# Use IDOL Admin to View Documents

As an alternative to using the `View` action, you can use the IDOL Admin interface to convert documents into HTML to display in a Web browser.

To use IDOL Admin to view a document in your Web browser

1. In the Control menu, click View.
2. Type the document reference into the text box. The reference can be:

   - a document in the local file system, for example:
     `C:\Documents\report.doc`

   - a document on an intranet site, for example:
     `//intranet/report.doc`

   - a Web page or document accessible on the Internet, for example:
     `http://news.bbc.co.uk`

3. If your document references have a common format, you can configure a standard prefix in the IDOL View component configuration file to add to each document reference. If you select the Use reference prefix check box, IDOL Admin adds this prefix to the `View` action automatically.

   For more information on using the `ReferencePrefix` and `UseReferencePrefix` parameters, refer to the IDOL Server Reference.

4. Click View.

   The document opens in your Web browser.

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