Users will now see preview images of Teams chat attachments without having to open them. I see the productivity and even security advantages of reducing file access, downloads, etc. The preview functionality does not work for files marked Confidential or that a user does not have access to. It does raise questions that I was not able to find answers for.
Where are the preview thumbnails stored? Microsoft’s example preview is clearly readable. As such, it is essentially an image copy of the file. The previews have not yet reached my M365 tenant, so I could not poke about to find where Teams is storing the thumbnails. I bet that Tony Redmond already knows and will have it in his next release.
Are preview thumbnails actively synchronized with source file for retention, sensitivity and changes? Are they wiped when a file is removed from the chat? Do they linger until a service cleans them up? A cache of these ‘mini-docs’ in the Team channel OneDrive folder could be a discovery bomb.
Are the thumbnails OCR’d and indexed? I remember smart broker dealers using images and ‘white font text’ in messaging to hide insider trading communications during my Enron days. I can see many scenarios where a file could be previewed and then deleted to avoid compliance filters and monitoring.
Is viewing the preview logged in the audit log? Opening a cloud file changes metadata and is logged/monitored. That provides accountability as part of a relatively mature content management infrastructure. What if I drag a file to a chat window, view the preview and then delete it?
I hope to have answers to these and more questions when this functionality reaches my tenant. I will write it up in my Microsoft 365 Geek Guides.
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[…] Peek-A-Boo! Teams File Preview: Make that six stories, because Greg Buckles gave us two of them. As Greg reports, users will now see preview images of Teams chat attachments without having to open them. Also, Microsoft announced changes to transcript storage locations, default access permissions and more this month at Build 2024. Thanks, Greg! […]