# Stored previews and thumbnails

After a diagram is saved, a rendered preview is attached to it. That preview is what appears in exports, in search results, and for readers who cannot run a live render.

It is why a PDF of a page contains diagrams at all, and why an anonymous reader sees something rather than nothing.

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## When this matters

* Understanding why an export shows an older version.
* Explaining what anonymous readers can see.
* Diagnosing a diagram that renders on the page but not in an export.

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## The detail

| **Thing**              | **What happens**                                                          |
| ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| What it is             | An image rendering of the diagram, attached alongside the source.         |
| When it is written     | Shortly after the diagram is saved, in the background.                    |
| Who uses it            | Exports, search results, anonymous readers, and offline views.            |
| draw.io and Excalidraw | Get a preview too, which is what makes them visible to anonymous readers. |

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## A few things that catch people out

* A preview written a few minutes ago is what an export uses, so an export taken immediately after an edit can be stale.
* The preview inherits the page's permissions like any other attachment.
* If a diagram renders live but is missing from an export, the preview is usually the thing to look at.

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## Related

[What leaves your Confluence siteTwo things, and both are controllable.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/what-leaves-your-confluence-site.html)

[Domains we connect toWhat the browser and the app talk to.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/domains-we-connect-to.html)

[ExamplesWorking diagrams you can copy.](https://help.gocapable.com/diagrams/examples.html)

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_Ask us the awkward questions. They have answers._