Real Time Preview suddenly stopped working.

[Sci-Fi Guru]

Using Dreamweaver CC 2017.0.1 Release, 9346 Build.  I am on Windows 7 x64 and this problem persists no matter what browser is used.

Real Time Preview has suddenly stopped working.  Hitting F12 for Real Time Preview while coding is very convenient and I have come to rely on it heavily.  This morning it suddenly started providing the following error:

You tried to access an external HTML page, which can not be opened on the device for preview. Open the page in Dreamweaver to preview the page on the device.

Went through the forums and have tried a few fixes, closing and restarting the application between, even restarting the computer.  These solutions have not worked:

• Deleting the Dreamweaver program cache: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/494811
• Restoring the default Dreamweaver preferences: https://helpx.adobe.com/dreamweaver/kb/restore-preferences-dreamweaver.html

I'm aware that I can manually load the page in the browser, but frankly, this is really inconvenient and I have come to rely on the Real Time Preview.

Are there any other potential workarounds to this issue?

[Jon Fritz · Accepted solution]

The new Live Preview relies on a connection to Adobe's servers to function correctly. Sometimes those servers are unavailable and it won't work. It may just start working again as suddenly as it stopped.

You can still use the old Preview in Browser by right clicking the file name in the Files window, or if your documents are set to be viewed as tabs, by right clicking the document tab itself and choosing "Open in Browser".

It's not the Live Preview, so it doesn't require a connection to Adobe to run.

Of course, you can also go into the browser and choose File > Open > browse to your file to open it directly.

[Niharika_Jha]

Hi,

We are struggling to reproduce this issue at our end so that we can fix it. Can you please help us with reproducible steps or a video clip?

Regards,

Niharika Gupta

Adobe Dreamweaver

[wcspaulding1]

I have this same problem, as I have reported here: Specify port number for Dreamweaver's server.

I use Windows 10. It works sporadically. It seems to depend on which port number is specified, but there does not seem to be a way to specify the port number. These instructions from Adobe do not work, partly because it is outdated ((How to troubleshoot issues with Device Preview in Dreamweaver 😞

Advanced troubleshooting

Couldn't launch the Device Preview service

Dreamweaver runs a local HTTP, node server for the Device Preview service on a random port assigned by the node. Device Preview will not work if one or both of the following is blocked by your system administrator:

• The random port assigned by the node server
• The IP address of the localhost, 127.0.0.1

Perform the following steps to address this issue:

• Relaunch Dreamweaver. In case Dreamweaver was unable to create the node server instance, restarting Dreamweaver will address the issue.If this doesn't help, proceed to step 2 and 3.

• Assign a specific port for the Device Preview services from the node server. You need to add this port number in a NodePort.json file along with the key for device preview. The process for doing so is described here.

Creating a NodePort.json file

• Create a file, NodePort.json, and specify the port number in the file in the following format:

  123	{“previewport” : <portnumber>}

  123	{“previewport” : 8010}

1. Save the NodePort.json file in the following path:
   • Win: %appdata%\Adobe\Dreamweaver CC 2015\en_US\Configuration
   • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Dreamweaver CC 2015/en_US/Configuration
2. Relaunch Dreamweaver.

[Niharika_Jha]

Hi,

This workflow is working at our end, did you restart Dreamweaver after specifying the port in NodePort.json file?

Also, let us know if you are facing the issue that is specified in the post above- grey background with the error message on Preview.

Regards,

Niharika Gupta

Adobe Dreamweaver

[wcspaulding1]

One thing that might work is creating the folder Dreamweaver CC 2015 and placing the json file there. Because I am using the latest version, this folder did not exist on my computer, only for Dreamweaver 2017. So I will try that and see if that works. Nonetheless, it should be easy enough to allow the specification of the port number under Preferences.

[wcspaulding1]

I tried putting the json file in the Dreamweaver CC 2015 file even though I have the latest version, but this does not work. They should take down that help page about the json file.

