topic Re: Attachments in PMs in Community Site Feedback

Attachments in PMs

Anonymous — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 12:25:41 GMT

I tried to search before posting but nothing was found using 'Attachments in Private', or the subject title, but anyway can't we add attachment(s) to Private Messages!

Re: Attachments in PMs

HarryB — Mon, 18 Apr 2016 12:33:07 GMT

You can still insert images in to the message

Managed to get the second half of my sentence at the start in my test pm to you though

Re: Attachments in PMs

Anotherone — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 06:28:14 GMT

Inserting images into PMs had stopped working before launch. There's been no advise that the issues has been (properly) fixed, but I have managed to do some test PMs with images in, but it's a bit hit and miss along with Preview of PM where you can lose what you've entered.

Re: Attachments in PMs

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 06:47:35 GMT

@Anotherone - With some help I managed to get this to work, but it only appears to support images but for now at least it works for me.

Re: Attachments in PMs

Townman — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 14:24:55 GMT

Back to the OP's question - given that write a post and write a PM uses the same components, why is there no ability to attach files to PMs in the same way that there is for posts?

is this one for you @jaread83?

Re: Attachments in PMs

jaread83 — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 14:37:35 GMT

I can attach images to private messages without an issue but if its other things that need attaching like PDFs, XML, Word, Excel or anything other than images then I will need to raise a support ticket to include some kind of attachment to PM that will accept a wide range of file extensions.

Would you guys find this type of functionality useful for private messages? I think with normal posts you can attach files as an attachment just fine and they appear at the bottom of the message - this also helps mobile users attach files to posts.

If this is something you guys need I can add it to my feature list to get the ball rolling.

Re: Attachments in PMs

w23 — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 14:54:40 GMT

You can't attach .pdf files to posts? You can.

You can't attach .xls, .doc etc.

Re: Attachments in PMs

Townman — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 14:42:16 GMT

Jack,

It would certainly present consistency of functionality. For a use point of view, it would allow non-image objects to be passed privately to support staff.

Re: Attachments in PMs

Townman — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 14:46:21 GMT

@w23 wrote:

You can't attach .pdf files to posts?

We are discussing Private Messages - not posts, which does have this functionality.

Re: Attachments in PMs

jaread83 — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 14:59:55 GMT

I have added it to my enhancement list as this functionality would be very useful.

@w23, as you have already proven - you can insert pdf's into the attachment box. I think the main concern is that users might want to send sensitive documents to plusnet staff to better help them over PM rather than in public.

edit: i am aware that the attachments are limited for certain file extensions. this can be changed if there is a real need to attach those types of files.

Re: Attachments in PMs

w23 — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 14:59:22 GMT

Sorry, not paying attention.

As it stands, images can be placed in a message (not attached as files), could do with a file attach function please.

Re: Attachments in PMs

w23 — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:10:12 GMT

Ignore, multitasking is NOT efficient!

Re: Attachments in PMs

jaread83 — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:10:25 GMT

I can always increase the scope of filetypes for attachments if neede - what file types do you guys use for file attachments on posts? it is currently set to only allow jpg, gif, png, jpeg and pdf.

I can set it so you can upload whatever you want but this could open the community up to malicious scripts so I am not prepared to do that!

Re: Attachments in PMs

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:16:15 GMT

@jaread83 - Anything that's not directly executable would be my suggestion. Maybe with a caveat added to the message / post to remind the user to scan any attachments downloaded from this site regardless of source.

Re: Attachments in PMs

jaread83 — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:18:14 GMT

I'm thinking...

all MS office documents

all image file formats

PDFs

Any others?

The caveat would need to be added to the FAQs about scanning downloaded attachments.

Re: Attachments in PMs

Anotherone — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:22:01 GMT

Zip.& Txt. But we managed alright with the small selection on SMF. I'm not sure we should allow Word or Excel unzipped? There should be a size limit.

Re: Attachments in PMs

HarryB — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:24:29 GMT

There's already a size limit in place for attachments

Re: Attachments in PMs

jaread83 — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:24:47 GMT

The problem with zip files is that you can completely bypass the file extension filter by putting whatever you want into the zip file...

I could zip up a folder of files that contained .exe or .bat files that would do nasty things to your computer if you were to run them accidentally..

Re: Attachments in PMs

bobpullen — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:33:12 GMT

Must admit, office documents make me nervous.

Personally, I'd question anything that wasn't permitted on the SMF install:

Re: Attachments in PMs

jaread83 — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:34:08 GMT

@bobpullen - So its basically the same on here as what it was on SMF?