Getting started
Opening DICOM files
DN Viewer reads DICOM files directly from your disk — no conversion needed. You can open a folder, a ZIP archive, or your cloud-uploaded studies. All methods are accessible from the Open button in the top toolbar (or click the small caret ▾ beside it for more options).
Open a local folder
A left-click opens a system folder picker. Navigate to the folder that contains your DICOM files and click Open. DN Viewer will load all DICOM instances it finds in that folder and its subfolders.
Right-click the Open button (or click the ▾ caret), then choose Add Folder to workspace. The new folder's studies are added alongside whatever is already loaded.
Open a ZIP archive
DICOM studies shared as ZIP files (common from hospitals and teleradiology platforms) can be opened directly from the toolbar without manual extraction.
Select your .zip file. DN Viewer extracts it to a temporary folder and loads the studies immediately.
Choose Add ZIP to workspace from the same dropdown. Existing studies remain open.
Open cloud-uploaded studies
If your studies are backed up to the DN Viewer cloud, you can browse and download them directly from inside the app:
Click Sign in in the top-right corner of the toolbar and complete authentication. An organization account is required for cloud study access.
The cloud study browser opens. Select a study and click download — it loads directly into the viewer.
Export a study as ZIP
With a study loaded, click Open ▾ → Export ZIP, choose the study from the submenu, and pick a save location. DN Viewer packages all DICOM instances into a standard ZIP archive.
Network access
Connecting to a PACS or DICOM server
DN Viewer includes a built-in C-FIND client that lets you query any DICOM server (PACS, modality, or worklist) on your network and retrieve studies directly into the viewer.
Open the PACS search panel
Three ways to open the Search PACS panel:
- Click the Search PACS button in the toolbar (blue, left side).
- Press Q from anywhere in the app (when no text field is focused).
- The panel also opens automatically when the workspace is empty.
Configure your DICOM server
In the C-FIND panel, locate the server configuration section. Enter your PACS hostname or IP address, DICOM port (default 104), and the called/calling AE titles for your site.
Use the Echo / Verify button to confirm DN Viewer can reach your server (C-ECHO). A success response confirms the AE titles and network path are correct.
Enter patient name, ID, date range, or modality in the search fields and press Search. Select a study from the results list and click Retrieve to download it into the viewer.
Keyboard reference
Keyboard shortcuts
All shortcuts are active when no text input is focused. Tab cycles through the most common tools; number keys apply window/level presets instantly.
Global shortcuts
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Tab | Cycle primary tool — steps through Scroll → Length → HU Probe → Angle → Cobb Angle → Scroll. If more than 3 s pass between presses the cycle resets to Scroll. |
| Q | Open Search PACS — opens the C-FIND / PACS search panel. |
| Shift | Toggle Series Preview — shows or hides the series thumbnail strip. Detected on key-press edge (hold not required). |
| Esc | Radial tool menu — opens the circular quick-access menu centred on the screen. Press again or click outside to close. |
| F1 / F2 | Pane actions — handled per-pane (flip / rotate image in the currently hovered pane). |
Window / level preset keys
Press the number keys 1–5 to instantly apply a tissue-specific window preset to the active pane.
Speech-to-text shortcut (report pane)
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Alt hold | Start recording — hold Alt while the report pane is open to begin speech-to-text dictation. The mic button turns red. |
| Alt release | Stop & process — release Alt to stop. The button pulses orange while your speech is converted to text, which then appears in the Speech to Text box. |
Tools reference
Measurement & annotation tools
All tools are accessible from the Measure dropdown in the toolbar or via the Radial menu (Esc). Press Tab to quickly cycle the most-used ones.
Click two points to draw a distance measurement. Result shown in mm. Shortcut: Tab to cycle here.
Click to draw two lines meeting at a vertex. The included angle is displayed in degrees.
Four-click tool: place two endplate lines. DN Viewer calculates the Cobb angle between them for spine assessment.
Click-drag to draw an elliptical region of interest. Mean, min, max HU and area are shown in the overlay.
Places a circular sampling ROI. Adjust the radius (0 – 60 px) in the tool strip below the toolbar. Sync position across panes of the same study with the Sync toggle.
Left-click for positive prompts, right-click for negative prompts. AI segments the region and reports its area. Available with the AI segmentation feature.
Click to place horizontal level markers on MRI slices for spine-level labelling. Clear all markers with the Clear Lines button in the tool strip.
