkages to data that may be updated as the source data changes. Also, by reloading all sources in the worksheet, you may get new data.

  • Click on “From web” from the menu items available.

The “from web” tab is used to get the data from the excel file to a web in a more dynamic method as opposed to the regular method.

  • Type out the URL associated with your SharePoint account.
  • Click load to import the data feed.
  • Finally, go back to your SharePoint account and the list will be imported.

That’s it for this Blog — thank you for taking time out to read our content. Please feel free to email our team about how it went if you followed the steps or if you need more help with the questions we answered in this Blog.

Create a SharePoint page that displays readable previews of files in a folder

Written by Saajid Gangat in Microsoft,SharePoint,SharePoint Guides Last Updated July 27, 2023

Because you have hundreds of papers in your SharePoint document libraries, you may inadvertently open documents merely to see what they’re about. Isn’t it wonderful to save time by seeing the contents of a document without having to click on each one? In this post, we will address a few different ways to preview a document in SharePoint. We will be using this scenario as a reference to the question we will be answering. A SharePoint user needs help: “In SharePoint Online, I would like to create a page that displays previews of all documents inside a certain folder in a document library. For example, we have a folder with 4 .pdf files and one .xls. I would like a page where we can quickly view all 5 files as preview tiles without clicking through each document. These documents are replaced on a regular basis.” Use the steps below to follow along.

Step by step process: Create a SharePoint page that displays readable previews of files in a folder.

  • First, sign into your Microsoft 365 account.
  • Click on the app launcher.
  • Then select “SharePoint” from the apps list.
  • Select a site in which to create a file preview page.
  • Go to “Pages” in the left menu.
  • Click the “+ New” button at the top.
  • Then select “Site Page” from the dropdown list.
  • Name the new page.
  • Click the + icon on the left to add a new section.
  • Select “Two columns” from the popup menu.
  • Hover your mouse over the top of the left column and click the + icon.
  • Scroll down the popup navigation pane and select “Document library.”
  • Hover your mouse over the top of the right column and click the + icon.
  • Scroll down the popup navigation pane and select “File viewer.”
  • Select “Documents” in the “Document library.”
  • Now click on the “File viewer” column and click the pen icon at the top.
  • Click the three dots in the flyout pane on the right side of the window.
  • Then select “Connect to source.”
  • Select “Documents” in the “Connect to source” select box.
  • Finally, click the “Publish” button at the top.
  • Now go to the published page and click the circular check mark to preview a file.

Once it’s published, you will be able to preview both the document/document library on the left and the preview on individual file content on the right. This way you can view the content without having to click or open the document/file. 

Alternative solutions to create readable previews of files in SharePoint Online

Document information panel:

The Document Information Panel, which is included in every SharePoint document library and list, may be used. To go to a file, click the checkbox next to it, then the little I in a circle, and you’ll see a little window with the file’s contents. The benefit of this choice is that you can scroll through the entire page in this little window to see what it’s about.

Tile views:

The usage of Tiles view is another alternative. In a document library, the documents are presented as a list by default. You may, however, change the view to Tiles. It will display tiny thumbnails of each file, which are effectively a snap shot (preview) of the file’s first page. Unlike the previous choice, you will not need to click on each file individually; all of the documents will be shown in front of you.

Document Hover:

This method requires no additional inputs from SharePoint such as editing the document view. Here you just simply hover over the file and it will allow you to see at a glance the content that is present within.

  • Hover your mouse pointer over the document. You’ll be able to see text from within a document display in the pop-up!
  • You may “adjust” the preview text by clicking the three dots (ellipsis) as seen in the figure below, which is a very useful feature.
  • Then, after clicking Edit “At a glance”
  • Sections can be added or removed as needed.
  • For the time being, it appears that this only works with Word documents (not Excel, PowerPoint or PDFs).

Each of the methods above is not a direct alternative to the page preview, however, it’s good enough to show you a preview of the content you want to view.

If none of the preceding approaches have been of much assistance and have proven to be tough to implement, the most effective thing you can do now is clicking on the document. It will, as far as we know, open a document in the browser for editing (by default). While not strictly a “preview,” the default browser experience allows you to quickly examine the contents of a document without having to open it in the desktop app (which takes way longer to do). Yes, if you follow the recommendations in this blog article, you can save even more time opening (previewing) the document.

In depth step by step process: Create a SharePoint page that displays readable previews of files in a folder

Step by step breakdown:

  • Select a site in which to create a file preview page.
  • Go to “Pages” in the left menu. (1)
  • Click the “+ New” button at the top. (2)
  • Then select “Site Page” from the dropdown list. (3)
  • Name the new page. (1)
  • Click the + icon on the left to add a new section. (2)
  • Select “Two columns” from the popup menu. (3)
  • Hover your mouse over the top of the left column and click the + icon. (1)
  • Scroll down the popup navigation pane and select “Document library.” (2)
  • Hover your mouse over the top of the right column and click the + icon. (1)
  • Scroll down the popup navigation pane and select “File viewer.” (2)
  • Select “Documents” in the “Document library.”
  • Now click on the “File viewer” column and click the pen icon at the top. (1)
  • Click the three dots in the flyout pane on the right side of the window. (2)
  • Then select “Connect to source.” (3)
  • Select “Documents” in the “Connect to source” select box. (1)
  • Finally, click the “Publish” button at the top. (2)
  • Now go to the published page and click the circular check mark to preview a file.

That’s it for this Blog — thank you for taking time out to read our content. Please feel free to email our team about how it went if you followed the steps or if you need more help with the questions we answered in this Blog.