Upload Files
The File content type is used to upload documents. Prior to uploading a file, please take the following into consideration:
- Ask yourself first if the document is really necessary. Can it be converted into a web page instead?
- Make sure that any PDF, Word Document or other type of document meets accessibility requirements.
Upload a File
- Go to the Shortcuts toolbar and select Add Content.
- Select File from the list of options.
- Enter a Title and Description.
- In the File Attachment section, click Choose File.
- Click Upload.
- Click Save.
- Use Save and add another to save time during repetitive content creation. This will save your file and open a new File content type.
The node you’ve created doesn't live anywhere in the navigation structure. It exists only to hold documents that you've uploaded. Once the file has been uploaded and the node saved, the next step is to create the link to it.
Link to a File
After uploading the file and saving, you will see there are two types of links:
- Attachment link: This is a dynamic URL that accesses the top file listed in the attached files. This link is listed first when you save, and will have "/attachment" at the end or the url.
- Attached files link: This is the the hard-coded URL of the uploaded document.
- Copy and paste the attachment link and use this link when linking to this file.
- Navigate to the page you want to place the link on, highlight your descriptive link text and click the link icon. Choose Internal Path or from the link type drop-down.
- Internal Path: You may type the name of the File Content Type into the Link field. This will bring up a list of your site content to select or enter the URL path for the file EX. node/10/attachment.
- URL: Paste the full attachment link in the URL field.
- Save.
Note: The Attachment link is dynamic meaning this link always points to the top document in your list. The first time you upload a document, there's only one attached files link. You may upload a newer version of this file and when you do the list of files will grow. The dynamic Attachment link automatically updates all links to this document throughout your site. Please See the "Rotating between Files" step for more details.
Add Icons to Downloadable File Links
Click the Advanced tab and into the Stylesheet Classes box type:
- For Word Doc: file-doc
- For spreadsheet: file-xls
- For PowerPoint: file-pps
- For text file: file-txt
- For PDF file: file-pdf
Rotating Between Files
You can rotate between files when you have several uploaded to the same File content type.
For example, you may have a course syllabus which rotates between fall, spring and summer versions. You may upload all three versions of the file to one File content type. Then simply drag the correct version to the top of the file list when the semester changes. When you use the Attachment Link to create a dynamic link to the top file in the list, you will not need to update the page hyperlink because the link is automatically updated.
