Methods, systems and computer program products for content management and collaboration systems. Embodiments address handling remotely-stored preformatted previews of remotely stored content objects for display on a user device without having to store a local copy of the remotely stored content objects to the user device. A user operates a content object viewer that is provided as part of the operating system running on the user device. As provided, the content object viewer includes a graphical user interface for accessing files of the operating system. Using the graphical user interface capabilities of the content object viewer, the user selects a particular one of the remotely stored content objects. Upon such selection, the content object viewer displays a preview of the particular one of the remotely stored content objects without having to have a local copy of the particular one of the remotely stored content objects at the user device.