Upload Files

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When you upload a file, such as an image or document, it will be attached to the current page. 

You can then choose to display the file on the page as a link, an image or embed it in the page (using a macro). 

To upload a file you'll need the 'Add Attachments' space permission.

Upload a file

There are many ways to attach a file to a page.  

In the editor you can:

  • Drag the file directly onto the page. 
  • Go to Insert > Files and images and upload a file.

When viewing a page you can:

  • Drag the file directly onto the page.
  • Go to > Attachments and upload a file.

You can attach multiple files at a time.  

Accepted file types and size

Confluence allows you to attach most file types, but you cannot attach a folder of files (including folders created by applications like Keynote - you'll need to export your presentation to zip or other format). 

Although just about any file type can be attached to a page, not all file types can be displayed on or embedded in a page. See Display Files and Images to find out more. 

The maximum file size you can upload to Confluence is set by your system administrator. By default it is 10mb, but your administrator may have increased or reduced this limit.


File versions

If you upload a file with the same name as an existing attachment on the same page, Confluence will overwrite the existing attachment. Version history is kept for all attachments. See Manage Files to find out more. 

Any changes you make to the source file will not affect the copy that was uploaded to Confluence. To update the Confluence copy, you need to upload the new version of the file.

What happens after a file is uploaded?

Text extraction and indexing

When a file is uploaded, its text is extracted and indexed. This allows people to search for the content of a file, not just the filename.

See Configuring Attachment Size for more information on how files are indexed. 

Thumbnail generation

When you insert an uploaded file into a page (for example a Word document, or Excel spreadsheet), Confluence will generate thumbnail images of the file contents, so it can be viewed inline in the page, or in the preview.  In Confluence Server, thumbnail generation is handled by Confluence. 

In Confluence Data Center it's externalised, and happens in sandboxes, to minimise the impact on individual Confluence nodes. This is because the thumbnail generation process can be quite memory and CPU intensive, especially for very complex files. See Document conversion sandbox for Confluence Data Center to find out more. 

Notes

(warning) We recommend you don't use special characters in page or attachment names, as the page or attachment may not be found by Confluence search, and may cause some Confluence functions to behave unexpectedly.

Last modified on Aug 13, 2018

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