The v2 imaging viewer is a fast, browser-based workspace for reviewing a patient's X-rays and images. You can open several images side by side, measure and annotate them, adjust brightness and contrast, and save a whole screen setup to bring back later. This guide walks through the viewer top to bottom.

Looking for a specific feature? Two companion articles go deeper on recent additions:

Open a patient, then choose Diagnostic v2 from the patient's menu. The viewer fills the page with three parts:

If your browser or graphics can't run the fast viewer, the page quietly falls back to the older viewer instead — you don't need to do anything.

The left panel lists every image attached to the patient, newest first, as thumbnails you can load into the viewer.

If a patient has no images (or none match your filters), the panel tells you so and links straight to the patient's attachments and imaging upload areas.

Newly uploaded images appear automatically. If you upload to Attachments or Imaging while this page is open, the new images show up in the list straight away — no page refresh needed.

There are two ways to get an image from the list into a viewport:

Clicking is the quick way; dragging is the precise way to say "this image, in that spot" (pre-op top-left, post-op top-right, and so on).

In the fixed layouts (single, splits, 2×2), any pane you haven't filled shows a dashed "Drag an image here" placeholder — that's your drop target. Remove an image from a pane with the ✕ in its corner, and the pane returns to an empty placeholder, ready for the next image.

In the Grid layout, images flow into a tidy grid and a trailing "+" Add image tile always sits at the end while there's room. Drop onto the "+" tile to add an image; drop onto an existing tile to replace it.

The View button (far left of the toolbar) opens the layout picker. Seven layouts are available:

You can switch layouts before loading any images — set up your grid first, then drop images into it. The keyboard shortcuts (Shift + a digit) work even with an empty viewer.

Some navigation actions are always available on the mouse, no matter which tool button is selected:

Pick a tool from the toolbar and it takes over the left mouse button; the middle/right/wheel behaviours stay put. Press Esc at any time to drop back to the default (Window/Level).

The current window width and level are shown in the on-image info overlay (see section 10).

In the toolbar's manipulation group:

Reset asks you to confirm, because it clears everything you've done to that image (framing, contrast, rotation, and any measurements/labels).

These tools draw on top of the image. Pick the tool, then click/drag on the image to place it. Most measurements show a live readout as you draw and can be dragged by their handles afterwards. The most-used tools sit directly on the toolbar; the rest live under More Tools (the "…" button).

Measurement accuracy: distances and areas are only true-to-life once the image has been calibrated (next section). On an un-calibrated image, measurements are in pixels/relative units, not millimetres.

Most radiographs don't carry the scale information needed to measure in millimetres out of the box. Calibrate teaches the viewer the scale using something of known size in the image.

Calibration applies per image, so calibrate each image you want to measure precisely. After calibrating, the Scale Bar (Shift + S) shows a meaningful on-image ruler.

Toggle the info overlay with Show/Hide Image Info (I, in More Tools). When on, each viewport shows:

Turn it off for a clean, uncluttered image (for example, before taking a screenshot for a report).

A saved view is a snapshot of your whole setup — the layout, which image sits in which pane (including panes you left empty), each image's framing and contrast, and your annotations. Set the screen up the way you like it and bring it all back with one click, e.g. a comparison layout you return to at every review appointment.

By default the viewer loads a standard-resolution copy of each image — pre-sized for smooth, safe on-screen viewing.

Use Original Resolution (in More Tools) loads the full-resolution file instead, for pixel-level detail. Turning it on shows a warning first, because:

Enable it only when you genuinely need maximum detail for the current session. Turning it back off is instant.

Export (toolbar, or Cmd/Ctrl + E) saves a flattened copy of the active viewport — the image plus whatever overlays you choose — back into the patient's record or down to your computer.

The export dialog offers:

Then either:

When two or more viewports are open, Link Viewports (Shift + L, in More Tools) ties them together so panning, zooming, and window/level in one pane apply to the others — ideal for comparing the same region across pre-op and post-op images. Unlink Viewports turns it back off. (The option only appears when there's more than one viewport to link.)

Tip: click inside the viewer once so it has focus. Shift+digit layout switches and Cmd/Ctrl combos work even while a text box is focused; the single-key tool shortcuts defer to whatever you're typing.

Tools

Display & orientation

Layouts: Shift + 1…7 (see section 4).

Save & export

(Mac shows ⌘/⇧; Windows shows Ctrl/Shift.)

A viewport is black after I loaded an image.
That means the image file itself couldn't be loaded (for example a file that isn't available) — it's not a viewer fault. Try a different image; if a specific image is always black, raise it with support so the file can be checked.

I dragged an image but nothing happened.
Release the mouse over a viewport pane — it highlights when you're over a valid drop target. Dropping outside the panes does nothing. A quick click on the thumbnail always works as an alternative.

Can I drag an image from one pane to another?
Not yet — drag-to-place works from the left-hand list into a pane. To rearrange, drop a fresh copy where you want it, or clear a pane with the ✕ first.

My measurements aren't in millimetres.
The image needs to be calibrated first (see section 9). Un-calibrated images measure in relative units.

Shift+number does nothing.
Click inside the viewer first so it has focus. The shortcuts map to the same options as the layout button.

A label looks slightly off after I rotate.
Text label positions can drift a fraction on rotation. It's a known, low-impact quirk — reposition the label if needed.

The date/time in the suggested save name looks slightly old.
It's stamped when the Save dialog opens. Just edit the name — anything you type replaces the suggestion.

I loaded an old saved view and the framing reset to fit-to-screen.
That view was saved while an earlier bug was active and its stored framing was unusable, so the viewer safely fits the image instead. Re-frame it and save again — new saves restore perfectly.