Attachments (Sidebar Area)

When you have files that need to be available for your viewers, you can add them to your page as "attachments". They'll be visible in the right sidebar area. 

Before You Attach

Supporting files can be helpful, but have several disadvantages when compared to regular page content:

• They are not mobile-friendly
• They cannot be directly translated
• They are much more difficult to maintain (instead of just updating your page, to update an attached document you would need to find and edit the original document, create a PDF version of it, edit your site, remove the old version of the document, upload the new version of the document, inform anyone who may have had a link to the old document of the new URL)

Whenever possible, put your content directly into your page, not in a standalone document. 

When should you add attachments? It makes sense to provide content in a file if:

• The information includes graphics or images that may need to be printed or magnified (like a map)
• The file is too large or complex to be integrated into your website, like the detailed high school course guide
• The file is an official document that needs to be seen in its original format, like your school development plan

If you do need to add attachments to your page:

• Always convert the file to PDF so users can view it easily and at no cost
• Name the file clearly and concisely, don't use spaces in the name (e.g., School-Supply-List.pdf), and don't include the date or school year unless there should be multiple instances on your website at the same time (like School Council monthly agendas). 

Choose an Attachment from Your Computer

To add an attachment click on the attachments icon in the toolbar below the editing area.

To add an file you have on your computer, choose your computer in the Add Attachment dialogue box, then browse to the file on your computer and select it. The file name will be used as a display name, so ensure that your file is clearly named (as outlined above) before proceeding. 

Once you've selected the file, it will be listed in the Add Attachment wizard: 

If you don't want to add more attachments or change the attachment you just added, click Save to save your attachment and return to the page editor, or Back to return to the page editor without saving your attachment. 

Choose an Attachment from the Internet

It is possible to add attachments to your page from files online (like the CBE corporate website, Alberta Education, or other sites), but almost always a bad idea to actually do it. When you add a document as an attachment, a copy of that document is saved and provided to viewers who click on it, but if the original document changes at the source, your saved copy will no longer be the most recent document, and may no longer be valid. If a resource isn't "yours" it's best to add it to your page as a link, not an attachment. That way, if the document is updated (and the URL is kept intact) your link will always lead to the most recent version.   

If you do need to add an attachment from another source online, open the Add Attachment wizard, but choose  as you would to add an attachment from your computer, but choose From URL:

Add the full URL for the file you'd like to add (and making sure that it is publicly available), and then click Preview to add it to the list of attachments for your page:

Even if you enter the URL correctly, if you don't click Preview, the file will not be added to your list. 

If you don't want to add more attachments or change the attachment you just added, click Save to save your attachment and return to the page editor, or Back to return to the page editor without saving your attachment. 

Remove an Attachment

If you are still in the Add Attachment wizard and don't want to keep an attachment that you've chose, you can remove it by clicking the X next to it:

If you have exited the wizard, you can still remove an attachment in the page editing view. Any attachments that you've chosen will be listed below the main content area: click the X beside any attachment to remove it from your page:

Change the Order of Your Attachments

If you have multiple attachments, you can change the order they are displayed in. To do this, make sure you're in the Add Attachment wizard (you can't drag to change the order in the regular page editing view), and then drag the attachments into the order you'd like:

After the order is correct, click Save to keep the changes and return to the page editing view.