[Niharika_Jha]

Hi,

Since now you are using Dw CC 2017 for previewing then you should copy the json file in the following location-

%appdata%\Adobe\Dreamweaver CC 2017\en_US\Configuration

Regards,

Niharika Gupta

Adobe Dreameaver

[wcspaulding1]

That's what I did the first time. That doesn't work. Why is there not a Preference item that would allow me to set it? That would be much simpler and would not depend on the version.

[dalej1236639]

I can confirm this does not work as I we have tried adding the Json file on three different machines. It would be much easier to troubleshoot if DW used a specific port instead of randomly choosing one on startup.

[Kratika Agarwal]

Hi,

We have addressed this issue in our latest Prerelease build. The fix is available to try out in prerelease build.

Please go to the link Adobe Prerelease and install the latest build 11167.

https://forums.adobeprerelease.com/dwalpha/discussion/367/dw-latest-build-11167-is-availab le

Thanks

Kratika

Dreamweaver Team

[Kratika Agarwal]

Hi,

Dreamweaver 19.0 is live. It can be downloaded from creative cloud Desktop application.

Please refer to release notes:

Release notes for the 2019 of Dreamweaver CC

Thanks

Kratika Agarwal

Adobe Dreamweaver

[B i r n o u]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Kratika+Agarwal  a écrit

Hi,

Dreamweaver 19.0 is live. It can be downloaded from creative cloud Desktop application.

Please refer to release notes:

Release notes for the 2019 of Dreamweaver CC

Hello Kratika,

for information, CC desktop is running, everything seems to work as expected...... except that nothing indicates from these panels that it is possible to update Dreamweaver

[BenPleysier]

Update the app first.

[B i r n o u]

thanks Ben for the heads up... why should we manually check for update on a connected cloud application... so funny...

[Kratika Agarwal]

Hi Birnou,

Thanks for reporting. If you have Dreamweaver 18.2 or older version installed on your machine and you open creative cloud it should show update option in Dreamweaver, I am not able to see this issue on my machine.

What is the Dreamweaver version you have installed on your machine.

Thanks

Kratika

[B i r n o u]

hello Kratika,

I have DW 18.2 installed... and as Ben mentioned in another thread, I had to manually check the update of the application to get the right menu in front of the DW 18.2 application

and now, by pressing the update button, instead of updating DW..... the update process has installed a brand new version regardless of the existing version....

Now I have two versions of DW, 18.2 and 19... funny isn't it.... especially in the age of the cloud and installation transparency... progress... progress when you hold us...

have a pleasant day

birnou

[Kratika Agarwal]

Hi,

The Dreamweaver older versions doesn't get removed from machine if "Remove old versions" checkbox is unchecked from product auto-update menu.Please refer to Update apps to the latest release of Adobe Creative Cloud 

Open DW CTA menu and select > Manage > Auto Update > Advanced Options, if the checkbox "Remove old versions" is unchecked
"Remove old versions" would get disabled and older DW version should remain installed on machine

Thanks

Dreamweaver Team

[B i r n o u]

hello Kratika Agarwal​,

Thank you for your comments and sorry for the delay in my reaction, well there are some points that are little embarrassing about what you are telling me:

- since I have been using CC, i. e. from the beginning that CC appeared... I have never encountered this situation (the fact that the old version is in need of explicit removal)... and nothing has appeared in CC Desktop that from now on it should be done this way

- by going to the indicated parameters, there is not this new auto update feature (see the screen shot down below this mail)

so I don't even know if my CC desktop is up to date or obsolete.... and nothing inform me clearly about this situation, but this forum... ????

moreover... what is not very clear is that... what should be understood by old application... for example as far as I am concerned and concerning Dreamweaver, I still have three versions installed and needed....

- DW CS6 that I use in production

- Official DW CC (so in my case 18.2) for public forums and training purposes

- DW CC Next for prerelease needs....

in case the Auto Update box appears and suggests that I remove the old versions which would then be affected...?

I must admit that for a CC application this is quite confusing and not very intuitive, and integrated

thanks again for your attention and have a pleasant day

birnou