Agents and end users can send each other attachments through tickets. Zendesk Support accepts attachments from users sent in via the API, email, web form, Web Widget, and Web Widget (Classic) channels in your help center.
Administrators can configure how attachments are handled in a number of ways, including setting privacy rules, end user permissions, and attachment methods.
This article includes the following topics:
About email attachments
Agents and end users can add attachments when creating or updating a ticket, or replying to an email notification. The attachments become linked attachments, which are links to external files that can be used to download the attachments, if and when they’re needed. This is the default behavior for attachments sent by email and this is what happens when email attachments are not enabled.
If email attachments are enabled, the behavior is different. Agents and end users can send email attachments instead of linked attachments. Email notifications caused by creating or updating a ticket, or replying to an email, include actual attachments, instead of links to attachments. Email attachments appear as images and are a preview of the first page of the file.
- Inline attachment: You can drag and drop files into the body of an email or comment. The image of the file appears wherever you dropped the file.
- Appended attachment: Attachments that appear at the bottom of a comment and that send as part of the comment's email notification.
ticket.verbatim_description
), any
attachments originally sent by the end user will not be included in
the automated email notification.- Isn't included in the email notification. Instead, the recipient is notified that an attachment wasn't sent.
- Won't be visible within the ticket to end users.
- Will be visible within the ticket to agents but labeled with a malware warning and unavailable for download.
- Will be visible within the ticket to admins but labeled with a malware warning. Admins can download potentially malicious attachments and choose to override the restricted access for agents.
The sender does not receive a notification when an attachment is not sent.
When email attachment file size limitations are exceeded, links to attachments appear in email notifications instead (see Attachment size limitations).
Here are examples of what attachments look like to agents and end users.
Situation | Example |
---|---|
Linked email attachment in an email notification in Gmail account |
|
Email attachment in an email notification in Gmail account |
|
Attachment in the ticket interface in Support |
|
Malicious attachment in the ticket interface in Support (visible only to team members) |
Enabling email attachments for agents
The default attachment configuration allows your agents to add files to ticket comments and email notifications as links. You can allow agents to attach files directly to the comment. This type of attachment is stored in Zendesk Support and is accessible from the ticket interface. You can attach any file type you want.
You can also allow end users to add attachments to tickets (see Allowing end users to attach files to tickets).
- In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Settings.
- In the Attachments section, select Include
attachments in emails.Note: This setting does not appear and cannot be enabled if secure downloads is enabled.
- At the bottom of the page, click Save tab.
Once enabled, when an agent attaches a file to a comment, it is included as an attachment rather than a link. Only files attached to the current ticket comment are included in the email notification. Files attached to earlier ticket comments are not attached to later email notifications.
For information about how to send an attachment as an agent, see Adding attachments to ticket comments.
Allowing end users to attach files to tickets
You can allow end users to send attachments when filing a ticket or responding to an email notification.
The permissions granted to agents, described in Enabling email attachments for agents, apply to end users when this setting is configured. Additionally, inline attachments are available only for signed-in end users.
- In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Settings.
- In the Attachments section, select Customers can attach files.
- Click Save tab.
Enabling private attachments
Attachments usually aren't indexed by search engines or included in threat intelligence platforms (TIPs) unless their URLs are publicly shared, like in a help center article or within email notifications to users. Regular attachments to tickets are secured using a URL with an attachment token that is considerably complex and random, but are visible to anyone with the URL and token. When relying on this type of security, if an email notification is misdirected to someone other than the intended end user, sensitive information may be accidentally exposed.
If sensitive documents are attached to your tickets, especially identification documents such as passports and driver's licenses, you can enable private attachments. When enabled, agents must be signed in to view attachments.
End users can see private attachments in their tickets in help center because they have to sign in to view their tickets. However, the attachments will appear as links in email tickets. They'll need to click the links and sign in to the help center to view the attachments.
Note the following about enabling private attachments:
- Private attachments can only be used if Guide is activated. If Guide isn't activated, private attachments prevent end users from downloading attachments since they can't be authenticated.
- If you enable private attachments, it will disable inline images for users who aren't signed in, and it will also prevent agents and admins from being able to add inline images in Support. Inline images are disabled only for Zendesk hosted images and not images that are publicly accessible.
- When an attachment is associated with a ticket, visibility is restricted to users with access to the ticket.
- In the Zendesk Agent Workspace, this setting also applies to attachments sent as part of a live chat, but it does not apply to web, mobile, or social messaging attachments (see Securing chat attachments in the Zendesk Agent Workspace).
- In web and mobile messaging, private attachments are not currently allowed.
To enable private attachments
- In Admin Center, click Objects and rules in the sidebar, then select Tickets > Settings.
