Preview Generation Questions

Why are my previews taking a long time to generate?

File preview generation speed depends on several factors which include the type of files and web traffic. It is worth noting that the preview generation process starts after the upload completes so this may affect the overall time for availability of the uploads and preview to recipients. To understand more about how file types affect the preview generation speed, see the file types comparison we enumerated below.

These file types are quick to generate previews:

• Images
• Audio Files
  • Note: uploading more image/audio files affect the preview generation.

These file types take longer to generate:

• Videos
  • There are several factors affecting video preview generation which includes:
    • Length: longer the video the longer the preview will take to generate
    • Resolution: higher resolution video will take longer

Other causes of delays to consider:

• System demands, this happens during peak hours or busy times
• A large number of uploads by all users in the system
• Large uploads with a large number of files

What Can I do to mitigate this issue?

Option 1

As stated in the Why are my previews taking a long time to generate? there are several factors that affect the preview generation. By simply giving it some time to complete the upload(s), the preview generation normally follows. If for some reason the preview is not generated, consider Option 2.

Option 2

If the first option does not work, you may check the Status Page to see if there is a known issue on delays.

In the System Metrics section, find the region that you are uploading to, to see if there is a wait time. We have automatic scaling in place that reacts to the number of previews being requested in the system and will process more previews if there is an increased demand. This process may take a few minutes.

In this section, you should see some spikes in the graph as certain times are busier than others. Mornings, afternoons and end of the week seem to be popular for uploads, probably related to users finishing work or the early morning rush to meet business timelines.