Click-drag horizontally to adjust window width; vertically for level. Or use keys 1–5 for instant presets.
Click-drag to zoom in and out. Also accessible from Image Tools in the toolbar.
Click-drag to pan the image. Tip: hold left + right mouse button and drag to pan from any tool mode.
Click-drag horizontally to rotate the image in-plane.
Opens a basic clinical calculator. Found under Measure → Calculator.
HU Probe options
When HU Probe is active, a secondary strip appears below the main toolbar with two controls:
- Radius slider (0 – 60 px) — drag to resize the sampling circle. 0 = single-voxel point probe.
- Sync ON / OFF — when Sync is on, placing the probe in one pane automatically mirrors its position to all other panes showing the same study.
Window & level
Window / level presets
Presets apply a clinically standardised centre + width combination to the active pane. There are three ways to apply them:
- Press number keys 1–5 (fastest).
- Click the ▾ caret next to the Window button in the toolbar.
- Open the Radial menu (Esc), hover over the Window button, and the preset panel slides out.
AI reporting
AI reporting & speech-to-text dictation
The DN Viewer report pane is a full AI-assisted radiology report writer. It combines speech-to-text dictation, AI rewriting, template auto-selection, report validation, and impression generation — all inside the viewer, without switching to a separate application. Features require signing in; AI generation and validation require an active subscription.
Opening the report pane
Click Sign in in the top-right of the toolbar. After authentication the button shows your email in green and unlocks all reporting features.
The report pane opens alongside your images. Click the same button to hide it again — your draft is kept.
Report sessions (desktop)
In the desktop app you can hold multiple report sessions open simultaneously — one per study. A tab row at the top of the report pane shows all open sessions. Click any tab to switch; click ✕ on a tab to close that session without affecting others.
Use the Open study in reporter dropdown to open a session for any study currently loaded in the viewer. Tick Follow active pane to have the report pane automatically switch to whatever study you are viewing in the image pane.
Speech-to-text
Speech-to-text dictation
DN Viewer provides two dictation methods: a desktop hold-to-speak shortcut for quick hands-free entry, and a mobile QR dictation session so you can speak from your phone while your hands stay on the workstation.
Desktop dictation — Alt key shortcut
With the report pane open, the mic button appears in the main toolbar. The quickest way to dictate is the Alt key:
| What you do | What you see |
|---|---|
| Hold Alt | Mic turns red — "Recording… Release Alt to stop". Speak your findings. |
| Release Alt | Mic pulses orange — "Processing… Please wait" while your speech is converted to text. |
| Done | Your dictated text appears in the Speech to Text box, ready to turn into a report. |
Prefer the mouse? Click the mic button to start recording and click again to stop — handy if you'd rather not use the Alt key.
Your dictation lands in the Speech to Text box, not straight into the report. That lets you read it over first, then click Generate to have the AI write it into the report properly.
Mobile dictation via QR code
If your workstation microphone is inconvenient, you can dictate from your phone and have the text arrive in the desktop report pane in real time.
Click the QR icon at the top-right of the Speech to Text box. A QR code and a short session code appear.
Point your phone camera at the QR code (or enter the session code on the dictation page). Your phone is now linked to this workstation.
Speak into your phone. Transcribed text appears in the Speech to Text box on your workstation in real time. Pause or resume the session from the QR icon button on the desktop.
Templates
Auto template selection
When you open a study in the report pane, DN Viewer reads the study description and modality (CT, MR, US, X-ray) and loads the matching report template for you — so you start with the right headings and structure instead of a blank page. If nothing in your template library fits, it drafts a suitable template for that study type automatically.
Choosing a template yourself
Prefer to pick your own? Use the Template box at the top of the report pane. Type a modality or study keyword to filter, then click a template to load it. The active template's name is shown above the editor. To start from a blank report instead, choose None.
AI rewrite
AI Generate — turn dictation into a report
Generate takes your dictated or typed findings and writes them into a clean, structured report — proper Findings and Impression sections, full sentences, and correct radiology terminology. You stay in control: nothing is changed until you review and approve it.
How to run Generate
Use the Alt hold-to-speak shortcut, click the mic button, or type directly into the Speech to Text box.
The AI drafts the report from your input. The button shows "Generating…" while it works.
Rather than overwriting your report, DN Viewer shows you exactly what the AI proposes to change so you can accept or reject each part. See Reviewing AI suggestions below.
