Attachments are files connected to a specific document or object record. For example, you could attach a copy of a related email to a Product record. Any user who can view the document or object record can also view and download its attachments.
The actions you take, including downloads, appear in the audit trail.
Note: This article only refers to the Attachments section available on object records and documents. The Attachments section differs from Attachment fields on record layouts.
Adding Attachments
To add attachments to a document or object record:
- For documents and binders, open the Doc Info page and expand the Attachments section in the fields panel. For object records, open the record detail page and then expand the Attachments section.
- Drag and drop files from your computer into the blue area or click the Upload icon. If you upload multiple files, each file becomes an individual attachment.
- Optional: Click Add Description to enter searchable details for the attachment.
Note: Multi-file selection, either through the file browser or drag and drop, is not available with Internet Explorer version 8 (IE8) or version 9 (IE9).
Working with Attachments
To take any actions on an attachment, navigate to the document or object record and expand the Attachments section. Then, you can:
- View an attachment by clicking on its file name.
- Download a single attachment by clicking the Download Attachment icon. You can select any attachment version to download.
- Download all attachments by clicking the Download All Attachments icon. Vault creates a ZIP file with the latest version of each attachment. If your Vault uses target version-specific attachments, the downloaded file contains the attachment versions associated with the document version from which you initiated the download.
- View an attachment’s version history by choosing Version History from the attachment’s Actions menu. If an attachment has multiple versions, you can view any version by clicking the version number link in the dialog.
- Edit the attachment’s [description][4] by clicking the Edit icon.
- Delete an attachment by choosing Delete from the attachment’s Actions menu.
Versioning Attachments
Attachments support simple versioning using integer version numbers (1, 2, 3) beginning with one (1). When you add a new file to a document or object record that already has an attachment with the same filename and extension, Vault treats the uploaded file as a new version. To avoid creating identical versions, Vault assigns files a checksum value. If the checksum, file extension, and file name match, Vault ignores the new file and does not version the attachment.
If you upload an attachment with the same file name but a different file extension, Vault uploads this as a completely new attachment. For example, MyAttachment.pdf and MyAttachment.png are two different attachments.
Vault never checks previous versions of the attachment. For example, if you upload an attachment with the same file name, file extension, and checksum as a previous version of the attachment, Vault uploads this as a new version of the existing attachment.
Vault applies the same name format options that you select for documents to attachments.
Searching Attachments
Attachments won’t appear in the Library, custom document tabs, or custom object tabs, but you can include them in document or object record searches. To do this, you must use Advanced Search.
Searching with Version-Specific Attachments
When version-specific attachments are enabled and you include attachments in your search, Vault only returns the latest document version you can see. If a matching attachment exists on an earlier document version but not on the latest version you can access, Vault won’t include the document in the search results.
Reporting on Attachments
You can create standard and multi-pass reports on objects and documents with attachments. These reports contain an Attachments column that displays each attachment, if available, on the object record or document.
By default, the report filters the results to show the latest version of attachments. You can remove this filter to show each attachment version in the results. Or use the Version filter to include or exclude specific versions.
You can also include columns to view additional details on attachments, such as Version, Is Latest Version, Size, Last Modified Date, and Format.
Note: These reports are available only if an Admin creates an [Object] with Attachment or Document with Attachment report type with Attachment as a down object.
About Attachment Descriptions
Attachment descriptions appear alongside the filename to provide additional information to viewers. When searching, Vault looks at the description, as well as the filename. When versioning an attachment, Vault copies the description. The latest version’s description is editable, but descriptions from older versions are read-only.
Limits
Attachment 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.
Attachment 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.
Attachment Description
Attachment descriptions have a 1,000 character-limit.