diff --git a/.github/workflows/create-release.yml b/.github/workflows/create-release.yml
index 7bcf820a8d8..02a4753f5f5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/create-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/create-release.yml
@@ -285,6 +285,16 @@ jobs:
       - run: |
           tar -zxf quarto-${{needs.configure.outputs.version}}-linux-amd64.tar.gz
           echo "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/quarto-${{needs.configure.outputs.version}}/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+
+      # Check for share/preview/quarto-preview.js
+      - name: Ensure share/preview/quarto-preview.js exists
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          if [ ! -f "share/preview/quarto-preview.js" ]; then
+            echo "::error file=share/preview/quarto-preview.js::Required file share/preview/quarto-preview.js not found. Check the windows build configure step."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
       - run: |
           tar -tzvf quarto-${{needs.configure.outputs.version}}-linux-amd64.tar.gz | head
           ls -lR
@@ -384,7 +394,24 @@ jobs:
           path: .
       - run: |
           tar -xf quarto-${{needs.configure.outputs.version}}-win.zip
+
+      # Check for share/preview/quarto-preview.js
+      - name: Ensure share/preview/quarto-preview.js exists
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          if [ ! -f "share/preview/quarto-preview.js" ]; then
+            echo "::error file=share/preview/quarto-preview.js::Required file share/preview/quarto-preview.js not found. Check the windows build configure step."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
       - run: Add-Content $env:GITHUB_PATH "$env:GITHUB_WORKSPACE\bin"
+
+      - run: |
+          tar -tzvf quarto-${{needs.configure.outputs.version}}-win.zip
+          ls -lR
+          echo $PATH
+        shell: bash
+
       - run: |
           quarto check
           quarto --paths
@@ -466,6 +493,16 @@ jobs:
       - run: |
           tar -zxf quarto-${{needs.configure.outputs.version}}-macos.tar.gz
           echo "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+
+      # Check for share/preview/quarto-preview.js
+      - name: Ensure share/preview/quarto-preview.js exists
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          if [ ! -f "share/preview/quarto-preview.js" ]; then
+            echo "::error file=share/preview/quarto-preview.js::Required file share/preview/quarto-preview.js not found. Check the windows build configure step."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
       - run: tar -tzvf quarto-${{needs.configure.outputs.version}}-macos.tar.gz | head
       - run: ls -lR
       - run: echo $PATH
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-smokes-parallel.yml b/.github/workflows/test-smokes-parallel.yml
index 624369b3e20..ef93a87d48c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-smokes-parallel.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-smokes-parallel.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,18 @@ on:
       - main
       - "v[1-9].[0-9]+" # run also on released version branch (for patch releases)
     paths-ignore:
+      # Don't run on PRs that only change these files that
+      # are not relevant to the tested features
       - "src/resources/language/**"
+      - "dev-docs/**"
+      # don't run on PR working on other workflows
+      - ".github/workflows/create-release.yml"
+      - ".github/workflows/performance-check.yml"
+      - ".github/workflows/stale-needs-repro.yml"
+      - ".github/workflows/test-bundle.yml"
+      - ".github/workflows/test-ff-matrix.yml"
+      - ".github/workflows/test-quarto-latexmk.yml"
+      - ".github/workflows/update-test-timing.yml"
   push:
     # only trigger on branches, not on tags
     branches: