Adding and managing attachments

SECURITY  Access to the entity

SECURITY  For attachments to CRM entities, security level with CRM access and appropriate object permissions for Attachments

NAVIGATION  Multiple, see below.

About Attachments

Attachments are external files that are linked to one of the following Autotask entities:

  • Co-managing User
  • CRM Note and To-Do
  • Device
  • Device Note
  • Document
  • Expense Report
  • Knowledge Base Article
  • Note
  • Opportunity
  • Organization
  • Project, Task, Issue
  • Project Note
  • Resource
  • Sales Order
  • Ticket, Recurring Ticket

EXAMPLE  You can attach a resume to a resource, work instructions to a ticket, a project plan to a project, and scanned receipts to an expense report.

NOTE  When you add an attachment from most pages, you can also email the attachment to a contact, another Autotask resource, or any email address. You cannot email Resource Management attachments.

There is no limit to the number of attachments you can make to Autotask entities, like organizations or tickets. There are, however, limits to the individual file size and, in the case of attachments to email notifications, limits to the combined total file size of attachments:

Attachment process Individual file size limit Combined total when uploading multiple files at once
Files uploaded in the Autotask UI
Example: project or ticket attachments		 10 MB no limit
Files added to Autotask via the Outlook Extension 10 MB no limit
Attachments processed by Incoming Email Processing or ATES 5 MB* 10 MB*
Total size of incoming email, including attachments 30 MB n/a
Files attached to Email Notifications 10 MB** 10 MB**

* If an incoming email has a single attachment larger than 5 MB limit or multiple attachments with a combined total size greater than 10 MB, the ticket will be created, but the attachments will not be added. The attachments can be retrieved from the original email and manually added to the ticket.

**If a single attachment, or the total size of all attachments, is greater than 10 MB, the files will be attached to the notification in Autotask and the email will be sent, but the attachments will not be included in the email.

Autotask blocks selected file types that have the potential to introduce harmful viruses.

Autotask will not accept the following file formats: ade, adp, app, asp, aspx, bas, bat, bin, cer, chm, class, cmd, cnt, com, cpl, crt, csh, cshtml, der, exe, fon, fxp, gadget, hlp, hpj, hta, inf, ini, ins, isp, its, iw, js, jse, ksh, lnk, mad, maf, mag, mam, maq, mar, mas, mat, mau, mav, maw, mda, mde, mdt, mdw, mdz, msc, msh, msh1, msh1xml, msh2, msh2xml, mshxml, msi, msp, mst, ops, osd, pcd, php, pif, plg, prf, prg, ps1, ps1xml, ps2, ps2xml, psc1, psc2, pst, reg, scf, scr, sct, sh, shb, shs, sys, tgz, tmp, url, vb, vbe, vbp, vbs, vsmacros, vsw, ws, wsc, wsf, wsh, xnk.In addition, video files are not supported.

Adding attachments

  1. Navigate to the entity you want to attach a file to.
Entity Path
Contract Note Contract Note > Attachments tab > Add Attachment
CRM Note or To-Do CRM Note or To-Do > Add New Attachments > Add Attachment
Device

Device page > Attachments tab > New

Device page > Activity tab > New Attachment

Device page > Activity tab > New Note > Add Attachment

Document Management

 New Document and Edit Document pages > Add Attachment
Expense Report Expense Report > New Attachment

Knowledge Base

 New Article and Edit Article pages > Add Attachment
Opportunity

Opportunity page > Activity tab or Quick Add bar > New Attachment

Opportunity page > Attachments tab > New
Organization

Organization page > Attachments accessory tab > New

Organization page > Activity tab > New Attachment

Project Projects Menu > Attachments > New
Project Note Project Note > Attachments tab > Add Attachment
Resource Left Navigation Menu > Admin > Admin Categories > Organization Settings & Users > Resources/Users (HR) > Resources/Users (HR) > Resources/Users > context menu > Edit Resource > Attachments tab > Add Attachment
Sales Order Sales Order > New > Attachment
Task or Issue Projects Menu > Schedule > Task or Issue context menu > New > Attachment or Task > Activity tab or Quick Add bar > New Attachment
Ticket

Ticket page > Attachments tab > New

Ticket page > Activity tab or Quick Add bar > New Attachment
Ticket Note Ticket Note > Add Attachment
Time Entry Time Entry > Add Attachment

The New Attachment window opens.

