Managing Attachments

Introduction

For some of the articles in your database it may be necessary to include an attachment as part of the article. Perhaps you need to provide your users with a PDF document that contains more information about the article. With AutoKB's attachment feature you can add unlimited attachments to the database and each article can have an unlimited number of those attachments displayed with it.

Adding An Attachment

Attachments can also be added when you are creating an article. See the Managing Articles section of the software manual for details

To add an attachment, click on the Manage Attachments link in the control panel interface. If there are no attachments defined, you will be taken directly to the page where you can add an attachment. However, if you already have some attachments defined you will be taken to the attachment management interface. From there you can press the Add an Attachment button to access the attachment creation page.

Once you are on the attachment creation page you will see a form that you will need to fill in. Each of the form fields is described below.

Select File - You will need to select the file that you want to be the attachment from your hard drive. Click on the Browse... button to do that. This will bring up a file dialog where you can select the file that you want to upload.
MIME Type - This defines what type of file it is that you are uploading. If you do not know the MIME type you can select one of the predefined MIME types that are available.

Note Due to limitations in MySQL and PHP the maximum file size allowed is just under 1 megabyte.

Once you have filled in each of the form fields with appropriate values, press the Add Attachment button. Please note that this process could take several minutes if you are on a slow connection. AutoKB will add the new attachment to the database and you can now add that attachment to articles through the article management interface. You will be able to manage all of the attachments you create through the attachment management interface, which is explained in detail in this document.

Viewing Your Attachments

To see all of the attachments that currently exist in the database, click on the Manage Attachments link in the control panel interface. The page that comes up will show you all of the attachments that have been created. From this interface you can edit, delete, and view information about each attachment. Each of the columns is described below.

Filename - This is the name of the file as it was on your hard drive when you uploaded it
Size - This is the filesize of the attachment
MIME Type - This is the MIME type of the attachment
Actions - These are actions that can be performed on the attachment.
Click on the icon to download this attachment.
Click on the icon to see articles using this attachment.
Click on the icon to edit the attachment.
Click on the icon to delete the attachment.

Seeing Which Articles Use an Attachment

It is useful to know if any articles reference an attachment so that you can delete it if it is no longer used. You can click on the icon to get a list of the articles that reference each attachment. When you click this link, you will see something like this:

1. This is the ID number of the article followed by it's topic
2. Click this icon to see a simple preview of the article

Editing an Attachment

To edit one of the attachments, click on it's icon. AutoKB will load a page where you can edit the filename, mime type, and even upload a new file. The New File field can be left blank if you do not want to change the contents of the attachment. Once the fields have been filled in how you want them, press the Update Attachment button to save your changes. AutoKB will update the information in the database and display a message letting you know it is finished. Please note that this process could take several minutes if you are uploading a new file and you are on a slow connection.

Deleting an Attachment

To delete one of the attachments, click on it's icon. A javascript confirmation window will pop-up asking you if you are sure that you want to delete the attachment. Press the ok button to confirm that you want to delete the attachment. AutoKB will remove the attachment and any articles that referenced this attachment will be updated so that they no longer reference it.

Deleting All Attachments

To delete all attachments simply press the Delete All Attachments button near the top of the page. A javascript confirmation window will pop up asking you if you are sure that you want to delete all of the attachments in the database. Press the ok button to confirm that you want to delete all attachments. This will also update all of your articles so that they no longer reference any attachments.