Real time preview only works upon saving

[Gooner]

The real-time preview option only works when I save the document in Dreamweaver. When clicking the real-time preview button, my page renders perfectly in Chrome. However, if I make changes to the page, the changes aren't reflected on the preview page in Chrome until I save the document in Dreamweaver. According to the documentation, the real-time preview should show my changes as I'm typing. It doesn't. Once I save, the page automatically refreshes and my changes are shown.

I shouldn't need to save for the changes to show.

Why isn't this working?

I have just installed the suite onto a new PC. It wasn't working on my Windows 7 PC and now it also doesn't work on a fresh install on a Windows 10 PC, so it must be a problem with Dreamweaver or its settings.

Any ideas?

Thanks

[BenPleysier]

Have you setup the site as per How to preview web pages in Dreamweaver

[Gooner]

Yes. Exactly like it says.

I have a testing server on my local machine, with the "Automatically push files to testing server" ticked.

The "Preview using temporary file" is unticked on the real-time preview screen.

The preview only ever updates when I save the open document.

[Nancy OShea]

Right.  You save document.  And if changes are not what you wanted, use Undo or Ctrl+Z to revert back.

[Jon Fritz]

Sorry, I had to un-mark Nancy's answer as correct.

Real-time Preview is so buggy, people think you need to save in order to see the changes.

Per Adobe's own help document "Real-time preview allows you to preview your pages in the browser and on mobile devices and view the changes in the browser or device in real time as you code". It then shows a handy dandy animation of how it's supposed to work.

How to preview web pages in Dreamweaver

Open in Browser (formerly Preview in Browser) is the function that is supposed to require saving in DW and reloading in the browser to view changes.

[Nancy OShea]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Jon+Fritz+II  wrote

Sorry, I had to un-mark Nancy's answer as correct.

Real-time Preview is so buggy, people think you need to save in order to see the changes.

No problem, Jon.

I use Wamp server locally.  Real-Time Preview doesn't behave right with my testing server.  I have to save first.  Hence, I rarely use it.  I prefer right-click, open in browser.

[Jon Fritz]

I hear you, I modded the PIB_Dynamic.js file so DW uses Open in Browser on F12 instead of Real-time Preview, because it never worked right for me.

It's a bummer but F12 from DW and F5 in the browser works fast enough without having to deal with the other issues in the Real-time Preview environment.

[anissa_thompson]

I also have had issues over the years with Realtime Preview; but your question made me really look at what we're tasking Dw to do. I always assumed RtP should work no matter where you were in the interface, but just today, I had to pay closer attention to what it does:

I was always trying to get this to work while making changes in Design View & Live View... never realizing it's meant for CODING previews.

I ran a test only working in Code View, with Chrome (v66.0.3359.139 64 bit), Opera (v52.0.2871.64), and Microsoft Edge (v 41.16299.371.0), and with 2 exceptions (Edge running a little slower, and all browsers needing the file to actually be saved in order to see the title change), everything worked as it should:

[Nancy OShea]

Annisa,

Are you using a local testing server?

[anissa_thompson]

I have mixed environments for multiple projects... local testing servers, online remote dev boxes, etc. The demo above is just a local file, sans testing server setup.

[Nancy OShea]

OK.

What the OP said.

I have a testing server on my local machine, with the "Automatically push files to testing server" ticked.  The "Preview using temporary file" is unticked on the real-time preview screen.  The preview only ever updates when I save the open document.

[divyab34389279 · Accepted solution]

Hi Gooner,

When you have a testing server defined, the previewed page in the browser is loaded from the testing server.

In order to see the changes you are making to the document in the browser, those changes have to be pushed to the server from where the browser will preview the page. If "Automatically push files to testing server" is ticked, this push will happen automatically every time you save the file being edited in DW . If not then you will have to manually push the changes to the testing server by doing a PUT operation in order to see the changes in the browser.

Please let me know if you need more information or clarification.

Thanks,

Divya B C