NOTE  The appearance of the New Attachment page may vary slightly from the image shown, depending on the entity type and where you access the page.

  1. Populate the following fields:
Field Description
General
Add attachment to this ticket and its # incident(s)
(Problem tickets only)		 Select the check box to add the attachment to both the problem ticket and any associated incidents. This check box only appears when adding a note to a problem ticket that has at least one incident. For more information on problem/incident tickets, refer to Working with problem and incident tickets.
Type Select how the file will be linked to the entity. Options include the following:
Attachment: The file is uploaded to the Autotask server. Recommended if you want the file to be available to all users with access to the entity.
File Link or Folder Link: Saves the path to the file on your PC or network drive. Recommended if all users have access to the file location through a VPN.

URL: Saves the URL of a Web page, or a document on an FTP site. You must copy the complete URL and paste it into the field.

NOTE  URL attachments appear in Autotask as hyperlinks directly to the content. Since external Web locations can be a security threat, when a user clicks the link, a message opens to advise that the user is about to leave the Autotask domain. The user can choose to continue or not.
File* (required)

  • If you selected the Attachment type, click in the field, navigate to the file you want to attach, and click Open or double-click the file. In Firefox, Chrome, and Safari, you can drag and drop your file into the field. Refer to Drag and drop files onto the Attachment window (Chrome and Safari only).

  • If you selected the File Link or Folder Link type, copy and past the file or folder's complete path into the File/Folder field.

  • If you selected URL, copy and paste the destination URL into the field.
Name Defaults to the file name but can be edited. You can attach multiple files with the same name.
Publish to

The Publish type determines who can view notes or open attachments created by a resource (system notes visibility is determined by the viewer's security level). It is either inherited from the note type (but can be edited), or selected outright from the Publish To dropdown menu. The following options are available:

  • All Autotask Users: The note or attachment can be viewed by internal and co-managing resources, as well as customer contacts with Client Portal access to the parent entity. Refer to Adding or editing Client Portal security levels.
  • Internal Only: (not available to co-managed security levels when adding attachments) The note or attachment can be viewed by internal resources, except those who have a co-managed security level. Some entities where this is the only option have an Internal only check box.
  • Internal & Co-managing (tickets and ticket notes only): The note or attachment can be viewed by internal resources and resources who have a co-managed security level. Refer to Co-managed Help Desk (system). The following system note types default to this Publish To setting:
    • Absorbed Another Ticket
    • Copied to Project
    • Duplicate Ticket Note
    • Forward/Modify Note
    • Merged Into Ticket
    • If a co-managing user is sending an email and the mailbox configuration is set to Internal Only, it is published to Internal & Co-managed, regardless.
  • Project Team (project notes only): The note can be viewed by internal and client team members of the project.

Attachments without a Publish To selector inherit the visibility of the parent entity.

EXAMPLE  When you add an attachment while editing a ticket note, the ticket note's Publish To option is applied to the attachment.
Notification
Notification

Click to expand the notification form to email the attachment. Refer to Generating a manual notification

If the Notification section is located on the File Attachment page, you can attach the attachments to the notification email message. Refer to Sending attachments with a notification email.
  1. Click Save & Close or Save and New to upload the attachment.

An indicator bar tracks the progress of the upload.

NOTE  When uploading files to the server, Autotask checks the file size and type. If the file type is not acceptable or the file size is over 10 MB, an error message appears.

If you need to cancel the upload, click Cancel.

In Chrome and Safari, instead of browsing to a file you would like to attach to an entity, you can drag and drop the file. Make sure your mouse is right on top of the Choose File button before you let go.

