Attachment fields in Airtable
  • 17 Jun 2024
  • 3 Minutes to read
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Attachment fields in Airtable

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Article summary

Plan availability

All plan types

Platform(s)

Web/Browser, Mac app, and Windows app

Related reading

Airtable terminology

Attachment - A file that's stored and displayed as part of a record. An attachment field is a type of field that allows you to attach one or more files directly to a record.

Adding attachment fields in Airtable

Adding attachment fields

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

  2. Create or open your preferred base.

  3. Add or edit a field.

  4. Search for select Attachment.

  5. Click Create field.

Uploading attachments in Airtable

Uploading attachments

NOTE

We currently support individual attachments up to 5GB in size. You can upload any file type into an attachment field, but only certain file types can be displayed within Airtable. Learn about which file types are able to be viewed in this article.

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

  2. Open your preferred base.

  3. Click the + icon in the record where you want to upload an attachment.

    1. A new window opens asking you to add an attachment—allowing you to upload from a variety of sources.

360081527074Addattachment.gif

NOTE

If you need to create new records by uploading attachments in bulk, please see Gallery view article which covers bulk attachment uploads.

Downloading attachments in Airtable

Downloading attachments

NOTE

Any base collaborator, of any permission level, can download the files stored in the attachment field if they have access to the base.

If you'd like to restrict who can download an attachment within a certain view we recommend creating a view share link with the "Allow viewers to copy data out of this view" option left toggled off.

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

  2. Open your preferred base.

  3. Expand the record hosting the attachment you want to download.

  4. Hover your cursor over the file name at the bottom of the record.

  5. Click the download icon.

NOTE

To download attachments in bulk, use the new Scripting Extension with this script that you can copy and use in your base.

Renaming attachments in Airtable

Renaming attachments

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

  2. Open your preferred base.

  3. Expand the record hosting the attachment you want to rename.

  4. Hover your cursor over the file name at the bottom of the record.

  5. Click the rename icon.

Viewing attachments in Airtable

Viewing attachments

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

  2. Open your preferred base.

  3. Select the record with the attachment you want to view/review.

  4. Click the arrow icon in the record’s top right corner to expand the record and attachment.

NOTE

A more detailed preview for specific file types is shown when clicking to view an attachment; otherwise, a placeholder image is displayed.

  • Airtable supports image file previews of basic image file types such as JPEGs, PNGs, GIFs, TIFFs, WebPs, etc.

  • Airtable supports document file previews of PDFs, DOCs, PPTs, XLSs, and basic text files.

  • Airtable relies on browsers to play audio files and is limited by what they support—most browsers support MP3s and AACs. ( More details.)

  • Airtable relies on browsers to play videos and is limited by what they support—most browsers support MP4s and WebMs. ( More details.)

Airtable does not modify the underlying file, which can be retrieved through the "Download" button. Sometimes, thumbnails or previews don't match the file's appearance in native software due to color profiles, resolution, fonts, etc.

Removing attachments in Airtable

Removing attachments

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

  2. Open your preferred base.

  3. Expand the record hosting the attachment you want to remove.

  4. Hover your cursor over the file name at the bottom of the record.

  5. Click the remove icon.

Reordering attachments files in Airtable

Reordering attachments

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

  2. Open your preferred base.

  3. Expand the record hosting the attachments you want to reorder.

  4. Drag and drop your preferred attachment to establish a different order.

Annotating attachments and comments in Airtable

Annotating attachments and comments

Attachment annotations let you leave comments on individual attachments to give fast, clear, actionable feedback for collaborating.

  1. Visit your Airtable homepage.

  2. Open the base containing the attachment(s) you want to annotate.

  3. Select and open the record containing your preferred attachment(s).

  4. Click on your preferred attachment to fully expand it.

  5. Enter your comment in the “Leave a comment” section to the right of your selected image.

Supported file types for annotation

Not all file types are supported. Additionally, certain web browsers may limit the ability to annotate file types that are otherwise supported.

  • Image types - JPEG, JPG, PNG, and GIF file types are supported.

    • Note that GIFs are treated like a static image and we do not support specific timestamps

  • Video types - We support videos that are renderable in the web browser being used to access Airtable. Primarily, we support H264 encoded mp4s. This Wikipedia page has more technical information about the types of video files you can expect to be supported on the browser you are using.

Supported audio attachment file types

Supported audio attachments

The table below shows commonly used audio file types and which browsers should support their playback. Our audio file support matches ExoPlayer's library.

 

Chrome/App

Safari

Firefox

Microsoft Edge

MP3

WAV

FLAC

M4A

AAC

MP4

✅*

✅*

✅*

✅*

OGG

 

OPUS

 

TS

 

 

 

AIFF

 

 

 

*File will play in an expanded record

FAQs

How are stored Airtable attachments accessed by colleagues and used by automations, API scripting, and other surfaces or third-party surfaces?

Please refer to this article that answers this question.


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