<html><head><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.jetbrains.com/help/writerside/preview-topics.html.md/" data-react-helmet="true"/></head><body># Preview topics

Use the

Writerside Preview
tool window
to preview the topic you are working on exactly the way it will be published.

Procedure: Open the Writerside Preview tool window

Writerside opens the  Writerside Preview tool window the first time you open any topic in the editor. If you close the preview and want to open it again, do one of the following:

* Click the  Writerside Preview tool window button ![The Writerside Preview tool window icon](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/writerside/writersideToolWindowPreview.svg).

* From the main menu, select `View | Tool Windows | Writerside Preview` .

* Right-click any topic in the Table of Contents and select Preview Topic.

![Writerside Preview](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/writerside/single-instance-view-topic-preview.png)

By default, the preview shows the topic that is currently open in the editor, [syncs](#sync_scroll) the position in the preview to the position of the cursor in the editor, and instantly updates when you make changes to the content. If you are editing a topic file not in the current [instance](instances.html), a [library file](reuse-pieces-of-content.html#make-snippet-reusable), a [tree file](instances.html#tree-file), or any other file that cannot be previewed, the  Writerside Preview tool window will show the previous topic that it was able to render.

Click ![Pin the Preview](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/writerside/pin.svg) to pin the current topic in the preview. In this pinned mode, you can edit other topic files without the preview switching from the pinned topic. You can click the name of the pinned topic in the  Writerside Preview tool window toolbar to open it in the editor.

Click ![Copy Link to Preview](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/writerside/cwmInvite.svg) copy the link to the local preview if you want to share with someone who has access to the built-in web server on your machine. For more information, see [Share preview link](preview-and-test-docs.html#share_preview).

Click ![Find in Preview](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/writerside/search.svg) to search for words in the previewed topic. This can be useful when you include some content in a topic and need to make sure that it is in the output.

Click ![Refresh](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/writerside/refresh.svg) to refresh the preview. Usually, the preview should update automatically on every change in the previewed topic, but this button allows you to force an update in case it does not work.

Click ![Customize Website](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/writerside/brush.svg) to open  `[buildprofiles.xml](buildprofiles-xml.html)`  and customize the appearance of your documentation website. For more information, see [Customize output](customize-the-look.html).

To open the current topic and preview the whole help in your web browser, click ![Open in Browser](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/writerside/open_in_browser.svg) Open in Browser.

&gt; **Tip: Soft wraps**
&gt; If the  Writerside Preview tool window covers part of the source file content, you can enable soft wraps to prevent horizontal scrolling in the editor.
&gt;
&gt;
&gt;
&gt; Right-click the left gutter with line numbers and select Soft-Wrap to enable soft wraps only for the current file. Alternatively, select Configure Soft Wraps, enable Soft-wrap these files, and configure the file name patterns where you always want to have soft wraps, such as `*.topic` and `*.md`.

Procedure: Sync scroll

By default, the preview scrolls together with the editor so that you can see what you are editing. However, if you want to edit one part of a topic and view a different part in the preview, you can disable scroll synchronization.

* Click Options in the  Writerside Preview tool window toolbar and disable the Sync Scroll option.

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