A file will not open

If clicking a file does nothing, shows an error, or gives you a "No preview available" message, one of a few things is usually going on. Work through the checks below.

You see "You need access"

This means the file exists but has not been shared with your account. Eigen shows the owner's name so you know who to contact.

To ask for access, click Request access on that screen. You can add a short note before you send it. The owner will receive a notification and can share the file with you from there.

For more detail, see Request access to a file.

The file is not listed at all

If you expect to see a file but it is not in the folder, check the Trash. Eigen moves deleted files to the Trash rather than removing them straight away. Open the Trash from the sidebar to see deleted files.

If you find the file there, right-click it and choose Restore, or hover over it and click the restore button. The file goes back to the folder it was in before.

If it is not in the Trash either, it may have been permanently deleted.

The preview shows "No preview available"

Drive previews images, PDFs, videos, audio files, and most text and code files. For other file types, the preview overlay shows No preview available.

To work with the file:

• Click Open in the footer of the preview to open it in a new tab, if applicable.
• Right-click the file (or click its ⋮ button) and choose Download to save it to your computer, then open it with a suitable application.

The file opens in the wrong place

Different file types open in different ways:

• Documents, spreadsheets, presentations, boards, and chats open in their own app (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Stickies, Chat). If the app seems to hang on loading, try refreshing the page.
• Images, PDFs, videos, and audio open in the preview overlay in Drive.
• Text and code files (such as .md, .txt, .json) open in a text editor in the browser.

If you want to open any file in a new browser tab rather than the default behaviour, right-click it and choose Open in new tab.

The preview is slow or blank

A large file may take a moment to load, especially on a slow connection. Wait a few seconds and see if the content appears.

If the preview stays blank, try closing it and opening it again. You can close the preview by pressing Esc or clicking the dark area around the file.