| · | What are Attachments? |
| · | Sidebar: What happens when someone clicks on an attachment? |
| · | Sidebar: Virus Prevention Begins With You! |
| · | Adding Attachments to New Entries |
| · | Multiple Attachments |
| · | Editing Attachments for Existing Entries |
| · | Attachments in Restricted Categories |
| · | Sidebar: Copying the URL for a Link |
| · | What Happens to an Attachment When You Delete its Entry? |
What Are Attachments?
Attachments for blog entries are like attachments for email messages. In an email message, an attachment is a file included along with the message that you can save to your computer.
Pictured below is an email message with an attachment. This is how email messages look on the Mac's "Mail" program; they will look slightly different if you use different mail software.
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In most cases, messages with attachments are marked with an icon that looks like a paper clip. You typically open attachments by double-clicking on them.
Let's look at a blog entry with an attachment, as seen from the Main Page or one of the category pages. It looks similar to an email message with an attachment, right down to the paper clip icon:
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To see the attachments, your readers would either click on the paper clip icon or the entry's permanent link. Clicking on the paper clip icon takes you straight to the Attachments section of the entry's individual page. Clicking on the permanent link takes you to the top of the entry's individual page, from where you scroll down to the Attachments section.
The Attachments section of an entry's individual page appears just below the body. It lists all the attachments for the entry by filename. Each attachment's filename is a link; your readers would click on it to view or download the attachment.
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Adding Attachments to New Entries
You add attachments to entries in the Attach File(s) section of the Post or Edit page of your entry, which is located just below the Article Body section. The Attach File(s) section is usually hidden; click on the Attach File(s) link to reveal it.
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Once you have revealed the Attach File(s) section, you can start attaching files to the entry. In most cases, you'll probably want to use the Browse... button to browse your computer for the file to attach. If you're the really hardcore type, you can enter the full pathname of the file into the text field beside the browse button.
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Clicking the Browse button will make the File Upload window appear. Use this to browse your computer and select the file that you want to attach to the entry.
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When you select the file and click the Open button, the File Upload window will disappear and the full pathname for the file will appear in the text field beside the Browse... button. The file will be uploaded to your blog when you click the Save button to save the entry.
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Multiple Attachments
You are not limited to attaching just one file to your entry. To attach more files, click the More button to create more slots for attachments. Pictured below is what happens when you click the More button: an extra slot for a file attachment is created.
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You can get rid of the last slot in the set by clicking the Less button.
Don't worry about slots without files in them; the system will simply ignore them when you save your entry.
Editing Attachments for Existing Entries
When you go to the Edit page for an entry with attachments, the attachments for the entry will be listed in the Existing attachments list, located just below the Article Body section. For each attachment listed, you'll see a filename, file size and a Delete link. You can click on the filename to view or download the attachment and on the Delete link to delete the attachment.
Below the Existing attachments list is the Attach File(s) section, where you can attach more files to the entry. It behaves just like the Attach File(s) section in the Post page for entries.
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Attachments in Restricted Categories
Attachments in your blog entries are links. This means that they have URLs (or "web addresses", as a lot of people like to call them) which you can copy. If you want to someone to see a file you've attached to one of your entries, you can either give them the URL of the entry or just the attachment. If they want to see the attachment without seeing the entry, they can simply type the URL of the attachment into the address bar of their web browser.
What happens to attachments for entries in restricted categories? The idea behind posting an entry under a restricted category is that you want to limit the people who can read that entry to only those readers with permission.
Fortunately, attachments obey the same rules as entries in restricted categories: only readers who are logged in and have permission to view that restricted category can view attachments posted under that restricted category. Anyone who's not logged in and doesn't have permission to view the restricted category who tries to access an attachment in a restricted category by typing the attachment's URL directly into the address bar of the browser will get a "you're not authorized" message that looks like the one shown below:
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