How to share files and photos in chat

You can add files and photos to any message in What is chat?, from the paperclip beside the message box or by pasting a screenshot. Photos arrive as pictures you can open full screen; everything else arrives as a file to download.

How do you attach a file?

Click the paperclip (Attach files) and pick one or more files. Each one appears above the Send button as a chip with a thumbnail for photos, its name and its size, and a moving bar while it uploads.

To take one off before sending, click the × on its chip.

A message can be files alone with no text, which is usually what you want when the photo is the point.

Can you paste a screenshot?

Yes. Copy a screenshot or image, click in the message box and paste. It becomes a chip, the same as a file picked with the paperclip.

That is the quickest way to share what is on your screen: take the screenshot, paste, add a line of text and press Enter.

How many files can one message carry?

Up to 10 files per message, each up to 25 MB. Going over either one tells you which: "You can attach up to 10 files per message." or "Each file must be 25 MB or smaller."

For more than ten, send them across two messages.

What if a file is still uploading?

Wait for the chips to finish before you press Enter. If you send early, Tideswell asks you to hang on while the files upload, and keeps your message in the box.

A file that could not upload shows Failed on its chip. Remove it with the × and attach it again.

How do sent photos look?

One photo shows as a single picture at its own shape. Several arrive as a tidy grid of up to four, with a +N on the last tile when there are more.

Click any of them to open the full-screen viewer:

• Zoom with the scroll wheel, the Zoom in and Zoom out buttons, or a double-click.
• Drag to move around a zoomed photo. Click the percentage to reset the zoom.
• Move between photos with the left and right arrow keys or the on-screen arrows.

Close it with Esc, the ×, or a click outside the photo.

Why did my photo come out smaller than the original?

Tideswell shrinks large photos before they upload. A JPEG, PNG or WebP photo over about 200 KB is resized so its longest edge is at most 2,048 pixels. That keeps a channel full of product shots quick to load on a phone.

GIFs are sent as they are, so an animated GIF still moves. To send a photo at full size, such as a print file, put it in a .zip file first; it then arrives as a download at its original size.

Which files show as pictures?

PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF and AVIF show as pictures. Every other file, such as a PDF, a spreadsheet or an SVG, arrives as a chip with its name and size. Click it to download.

Who can open a shared file?

Only people who can see the channel, checked each time someone opens the file. Someone who loses access to a channel loses access to its files too.

Can you send photos from the iPhone app?

Yes. In a channel, tap Add a photo beside the message box, then Take photo to use the camera or Choose photo to pick from your library. See How to use chat and tasks on your phone.

When should the file live somewhere else?

When it belongs to a thing rather than a conversation.

A mill's spec sheet belongs under Documents on the Portside Mills supplier page. A photo of a fault belongs in a File field on the Repairs record. A file attached to the work is found by whoever opens the work; a file in a channel is found only by whoever remembers which channel.

To attach to a task, see How to add files and comments to a task. A task you make from a message brings that message's files with it, per How to turn a conversation into work. For anything you will write around rather than just store, see What are documents?.