Reviewing AI suggestions
After Generate (or Validate or Impression), DN Viewer shows the AI's proposed changes side-by-side with your report — your original text and the suggested wording, change by change. You decide what makes it into the report:
Take this suggested change — the AI's wording replaces yours for that part.
Keep your own wording for that part, unchanged.
Take every suggestion at once.
Discard the suggestions and keep your report exactly as it was.
Once you've made your choices, apply them to the report. Anything you skipped stays as you wrote it.
QA check
Validate — AI QA check
Validate runs a quality-assurance pass over the current report. It checks for consistency, completeness, laterality errors, and missing sections — and returns a summary with specific issues and suggestions for improvement.
Running Validate
Validate requires content — it will not run on an empty editor.
The AI reviews your report. The button shows "Validating…" while it works.
You'll see a short Summary, a list of Issues to fix (such as a side mismatch or a missing section), and optional Suggestions. If the AI proposes corrected wording, you can accept or skip each correction just like with Generate.
AI impression
Impression — generate from Findings
Impression reads your Findings and writes a concise, clinically appropriate Impression — pulling together the relevant findings, emphasising what matters most, and leaving out raw measurements. Only the Impression is updated; the rest of your report stays exactly as you wrote it.
Running Impression
Write or dictate the findings — the AI works from these to write the impression.
The AI drafts the impression and shows it for your approval. Accept it to use it, or skip it if you prefer your own wording.
Save & workflow
Saving reports, status & history
Saving and retrieving reports is available to organization members. If your account belongs to an organization, a workflow panel appears at the bottom of the report pane with save, status, and history controls. Saved reports are stored securely and can be reopened from any of your devices.
Saving a report
Click Save at any time — your draft is stored and the last-saved time is shown. If the same report is open somewhere else (for example on another workstation), DN Viewer warns you before saving so two people don't overwrite each other's work.
Report status
Each report carries a status you can change from the workflow panel:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Work in progress — fully editable. The starting point for every new report. |
| Provisional | A preliminary read. Still editable, but marked so colleagues know it's a working version. |
| Final | Signed off and locked — read-only. To make corrections, switch the status back to Draft or start a new report for the study. |
History & earlier versions
Every save and status change is kept, so you have a full audit trail. Open Version history to see earlier versions and click any one to view it. Close the history to return to your current draft.
More than one report per study
A study can hold several reports — for example a trainee's preliminary read and a consultant's review. Switch between them in the workflow panel, or click New report to start a fresh one while keeping the others.
Exporting — Download & Print
When the report is ready, share it from the workflow panel:
- Download — saves a Word-compatible file. Patient details (name, ID, study date, accession, modality) are added as a header automatically when available.
- Print — opens a print-ready preview with the patient header and full report, then sends it to your printer.
Adding from the AI assistant
When you ask the AI assistant (the Chat button) a question, you can click Add to report on any reply. DN Viewer drops it into your dictation box and runs Generate — folding the text neatly into your report, no copy-paste needed.
Viewer layout
Layouts, panes & views
Adjusting the number of panes
The Layout control in the toolbar lets you split the viewer into 1–8 simultaneous panes. Hover over the pane count or the ▾ caret beside it to reveal a slider and manual input field. Click the red ✕ to reset to a single pane instantly.
Saving and loading layouts
Set the pane count and load each pane with the series you want.
Give the layout a name. It is stored locally and appears in the ▾ dropdown beside Save.
Click the ▾ caret beside Save → select the layout name. For MRI: DN Viewer remembers which layout you used per study and reopens it automatically next time you load that study.
MPR and 3D views
Switch the active pane between views from the Radial menu (Esc) outer ring:
- MPR — three-plane reformatted view (axial / coronal / sagittal). Toggle the MPR crosshair/axes overlay with the Axes button in the toolbar.
- 3D — GPU-accelerated volume raycast. Toggle the same button to return to axial view.
Axes / crosshair toggle
The Axes button in the toolbar (green when active) shows or hides the MPR crosshair overlay. Useful when you want a clean view for screenshots.
Image tools
The Image Tools dropdown (toolbar) groups several utility actions:
- Overlay / Fusion — pick two series to overlay. Click the same series twice to fuse it with itself (useful for comparing window settings).
- Print Images — layout US series frames in a configurable grid and send to a printer.
- View DICOM Metadata — inspect all DICOM tags for the current study's first instance.