4 Ways to Fix “Couldn’t Preview File” Error on Google Drive

Quick Tips

• If you are experiencing this error while opening a specific file, ensure the file you’re trying to preview is supported.
• Allow your browser to save cookies to avoid such errors.
• Temporarily disable your extensions and clear your browser cache if the error persists.

Try Basic Fixes

• Check if the file format is supported: It’s important to note that Google Drive cannot preview every file format. Go through the list of supported file types to ensure the file you’re trying to preview is supported. If your file format doesn’t appear on the list, you’ll have to convert the file into a supported format and upload it again.
• Open the file in a new window: Oddly enough, several users managed to preview the file by opening it in a new tab. On the preview page, tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner and select Open in new window.

Fix 1: Allow All Cookies

If you’ve blocked Google Drive from saving cookies in your browser, it may fail to preview files. You’ll need to allow Google Drive to save and read cookies on your browser to fix this.

Allow Cookies on Chrome

Step 1: Type chrome://settings/cookies in the address bar at the top and press Enter. Under General settings, select Allow all cookies.

Step 2: Make sure that Google Drive isn’t added under Sites that can never use cookies.

Allow Cookies on Edge

Step 1: Type edge://settings/content/cookies in the address bar at the top and press Enter. Turn on the switch next to Allow sites to save and read cookie data (recommended) if it isn’t already.

Step 2: Remove Google Drive from the Block section as well.

Fix 2: Sign Out and Sign In

If enabling cookies doesn’t work, you can try signing out of your account and signing back in. This will re-establish the connection between your account and the Google Drive server, which might help fix the “Couldn’t preview file” error.

Click the profile icon in the top right corner and select Sign out of all accounts.

After this, restart your browser and sign in with your account to see if you can preview files on Google Drive.

Fix 3: Disable Extensions

If you’ve been using any extensions on your browser to enhance your Google Drive experience, one of those extensions could be responsible for Google Drive’s failure to preview files. One quick way to verify this is by disabling all the extensions on your web browser and previewing the file again.

Type in chrome://extensions (Chrome) or edge://extensions (Edge) in the address bar and hit Enter. Toggle off all of the extensions.

After this, try previewing files again. If disabling extensions works, you can enable all the extensions one by one to determine which one was causing the issue.

Fix 4: Clear Browser Cache

If you’re still getting the “Couldn’t preview file” error, there might be an issue with the existing browser cache data. You can try clearing the existing browser cache to see if that solves the problem.

To clear browser cache in Chrome or Edge:

Step 1: Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete on your keyboard to launch the Clear Browsing Data panel.

Step 2: Select All time in the Time Range option and mark the box that reads Cached images and files and Cookies and other site data.

Step 3: Hit Clear data.

Once cleared, restart your browser, and you should be able to preview files in Google Drive.