Managing Attachments - How do you manage yours?

[RClerico]

Reading the different comments throughout the community, I don't need to harp or belabor the significance of the attachments management crisis in HubSpot.  However, I am guessing that people HAVE found workarounds to this, yes?  What are they?  The attachments section of any well used object record can be monumentous and fishing through the 'pile' is a time suck (and you may not even find what you need!).  Are there any tools or 3rd party apps available to allow for better organization of these documents? If the solution isn't a property where a specific file (or files) can be loaded, what is the solution?  TYIA!

[MNudo]

Yes, this is problematic for me as well.  For attachments, I'd like to be able to:

-Separate some off:  Maybe license agreements in one place, and in another a collection of key discovery call data points that I'd like to reference back to.  We have an internal form for this, and it would be great to upload it into either the Deal or the Company. But unfortunately, every single attachment sent/received through email is getting sucked into those bins.

I'm thinking of creating a Fake Contact associated with the Company, where the first name is the company name and the last name is the kind of document I'm holding there.  So contact ABC Co Legal Docs would contain that info.  I'd be sure this contact wasn't associated with any deals or any activities, just as a place to upload things into.  Sounds like an abomination, but I can't think of a better idea.  I looked through the knowledgebase and didn't see anyplace where I could house uploaded attachments other than getting lost with every other one.  

Ideally, if I could have a suggestion, I'd love to have a separate tab down the middle of Company that had a card or cards that you could name and then drag important attachments onto for future quick reference.

Cheers,

Michael

[RClerico]

I agree!!! I am DYING to have a tab in the center of any object where we can put attachments and label them with tags and the like.  It seems like it would be so easy!  What we have now is a dumpster where files go to die.

[Jnix284]

@MNudo and @RClerico it may not solve all of your file/attachment needs, but there is a new Improved File Property Experience beta that was just released.

For previously existing file properties, HubSpot will attempt to resolve existing values on file properties and show them as preview links in the file manager. Unresolved values will be highlighted in red, noting that the value doesn’t appear to reference a file.

Limitations to keep in mind:

A maximum of 10 files can be uploaded per property
Files uploaded to a file property have the same size and type limitations as files uploaded to the File Manager

This is the demo link from the beta and the KB for supported file types and sizes.

This is the original idea in the community where you can share further feedback.

[Jnix284]

Here's how to access beta's if you haven't joined one before

[Jnix284 · Accepted solution]

@MNudo if you want to separate attachments, with Enterprise you could create a custom object for "license agreements" and then add the attachment as a property for the record that you associate to each contact.

Custom objects are a great way to manage a collection of assets for other objects.

[RClerico]

@Jnix284 Thank you for your suggestion! Unfortunately, at this time, properties cannot be attachments.  It is misleading for sure, you "can" create a property for a file, but unless you bind that field to an online form, you cannot bring in a document.  It's a pickle!  Thanks again.

[Jnix284]

@RClerico that's correct, the file property is limited to attachments via forms, which has long been a pain point.

This is all about to change with a new beta!

[BérangèreL]

Hi @RClerico,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience regarding this. I would like to apologize for the frustration this has caused.

Thank you for your valuable feedback! This means a lot to us!

I’ve noticed a similar idea already present in our Ideas Forum: Attachments Section Improvements where I can see that our Product Team is currently working on improving this:

"I can confirm that the HubSpot product team is working on enhancing the records attachments functionality right now. We are looking to resolve the top customer needs in this space including displaying file metadata such as timestamps and file types and introducing ways for users to filter, search and sort their record attachments. We will share another update as we near release. More to come soon!".

To contribute, you can upvote the existing idea and share more details about your specific use case in the comments.

I also wanted to invite a couple of subject matter experts to this conversation: Hi @Bryantworks, @Josh and @Jnix284 do you have workarounds or third-party apps you can think of to help @RClerico, please? 

I have found this integration "File Attachment Associations" that might be of interest to you.

Thank you.

Have a great day!

Best,
Bérangère

[RClerico]

THank you for the quick response! I have up-voted the solution they are working on and hopefully these solutions will be released sooner rather than later.  Be well!

[Jnix284]

Hi @BérangèreL I haven't used any third-party apps for managing attachments in HubSpot. 

I upvoted the idea you shared - it looks like this is already in planning and the most recent update was at the end of January, sounds like we should see improvement soon!