- In the Attachments section, select Enable secure
downloads.Note: Include attachments in emails doesn't appear and can't be enabled if secure downloads is enabled. Additionally, when you enable secure downloads, agents can't copy and paste images from their computer into ticket comments.
- Click Save tab.
Attachment size limitations
- The inbound email and web form attachment limit for a single file is 50 MB.
- The total of all outbound email attachments cannot exceed 10 MB. When these limits are exceeded, Support will process the attachment as a linked attachment instead.
- The outbound email attachment limit for a single
linked file is 50 MB. Up to 500 files can
be attached.
If you try to attach a file larger than 50 MB, an error message will display and inform you that the file is too large. The attachment will not be attached to the ticket (as either an email or linked attachment).
- When you upload GIF files with a large number of frames, the upload might fail with a timeout error. If this occurs, try recreating the GIF file with fewer frames.
For more information about attachment types, see About email attachments.
Attachments from earlier comments are included in email notifications as linked attachments. If you add multiple attachments to a reply, the attachments are prioritized based on the attachment type and size. Inline attachments take precedence over appended attachments when calculating size limits. Note that when inline attachments are sent as links, they still appear as images in the body of the email notification.
The scenarios below describe how this works.
Scenario 1
- Email attachment A (3 MB)
- Email attachment B (6 MB)
- Files A and B are included as email attachments.
Scenario 2
- Inline attachment A (5 MB)
- Email attachment B (5 MB)
- Email attachment C (4 MB)
- Inline attachment A is sent as an email attachment.
- Attachments B and C are included as file links, as they push the total email attachment file size over 10 MB.
Scenario 3
- Inline attachment A (5 MB)
- Inline attachment B (6 MB)
- Inline attachment C (4 MB)
- Attachment A is included as an email attachment.
- Attachment B is included as a file link, as it pushes the total email attachment file size over 10 MB.
- Attachment C is included as a real attachment, as it brings the total email attachment file size to 9 MB.
To change this setting, go to Admin >Manage > People > Roles and click Edit to the right of the agent's role.
40 comments
Amanda Gunn
Is there a list of file types that are accepted and/or not accepted that can be attached?
0
Brett Bowser
Hey Amanda,
There are no file type restrictions as far as I'm aware. If you're looking to restrict attachments, you can take a look at the Attachment Manager App which I've linked for you.
I hope this helps!
0
Amanda Gunn
Thanks @... I appreciate the info!
0
dave herder
Regarding:
Ok so agents, can still send attachments as "usual". What really changes is the fact that the end-user will have to login to the help center for them to be able to see the piece attached. If they don't have an account, that would be poor user experience.
Is there any way to customize the authentication source?
3
Daniel Eder
Hi there,
Is there really not a way to simply attach files to Social tickets - that isn't a workaround?
We have just upgraded our account and we are keen to ensure we can attach images in response to FB messenger enquiries - but seems this is still impossible!
Thanks
0
Chloe Geissler
Hi Daniel, Can you please confirm if your FB is EU or not? If so, there are restrictions there we can dive into.
0
Heike von PaulCamper
After chasing for an answer or solution, the answer of the zendesk support concerning problems with attachments was that they do not have some, and I should follow the releases. This is a main functionality, but if the ticket is in dialog or the customer put their attachment in the mail - you might not receive important messages. I now tell customers when I need to ask them to send me attachments in several ways and attempts that Zendesk has no solution for this. Disappointing for a big player in the helpdesk software industry - but the problems with attachments are getting around in forums etc. Maybe the boomerang comes back. With regard an Enterprise Plan paying customer.
0
WhatsApp Connector
Hello,
Beyond the capability to attach files, we have published the following app in the marketplace that adds tags depending on the file extension (ri_application/pdf, ri_application/docx, ri_application/jpg, etc.). It also adds a tag (noattachments) if there are no attachments.
https://www.zendesk.com/apps/support/respira-tag-files/
0
Molly Katolas
We just upgraded to Agent Workspace and are noticing that if the attachment is too big and a comment is submitted, the comment is sent without the attachment. Previously, it would throw an error and not submit the comment. Is this intended? It's causing grief for our agents who are posting comments without realizing the attachments aren't sending.
0
Elaine
I would like to take a closer look at your concern. I'm going to create a ticket on your behalf and let's continue from there. Kindly lookout for an email notification. Keep safe! :)
0
Joshua McNair
How can we add attachments to forms?
0
Dave Dyson
Ticket forms allow users to include attachments by default: see Designing your ticket forms for a better agent and end user experience
1
Anita Rajkumar
Allowing end users to attach files to tickets-
it will allow Max of 2mb not 5 mb (scenario 2)
Is that right?
0
Giuseppe
Hi Anita,
Ticket/email attachments should follow the limit specified in the article:
For web forms in Help Centers, there's normally a separate "Attachment" field where users can add their attachments:
And this should still follow the limitations set above.
