Attachments provide a simple way to upload and associate related files with existing documents or object records without the overhead of Vault’s full document management capabilities.
Unlike documents in Vault, attachments don’t have a document type, fields, lifecycle, workflows, or annotations. They won’t appear in document tabs or in reports, but they can appear in searches when using Advanced Search. An attachment is much like other files in Vault without the power and complexity of a full-fledged document. You can add any type of file as an attachment, but Vault can only render certain file formats for display in the viewer.
This article only refers to the Attachments section available on object records and documents. The Attachments section differs from Attachment fields on record layouts.
Note: An Admin must enable this feature for specific document types and objects.
Attachments on Documents
Vault allows attachments on documents, content placeholders, binders, and CrossLinks. When enabled, the Attachments section appears in the fields panel on the Doc Info page.
Version-Specific Attachments
Note: This feature requires enablement and configuration from Veeva Support.
Version-specific attachments build on Vault’s version-specific document relationship functionality to let you associate attachments to specific document versions. This setting can be:
- Source version-specific: An attachment relates to a specific document version
- Target version-specific: Documents relate to a specific version of the attachment
Version-Specific Attachments with Auto Carry Forward
Veeva Support can also configure version-specific attachment relationships to carry forward automatically. When enabled, versioning a document carries attachments forward to the new document version. Versioning an attachment assigns the new attachment version only to the current document version.
Attachment Version History
When both version-specific attachment relationship types are enabled in your Vault, you can filter in the Attachment Version History dialog to show attachment versions for the document version you’re viewing or for all versions of the attachment. To open the dialog, navigate to an attachment in the Attachments panel on the Doc Info page. Click Version History in the attachment’s Actions menu. All actions you take on attachments, including downloads, appear in the audit trail.
Note that in the Show all attachments view, you cannot delete attachments in the Attachment Version History dialog.
Attachments on Object Records
Object attachments are files connected to a specific object record. For example, you could attach a copy of a related email to a Product record. When enabled, the Attachments section appears in the object’s record detail pages.
Attachment Limits
Vault imposes some limits on document attachments.
Quantity
By default, a document or object record can have up to 100 attachments.
Files that you upload as attachments cannot have filenames which exceed 218 bytes, including the file extension. Note that one (1) character does not always equal one (1) byte. For example, the character “菌” is three (3) bytes.
File Size
Vault imposes the same size limits for attachments as for standard file uploads:
- Files must be under 4GB in size.
- Video files must be under 2GB in size.
File Name
Files that you upload as attachments cannot have filenames that exceed 218 bytes, including the file extension. Note that one (1) character does not always equal one (1) byte. For example, the character “菌” is three (3) bytes.
Description
Attachment descriptions have a 1,000 character-limit.