---
key: preview-the-layout-a-person-gets-from-work-modes
title: Preview the layout a person gets from work modes
audience: staff
section: administration
routes: ["/settings/org/experience/:panelKey/:profileKey?"]
permissions: ["org.settings.experience.read"]
features: ["settings.org.experience"]
since: 0.0.1
updated: 0.0.1
status: published
summary: Try a record type, a team member, their roles, a mode and a profile together and see which mode, tab names, first tab and note and file folders Nova would give them, without changing anything.
keywords: [preview work mode, what will my technician see, test profile, check layout, simulate, work mode preview, experience preview]
related: [turn-on-work-modes, create-an-experience-profile, rename-record-tabs-for-each-work-mode, turn-on-folders-for-record-types]
---

In the sidebar, open **Administration**, then choose **Work Modes** under **Workspace**. On **Workspace Experience**, press **Preview** above the profile list. The panel opens at `/settings/org/experience/preview`. Pressing **Preview** at the top of a profile's panel opens it at the same address followed by that profile, with the profile already chosen.

Work modes, role defaults, personal assignments and profiles all stack up, so it is not always obvious what a technician will actually get. The preview works it out for you. Nothing you choose here is saved or changes anyone's layout. How the layers are set up is in [[turn-on-work-modes]] and [[create-an-experience-profile]].

## Before you start

- Anyone whose role can read experience settings can use the preview.
- **Enable experience modes** has to be on for the result to reach your team.

## Steps

1. Under **Preview context**, pick the record type in **Entity**, for example **Work orders** or **Accounts**.
2. Leave **Entity ID** blank. It asks for an internal record number that Nova does not show anywhere.
3. Under **User**, pick a team member to include any profile assigned to them personally. Leave it empty to preview by role only.
4. Under **Roles**, press each role the person holds. **Technician** is chosen when the panel opens.
5. To see what happens when someone picks a mode from their mode switcher, choose it in **Active mode**. **Auto** leaves the choice to Nova.
6. To try a profile before you assign it, choose it in **Forced preview profile**, and pick a team member under **User** so it takes effect (see below). Clear it to go back to **Use resolved assignments**.
7. Read the result under **Resolved surface**. It updates by itself a moment after each change; **Refresh preview** runs it again.
8. Press **Close** when you are done.

## What you see

- The four boxes at the top of **Resolved surface** show the mode the person asked for, the **Resolved mode** they actually get, the **Resolved profile** that applied, and the **Default tab** that opens first.
- **Labels** gives the names the person sees on the **Notes**, **Files**, **Access** and **Activity** tabs of that kind of record.
- **Surface behavior** shows whether notes open as a field log and files as field capture, the notes layout, and which modes that record type allows. **Visibility** shows **Activity on** or **Activity off**.
- **Routing health** has one card for notes and one for files: the folder new items are filed into, or **Workspace root (unfiled)**, and whether that folder is available.
- **Resolution trace** is a technical listing of every setting that took part. Copy it for Nova support if the result surprises you.

## If something looks different

- The result reads **Preview request failed.**: check your connection and press **Refresh preview**.
- **Resolved profile** is not the one you expected: a profile assigned to the person under **User assignments** wins over a role's **Default profile**, which wins over the **Organization default profile**. Choose the person under **User** to see that.
- **Resolved profile** ignores **Forced preview profile**: with no **User** picked, a pressed role's own **Default profile** wins over it today, and every role has one to start with. Pick a team member under **User**, or unpress every role.
- **Routing health** says folder routing is inactive: folders are switched off for that record type. See [[turn-on-folders-for-record-types]].
- Some boxes show a mode's short code rather than its name: `office` is **Standard**, `field_service` is **Field Work**, `cleaning` is **Turnover**, `inspection` is **Quality Review**, `dispatch` is **Operations** and `admin` is **Management**, unless you renamed them in **Mode catalog**.

[[route:/settings/org/experience/preview|Open the preview]]