diff --git a/app/main/views/notifications.py b/app/main/views/notifications.py
index 3ba0bb706..ca27f94f0 100644
--- a/app/main/views/notifications.py
+++ b/app/main/views/notifications.py
@@ -46,9 +46,8 @@ def view_notification(service_id, notification_id):
     notification = notification_api_client.get_notification(service_id, str(notification_id))
     notification['template'].update({'reply_to_text': notification['reply_to_text']})
 
-    file_contents = view_letter_notification_as_preview(service_id, notification_id, "pdf")
-
     if notification['template']['is_precompiled_letter']:
+        file_contents = view_letter_notification_as_preview(service_id, notification_id, "pdf")
         page_count = pdf_page_count(io.BytesIO(file_contents))
     else:
         page_count = get_page_count_for_letter(notification['template'])
diff --git a/tests/app/main/views/test_notifications.py b/tests/app/main/views/test_notifications.py
index a4034f4f6..0adbe6908 100644
--- a/tests/app/main/views/test_notifications.py
+++ b/tests/app/main/views/test_notifications.py
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ def test_should_show_image_of_letter_notification(
     mock_get_notification(mocker, fake_uuid, template_type='letter')
 
     mocker.patch(
-        'app.notify_client.notification_api_client.NotificationApiClient.get',
+        'app.main.views.notifications.notification_api_client.get_notification_letter_preview',
         return_value={
             'content': base64.b64encode(b'foo').decode('utf-8')
         }
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ def test_should_show_preview_error_image_letter_notification_on_preview_error(
     mock_get_notification(mocker, fake_uuid, template_type='letter')
 
     mocker.patch(
-        'app.notify_client.notification_api_client.NotificationApiClient.get',
+        'app.main.views.notifications.notification_api_client.get_notification_letter_preview',
         side_effect=APIError
     )
 
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ def test_should_show_image_of_precompiled_letter_notification(
     )
 
     mocker.patch(
-        'app.notify_client.notification_api_client.NotificationApiClient.get',
+        'app.main.views.notifications.notification_api_client.get_notification_letter_preview',
         return_value={
             'content': base64.b64encode(b'foo').decode('utf-8')
         }