Sending attachments with a notification email

When you add attachments to an Autotask entity, you can use notification emails to send those attachments to a contact, co-worker, or another email address.

NOTE  Notification emails can only include attachments to the parent entity, not random external attchments.

IMPORTANT  The size limit for attachments on emails is 10 MB. When emailing multiple attachments (ticket note, task note, and project note attachments only), the total of all attachments cannot exceed the 10 MB maximum. If you exceed 10 MB, the attachments are added to Autotask but not added to the email.

For most attachments, a Notification section appears in the File Attachment window, below the add attachment fields.

NOTE  For attachments added to most entities, if you are uploading more than one attachment (Save & New), each attachment is sent in a separate email. You must complete the Notification form before you click Save & New for the first attachment and again for each additional attachment.

  1. Before you save and close the New Attachment page, click + to expand the Notification section.
  2. Complete the Notification fields.

NOTE  The Notification Template field menu includes an Attachment Added template. In addition, the notification template forms for custom templates include Attachment Added events for each entity that includes the attachment email feature. The template forms also include a set of Attachment variables. For more on notification templates, refer to Adding or editing notification templates.

  1. Click Save & Close or Save & New. Your attachment is added to Autotask and emailed to the specified recipients.

Ticket notes, task notes, and project notes allow multiple attachments. The total for all attachments on one email cannot exceed 10 MB.

NOTE  When you add multiple attachments to the same email, to include the name or file path for each attachment in the email text, the notification template must use the Attachment(s) Summary: variable.

To add and email attachments for Ticket Notes, Task Notes, or Project Notes, do the following:

  1. Open the Add New Attachments section on the New Note or Edit Note page to open the File Attachment window.
  2. Upload one or more attachments.
  3. Open the Notification panel. In the Attachments field, select Include Attachments in Email.
  4. Complete additional notification fields as needed and Save & Close the note. For more information, refer to Notification panel.

When you add an attachment to a ticket note, task note, or project note, you can choose to include the attachment on the notification tab. The setting will be respected for internal and external users.

When you add an attachment to other entities, the Publish To setting will be respected. If the Publish To option is set to Internal Users, the notification email is sent to all recipients, but external users will not receive the attachments.

Managing Attachments

Attachments are accessed from and managed on the entity they are attached to. They can be located in an Attachments section, or on an Attachments or Activity accessory tab. Except on the Activity tab, all attachments to an item will be listed in a table. Context menu options will depend on the type of attachments.

Multiple attachments can be deleted at once by selecting the attachments and choosing Delete Selected Attachments from the bulk menu.

Select the context menu on an attachment to complete one of the following actions:

Menu option Attachment Type Description

Open in Browser

Attachment

Images and HTML files are opened in the browser.

 

If the file requires a desktop app (for example, a PowerPoint file), the Opening... dialog opens.

Visit Link

URL

File Link

Folder Link

For URLs, shows a Leaving Autotask message. Click Continue to open the URL in a separate window.

 

For File Link and Folder Link attachments, a dialog window with the path to the file or folder will open. The path must be copied and pasted into a browser or your File Manager.

Download Attachment

Attachment

An Opening... dialog lets you choose to open the file with a browser plug-in or to select the application to open the file with, and the file location.

Edit Attachment

All

You can edit the Name, Publish To and File or URL of the attachment.

Delete Attachment

All

 Select the Delete Attachment option, then click Yes to confirm the deletion. Deletion cannot be undone.

To delete an attachment, permission is required. For entities where you can configure separate Delete permission for attachments, Delete permission is required. Otherwise, Delete permission for the parent entity is required. For attachments to tickets and tasks, system administrators can delete any attachment while all other resources can only delete the attachments they added.

  • If the attachment was uploaded to the Autotask instance, it is removed.

  • For all other attachment types, the link to the file or URL is deleted, but the file, folder, or URL will remain.

Attachment History

All

Opens the Attachment History page. This page tracks changes to any of the attachment fields, who performed the action, and a date and time stamp.