diff --git a/api/migrations/0010_item_file_thumbnail.py b/api/migrations/0010_item_file_thumbnail.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c005d2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/api/migrations/0010_item_file_thumbnail.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+# Generated by Django 1.10.5 on 2017-11-15 17:33
+from __future__ import unicode_literals
+
+from django.db import migrations, models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('api', '0009_auto_20171107_2250'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='item',
+            name='file_thumbnail',
+            field=models.ImageField(blank=True, null=True, upload_to='thumbnails'),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/api/models.py b/api/models.py
index 94e094f..1a6ab96 100644
--- a/api/models.py
+++ b/api/models.py
@@ -6,11 +6,17 @@
 )
 from django.contrib.postgres.fields import JSONField
 from guardian.mixins import GuardianUserMixin
-
 from tests import resources
-
+import pypandoc
+from pdf2image import convert_from_path
 import datetime
-
+import tempfile
+import requests
+import os
+from io import BytesIO
+import copy
+from PIL import Image
+from django.core.files.base import ContentFile
 
 ITEM_KINDS = [
     ('none', 'none'),
@@ -208,7 +214,7 @@ class Item(models.Model):
     end_time = models.DateTimeField(null=True, blank=True, default=None)
     file_link = models.CharField(null=True, blank=True, max_length=1000)
     file_name = models.CharField(null=True, blank=True, max_length=1000)
-
+    file_thumbnail = models.ImageField(upload_to='thumbnails', null=True, blank=True)
     collection = models.ForeignKey('Collection', related_name='items')
     created_by = models.ForeignKey(User)
 
@@ -218,3 +224,20 @@ class Meta:
             ("view", "View this item"),
             ("approve", "Approve this item")
         )
+
+    def save(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        if not self.pk:
+            # download file (get link from file_link)
+            input_filename = "test.docx"
+            midput_filename = "tmp.pdf"
+            with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as path:
+                midput_filepath = os.path.join(path, midput_filename)
+                pypandoc.convert_file(input_filename, 'pdf', outputfile=midput_filepath)
+                image = convert_from_path(midput_filepath)[0]
+                image.thumbnail((500, 500))
+                thumb = image.crop((0, 0, image.width, 250))
+                thumb.load()
+                thumb_io = BytesIO()
+                thumb.save(thumb_io, format='PNG')
+                self.file_thumbnail.save(self.title + '.png', ContentFile(thumb_io.getvalue()), save=False)
+        super(Item, self).save(*args, **kwargs)
diff --git a/service/settings/base.py b/service/settings/base.py
index bf20fbc..61cbaaa 100644
--- a/service/settings/base.py
+++ b/service/settings/base.py
@@ -191,3 +191,6 @@
 
 STATIC_ROOT = os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'static')
 STATIC_URL = '/static/'
+
+MEDIA_ROOT = os.path.join(PROJECT_ROOT, 'media')
+MEDIA_URL = '/media/'