Microsoft KB Archive/138430

= OFF: "Preview Not Available" in Preview Window =

Article ID: 138430

Article Last Modified on 3/29/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Office 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft PowerPoint 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Word 95 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q138430



SYMPTOMS
In any Microsoft Office program, when you click the Preview button in the Open dialog box (on the File menu, click Open), you may receive the following message in the preview window:

  Preview Not available



CAUSE
By default, the check box for saving a preview of a file is not selected and therefore no OLE (thumbnail) preview is saved with the file. Without this thumbnail image, a file cannot be previewed.



WORKAROUND
In order to see a preview of a Microsoft Office document, use the appropriate procedure for the program you are using.

If you are using any Microsoft Office program
When you save a document for the first time, do the following:
 * 1) On the File menu, click Properties.
 * 2) Click the Summary tab.
 * 3) Select the Save Preview Picture check box.
 * 4) Click OK.
 * 5) On the File Menu, click Save.

If you are using Microsoft Excel or Microsoft PowerPoint

 * 1) On the Tools menu, click Options.
 * 2) Click the General tab.
 * 3) Select the Prompt For File Properties check box.
 * 4) Click OK

NOTE: In Microsoft Excel, you may not be prompted for file properties when you save your file if it was created from a template file.

If you are using Microsoft Word

 * 1) On the Tools menu, click Options.
 * 2) Click the Save tab.
 * 3) Select the Prompt For Document Properties check box.
 * 4) Click OK.

When you save a document for the first time, the Properties dialog box appears. When this dialog box appears, select the Save Preview Picture check box on the Summary tab and then click OK.



MORE INFORMATION
The following table lists which files you can view a preview of if you save a file without the "Save Preview Picture" option selected.

  If you click Preview in this program              You can see a preview of this ---

Microsoft Word                       Any file from any of the Office programs

Note that you may not be                                          able to view a preview of                                           a document if it has been saved with password protection. However, you may see a preview if you are using different versions of the product. For example, use Word 97 to preview a file created in Excel 7.0.

Microsoft Excel                      No previews available (not                                         even for Microsoft Excel                                         files)

Microsoft PowerPoint                 PowerPoint files only

If you click Open A Document on the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar, you see previews of Microsoft PowerPoint files only.

Additional query words: 8.00 97

Keywords: KB138430

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