Folder Thumbnails and File Type Icons in Public Archive

Folders in your Permanent.org Public Archive feature thumbnail previews of one of the files inside the folder. Files and folders in your Public Archive also include icons that indicate the file type. This article documents what each of those icons means and provides more information on how thumbnails are selected.

Folder Thumbnails

If you have organized your files into folders in your Public Archive, you will see a thumbnail preview of one of the files within a folder instead of a folder icon, depending on the file types in the folder. For folders with at least one image file, Permanent.org will choose an image file from within the folder to display for the thumbnail preview. 

Preview for a folder with image files

Folders that do not include image files will include a preview of one of the files in the folder, if a preview is available. File types such as Powerpoint slideshows, PDF documents, or video files can be used for thumbnail previews. It's important to note that previews for certain file types may not be supported in Permanent.org. For a list of supported file types, check out this article.

Thumbnail for a folder with a non-image file

If no preview is available for any of the files within a folder, the thumbnail will be a folder icon.

Thumbnail for a folder with files that can't be previewed

Folders that are empty display an empty folder for the thumbnail.

Thumbnail for an empty folder

For folders that contain more folders inside, the thumbnail will be an icon of multiple folders.

Thumbnail for a folder with folders inside

At this time, you are not able to manually select the photograph or file that is used for the thumbnail preview for the folder, but we're working on it! 

If you wish to use a particular image or file for the thumbnail preview, try one of the following hints:

1. Move all files except for the file you want as the thumbnail preview into a folder within the first folder. Leave the file you want as the thumbnail preview outside of this new folder. The top folder preview will now be the single file left within that folder.
   
2. Upload or move the file you would like to use for the thumbnail preview into the folder first before uploading or moving any additional files into that folder. Your Public Archive will use the first file with an available preview to set the folder's thumbnail preview. Make sure to load your folder on your Public Archive first before adding additional files, so that the system will generate the thumbnail.
3. Make sure that the file name of the file you want to use as the thumbnail preview is alphabetically the first file in the folder when you upload or move files into the public folder.

File Type Icons

Each file or folder includes a circular icon in the bottom right corner of the thumbnail. This symbol indicates what kind of file or folder it is. Below is a chart of the icons and what they represent:

Icon	Type of document
	Audio
	Chart or Slideshow
	Folder (with files)
	Image
	Spreadsheet
	Text document
	Timeline
	Video

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