What the preview is for
A buyer opens a preview to answer one question: is this the thing I need? They want to see the level, the layout, how much is on a page, whether there is an answer key and what it looks like. They are not looking for the cover again; the thumbnails already showed that. A preview that answers the question quickly sells; a preview that shows the same page 3 times, or only decorative pages, sends the buyer back to search.
Marketplaces treat the preview as part of the listing. The TPT seller blog calls a detailed preview one of the most useful things a listing can have. The preview is usually a separate file from the product, so it has its own size limits: Etsy, for example, takes up to 5 digital files per listing at up to 20 MB each, and a preview attached as an image or a file has to fit the same kind of limit. That is why the maker has a size target and lowers the resolution until the file fits.
Which pages to choose
- Start with what the buyer sees first in the product. If the resource opens with instructions or a contents page, one of those helps a buyer see the whole set at a glance.
- Show each kind of page once. A worksheet set with 3 kinds of activity needs 3 pages, not 10 of the first kind.
- Show the hardest or the most detailed page. Buyers judge level from the most demanding page, not the easiest.
- Show the answer key format, watermarked, so a buyer knows it exists and how it is laid out.
- Show versions such as colour and black and white, or a landscape page among portrait ones, if they are part of what is sold.
Keep the order of the product. A preview that jumps around makes a buyer work to understand the set. The maker shows chosen pages in the order you choose them, and Earlier and Later move a page in that order.
How strong a watermark
The watermark has two jobs that pull against each other: it should make the page useless as a printout, and it should not stop a buyer reading the page. A repeated diagonal line of your shop name at 20 to 30 percent opacity usually does both on a white worksheet. On a busy, colourful page a single large line across the middle at 30 to 40 percent is clearer. A small corner tag alone is easy to crop off, so it suits pages where the content itself is the thing to protect less, such as a cover.
The maker draws the watermark into the pixels of each page and saves the page as a picture at the resolution you set, 110 dpi by default. That is sharp on a screen and soft on paper, and there is no text layer to copy out.
Worked example
A seller has a 24 page fraction worksheet set: a cover, a how to use page, 6 pages on halves, 6 on thirds, 6 on quarters, a fraction wall in landscape, and 3 pages of answers. They choose 6 pages for the preview:
- Page 2, the how to use page, so the buyer sees the whole set described.
- Page 3, the first halves page.
- Page 12, a thirds page with the most steps on it.
- Page 18, a quarters comparison page.
- Page 21, the landscape fraction wall.
- Page 22, the first answer page.
They turn on the cover page with a 3 line list of what is included, use a diagonal watermark at 25 percent, and leave the target at 20 MB. At 110 dpi the 8 page preview (6 pages, the cover and the closing page) comes out at a few megabytes, well under the target, so nothing is lowered.
Common mistakes
- Previewing every page. A preview of the whole product, even watermarked, is the product. Keep it to a sample.
- A watermark that hides the content. At 60 percent and huge, the buyer cannot read the page they are meant to judge.
- Only decorative pages. Covers and borders tell a buyer nothing about level or layout.
- A file too large for the marketplace. Set the size target to the marketplace's file limit, or lower, before you make the file.
- Text that can be selected. Exporting a preview straight from the original document keeps the text layer. A preview made of page pictures does not.
The rules the maker follows for the preview, the watermark and the size target are on how it works.
Sources
- Seller Basics: TPT product listing tips to get more sales, TPT Seller Blog, 10 October 2024. Calls a detailed preview one of the most useful additions to a listing, and gives the cover size and thumbnail count. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.
- How to add files to a digital listing, Etsy Help Center. Up to 5 digital files per listing, each up to 20 MB. The page refused automated reading on the review date; the figures were read from its published summary. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.
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