Uploading attachments

Xpand Portal gives portal members the ability to upload attachments in various formats. This helps portal members share information with each other or add required information in the form of an external file.

Uploaded attachments can be seen both by the member who uploaded the file and by other portal members.

You can upload attachments on a detail (card) page or grid page. Multiple files can be uploaded at once if necessary.

Depending on how the page is configured, attachments can be uploaded in a specifically configured field or in an attachment area.

Uploading attachments in an attachment area

If an attachment management area was configured for the page you are on, you can use it to upload attachments. This area normally includes an upload area, where files can be uploaded, and an overview area where uploaded files can be seen and managed. Depending on the attachment area configuration, the attached files can be for a selected record or for the whole page. 

Note For this feature to be available on a grid, detail, or dashboard (home) page, the corresponding page items must be added (within a detail layout block), and the role that you belong to must have permissions to use this ability on that page.

To upload an attachment in an attachment area on a detail page

1. Open a detail page that has an attachment area configured.
2. Drag a file to the upload area or use the Browse files action to browse for a file that you want to upload. Various file formats are supported.
   
3. Select OK on the message that appears.

Uploaded files are displayed in the attachment overview area, which is normally below the upload area.

You can use the  icon to refresh this attachment overview area to see whether new files have been uploaded.

You can use the Show grid  and Tiles  actions to switch between the grid and tile view correspondingly.

To upload an attachment in an attachment area on a grid page

1. Open a grid page that has an attachment area configured.
2. Select a record that want the file(s) to be linked to after you upload them.

   Note Depending on the configuration of the attachment area, attachments that members upload can be linked to a selected record or the whole page. If attachments are uploaded for a record, you will see a prompt to select a record first before uploading. If the attachment area was configured to upload attachments without the link to a specific record, you can skip the step of selecting a record.

3. Drag a file to the upload area or use the Browse files action to browse for a file that you want to upload. Various file formats are supported.
   
4. Select OK on the message that appears.

Uploaded files are displayed in the attachment overview area, which is normally below the upload area.

You can use the  icon to refresh this attachment overview area to see whether new files have been uploaded.

Uploading attachments in an attachment field

In this case, you upload attachments directly in a field that was configured for uploading attachments. Such a field can be added to a detail or grid page.

Note For this feature to be available on a grid page or detail page, the field data type must be Upload for the field where files are to be uploaded. On the detail page, if the field where attachments are uploaded was added as part of the extended field set, the image attachments can be viewed directly in the field value.

To upload an attachment in a field on a detail page

1. Open a detail page that has a record to which you want to attach a file.
2. On the detail page, in the field that was set up to upload attachments, select the action Select file (the action becomes available when you clack or tap on the field set up for managing attachments).
   
3. In the Open dialog window, browse to the file you want to upload, and then select Open. You can select multiple files if necessary.
4. Select Save to finish the uploading process and make the attachment available. The uploaded files are displayed in the field value and can be downloaded from there. The number of attachments is displayed next to the field.
   
   
   If the field, used to upload attachments, was created as part of the extended field set with the Image uploader data type, such a field may display an uploaded image directly in the field. Multiple images can be viewed as image gallery if it was configured so – use arrows to browse through images.
   
   

You can hover over the field to see the list of files in a tooltip. How the files appear in the field is configured in the field settings using a custom format string.

To upload an attachment in a field on a grid page

1. Open a grid page that has a record to which you want to attach a document.
2. Enable record editing.
3. On the record for which you want to upload a file, select the field that was configured for uploading attachments. If the data format string was set up correctly, and the field does not have attachments yet, the Upload Files prompt will be shown when you hover over a field with the Attachment data type. The prompt text is customizable and may be different in your case.
4. Select the action Select file that appears in the field.
   
5. In the Open dialog window, browse to a location, select one or several files, and then select Open. On grid pages, changes are saved automatically unless a specific action is configured for saving.

The file names are displayed in the field. You can select the field to see the attachments in a dropdown list.

Uploaded documents become instantly available for downloading by all members of the portal, depending on their role permissions. Uploaded files can be deleted from the portal if necessary.