topic Re: PDF Document Thumbnails Not Displaying (missing image icon shows) in HubSpot Documents Tool—even in Sales Hub Tools

PDF Document Thumbnails Not Displaying (missing image icon shows) in HubSpot Documents Tool—even for

JackDal — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:04:43 GMT

Hi Community,

I’m experiencing a persistent issue with PDF document thumbnails in the HubSpot Documents tool and would appreciate any help or insights.

Background:

Last year, I uploaded a PDF to HubSpot Documents.
Recently, I noticed that the thumbnail preview for the title page was missing when sharing the document.
When I tried to fix this by re-uploading the PDF (even after optimizing the file), the thumbnail for the preview file disappeared completely.
Now, when I go to the document link, all the slide thumbnails in the navigation are missing—just blank or broken images.
Clicking on the thumbnail image URLs returns a 404 error (“not found on this server”).

Additional Troubleshooting:

I tried uploading a brand new PDF (not just re-uploading the old file), and the navigation still comes up with blank thumbnails—no images are generated for any pages.
The PDFs display fine in other viewers.
I’ve tested in multiple browsers and cleared my cache.
The files are present in the HubSpot file manager and haven’t been deleted or renamed.
I’ve checked for any redirects or permission issues.

Has anyone else run into this problem with missing or broken thumbnails for PDFs in HubSpot Documents?

Is there a workaround or a known fix?
Is this a bug or a limitation with certain PDFs or HubSpot’s thumbnail generation?

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

Re: PDF Document Thumbnails Not Displaying (missing image icon shows) in HubSpot Documents Tool—even

JackDal — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 19:08:03 GMT

Link one of the many PDFs: https://hubs.ly/Q03vHwjf0

Re: PDF Document Thumbnails Not Displaying (missing image icon shows) in HubSpot Documents Tool—even

trevordjones — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 21:01:07 GMT

Hi @JackDal ,

This sounds like it could be an issue with compatibility, file corruption, or rendering. I would try one or both of these, if you have not already:

Generate your pdf at a higher level of compession to see if that helps.
Where possible, use a different method or app to generate the pdf file.
Make sure the resolution on the document is 1920 x 1080.

I hope this helps!

Re: PDF Document Thumbnails Not Displaying (missing image icon shows) in HubSpot Documents Tool—even

JackDal — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 18:23:43 GMT

Thanks, Trevor. I would have thought the same, however, all of the thumbs worked for at least 7 or 8 months before I took a break from HubSpot, and on my return, they were no longer working.

Re: PDF Document Thumbnails Not Displaying (missing image icon shows) in HubSpot Documents Tool—even

JackDal — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 18:36:55 GMT

Cancel that - they are back!

Just a glitch I suppose.

Thanks for the help!!!

Re: PDF Document Thumbnails Not Displaying (missing image icon shows) in HubSpot Documents Tool—even

DCarter60 — Sun, 14 Sep 2025 13:14:42 GMT

Hi, I ran into this too recently—thumbnails not showing for PDFs in HubSpot Documents, even for new uploads. It seems to be a bug on HubSpot’s end, especially if the preview images return 404 errors.

What I found helps:

Try converting the PDF to a different version (like PDF/A or PDF 1.4) before uploading.
Make sure the first page doesn’t have transparency or unusual fonts.
If that doesn’t work, contact HubSpot Support—they confirmed it was a known issue in my case and regenerated the previews manually.

Hope this helps!