Did some digging on error message in the screenshot you've sent and found that this limitation is present in Community comments (like in this thread):
Reference article: What are the attachment limits in Help Center?
Basically, users shouldn't receive this error in a web form when submitting a ticket and they should be allowed to upload attachments normally.
0
ecology0
This was all working fine until a few days ago. I have changed nothing. A picture attached to a ticket will not display in my browser (I have already cleared the history, and tried three different browsers). Pictures that were displaying OK a few days ago are no longer displaying. I get the broken image icon
If I open the same ticket in the app on my phone, the image displays OK, (so it's not an account settings issue, I've already checked, and user attachments are enabled), but I need the image files on my desktop computer. The files are small. I've tested with both jpg and png. Nether will display.
If I try to download a (non displaying) image, I get this error
Third party cookies are enabled (which is a separate, very annoying issue).
1
Dane
I would like to investigate on this one further. I have created a ticket for you and let's continue from there. Please wait for an email notification on it.
0
ecology0
I replied to the ticket. I have discovered that the issue is cased by my use of a VPN and I can reproduce (and thankfully solve), it at will, though it is annoying.
If you need to discuss the matter further, please do so by emailing the address I left in the ticket. That's the address that goes through our zendesk ticketing system.
0
Shawnna Innis
We are seeing an issue in our Zendesk instances that attachments are now all sending as links to the end users (although they show as files in the agent comments) in spite of having the setting "Include Attachments in Emails" configured correctly, file sizes being appropriate and no private attachment settings configured. This appears to have just started in the last three days - is anyone else experiencing this or know how to work around it?
0
Naresh Chevuri
Hi Team, I have created a form to submit a request for end-users, but in the description, the users are unable to add any image either an "insert image" option is not available. Tried copying and pasting directly into the description but no joy.
0
Dane
The option you are selecting is for the Hyperlink. Attachments is located below the form. First make sure that the option is enabled in Admin Center > Object and Rules > Settings.
0
Naresh Chevuri
Hi Dane,
0
Naresh Chevuri
@ Dane Adriano, Hi Dane, Please check and help out, how can we add attachments in the description only (don't have an icon to add any images or unable to paste the image directly) instead of going for another attachment field?
0
Naresh Chevuri
@Giuseppe, Could you please have a look at my issue and advise?
I was been waiting but "there is no response from Dane, Could someone help out me.
Why I'm not getting this additional icon in my form to add images or any attachments.
My form is limited and doesn't have an option.
The following settings are already enabled.
Regards,
Naresh
0
Dane
Hi Naresh Chevuri,
For immediate assistance, you can always contact us through Messaging,
I have created a ticket for you to continue investigating the behavior of your ticket form. Please wait for my update via email.
0
Naresh Chevuri
Hi Dane, Thanks for your reply!
0
Phil Kneller
Hi,
Our agents are having an issue when it comes to dragging and dropping attachments on to tickets.
If they have multiple tickets open, and they are working on the first ticket in the queue, dragging a file into this ticket does not work. Instead it will be attached the the next email in the queue.
No changes have been made and I can't see any settings that would have been enabled to make this happen.
Thanks.
0
Jason McDonald
Hi,
Some of our customers reporting today that they're not seeing attachments (paperclip attachment, not inline) on their end. You can see it in the Zendesk ticket but it's not showing on customer email.
Tested with my own personal email address and it appears to be the case.
After some searching I went to Admin Centre > Objects and Rules > Ticket Settings and enabled "Include attachments in emails" and it has resolved it.
No changes had been made prior to this issue occuring but we never had issues with attachments before today. Has there been an update or release that could have affected this?
0
Dane
When it comes to this kind of behavior, simply clearing the cache and history of the browser will resolve it. Once done and the issue persisted, please contact our support directly and we'll be glad to help.
Hi Jason,
Based on the behavior and how you resolve it, it's possible that you were using the rich text placeholders for your notification. Previously it was not working as expected, for it still sends attachments even though the option to include attachments is disabled. When a fix has been deployed it affected some accounts that have the similar settings as yours.
Hope this helps!
0
Elena Urday
Hi,
Is there any App that allows receiving tickets with bigger-size attachments (1GB)?
I appreciate any recommendations!
Thanks!
0
Mark
How about auto-detecting voicemail attachments from external addresses?
We have an existing phone number outside of ZenDesk which people call into to leave VMs. Our systems take the recording and forward it to an email address.
We can send these emails with the VMs attached into ZenDesk and have tickets automatically created from them, but the VMs don't get detected and transcribed, so it is not as nice and clean as using a ZenDesk number.
Is there any way to have these forwarded VMs detected and transcribed as though it was a ZenDesk number being called into and a voicemail left on it?
0