What the error means
The Document Center previews documents using the viewers installed on the workstation: Adobe Acrobat Reader for PDFs, Microsoft Word for Word files, and so on. If that viewer will not load inside Dentrix, you get “Unable to preview document” instead of the page. Because the preview depends on the workstation, the same document may preview on one computer and not another. Print preview in Dentrix reports is a separate feature, but it often fails for similar reasons: the workstation’s printer setup, its default PDF viewer, or a recent update.Common causes
- Adobe Acrobat Reader security settings. Yapi’s documentation describes the error appearing after an automatic Adobe update, caused by Reader’s Protected Mode and Enhanced Security settings.
- Windows or Microsoft Office updates affecting how Word documents preview inside other programs.
- No viewer, or the wrong default viewer, for that file type on the workstation.
- Printer problems for report print previews, such as a missing default printer or a driver Dentrix does not work well with. Henry Schein One recommends PCL5 printer drivers.
Workaround you can use now
- In the Document Center, open or export the document instead of relying on the preview pane.
- View or print it from the program it opens in.
- Delete any copy you exported to the desktop once you are done, because it contains patient information.
How to fix it
Ask IT first: the documented fix for PDFs turns off security features in Adobe Acrobat Reader. That is a trade-off on computers that open email attachments and websites. Your IT provider should decide whether to change it, on which computers, and what else to put in place. Do not uninstall Windows security updates to fix a preview problem.
PDFs: Adobe Reader settings (documented by Yapi)
- Open Adobe Acrobat Reader and go to Edit | Preferences.
- Select Security (Enhanced).
- Untick “Enable Protected Mode at startup” and “Enable Enhanced Security.”
- Close and reopen Adobe Reader, then try the preview in Dentrix again.