Preview images directly in web client

Microsoft 365 roadmap 573367 · User experience · generally available · roadmap status “Launched”, phase General Availability

What Microsoft says

You can open image attachments in the Business Central web client without downloading the images first. Files display in preview mode with an easy to use viewer experience that’s similar to the print preview or PDF preview features. If you want to save a copy, you can download the image file from the viewer. This feature works across all areas of Business Central, including agents, email, and code from extensions. However, extension developers must add support for this feature using File.ViewFromStream for Business Central online, or File.View for Business Central on-premises. These methods follow the pattern of the File.Download method. Preview images directly supports the following types of image files: JPEG, JPG, PNG, BMP, SVG, WEBP, ICO, plus GIF and AVIF (both include animated versions). On the Safari browser, this feature also supports TIFF and TIF. The following are a couple of additional benefits: There is suport for GIF files as FactBox thumbnails, including animation for GIFs up to 48 frames. Thumbnail previews are clickable for images and the first page of PDFs, which open the previewer window.

Dates

• General availability: October CY2026 (2026 release wave 2)
• Public preview: not given
• On the roadmap since 2026-09-30, last changed 2026-09-30

Source: Microsoft 365 roadmap. Status words follow the roadmap.