Understand File Upload Field | Zoho Creator Help

Understand file upload field

The File Upload field enables your users to upload a file while submitting their data through your form. Your users can select the file either from their device (in the device's local storage) or from any of cloud storage services we support. The following is how a file upload field looks on a form:
  • When a user accesses from a web browser:
  • When a user accesses from a phone or tablet:


    Note: The files that you upload will be scanned for any virus before form submission. You will have to upload a different file if the uploaded file contains a virus.

Size Limits

  • When a user accesses from a web browser, the file upload field accepts a file up to 50 MB
  • When a user accesses from an iPhone or iPad device, the file upload field accepts a file up to 50 MB
  • When a user accesses from an Android device, the file upload field accepts a file up to 50 MB

The files that your users submit through your form are counted towards your account’s storage limit. Visit your account's  usage details  page to view the current storage details.

Uploaded file's name

When your users upload a file to this field, the file's name is set in the following format:

<unique_number>_<uploaded_file_name>
  • The file's name is prepended by an underscore (_) and a system-generated number that uniquely identifies that file in your account
  • The file's name will automatically be trimmed when it exceeds 150 characters
  • Whitespaces and other special characters, excepting hyphens (-), will be replaced by an underscore (_).

On accessing from a web browser

The following is an example of a file upload field when a user accesses from a web browser. Subject to the  browse options  you enable for your field, your users can upload a file:

To upload a file from local storage

  1. Click the  upload  icon. This will launch the device's file manager.
  2. Select the required file.

Alternatively, you can drag and drop the required file in to the field.

To upload a file from Zoho WorkDrive

  1. Click the cloud picker icon. The Cloud Picker  pop-up window will appear, displaying all the files and folders present in your  Zoho WorkDrive.
  2. Select the required field, then click  Attach.


To upload a file from Google Drive

  1. Click the  cloud picker  icon. The  Cloud Picker  pop-up window will appear.
  2. Select  Google Drive  on the left. If you previously connected with your Google account, the files and folders from your Google Drive will be displayed, and you will be taken to step six.
  3. Click  Authenticate Google .

  4. Enter your Google account's credentials.
  5. Grant Zoho Corp the permission to view and manage the files in your Google Drive. Upon a successful connection, all the files and folders from your Google Drive will appear.
  6. Select the required field, then click  Attach .
Note:
  1. The end users can connect with multiple Google accounts via the Sign in as a different user button near the top-right corner of the Cloud Picker pop-up window.
  2. The end users will be able to upload files from their Google Drive, if Zoho has access to their Google accounts. Refer to this page to learn more, including removing this access.

On accessing from a phone or tablet

The following is an example of how a file upload field looks when a user accesses from a phone or tablet. Your users will be able to:

To upload a file

  1. Tap the file upload field, then tap  Browse . This will open the recently accessed files in your user's device.
  2. Select the required file.

To upload a photo

  1. Tap the file upload field, then tap  Choose Photo . This will open the device's photo gallery.
  2. Select the required photo. This will close the photo gallery and let the end user preview the selected photo.

Scan photos and upload as a PDF

Users of iOS 13.0 and later  will be allowed to scan multiple photos and upload them as a PDF to the file upload field.

  1. Tap the file upload field, then tap  Scan Document .
  2. Capture the required images and click  Save .

Field properties

You can perform the following customizations for the user experience of the file upload field on a form:

Downloading files

URL format to download a file

A file stored in the file upload file can be downloaded using the following URL:

https://<domain>/<account_owner_name>/<appLinkName>/<reportLinkName>/<fieldLinkName>/download/<fileName>

where,

  • domain  will be DC-specific. For example, you'll need to use  creatorexport.zoho.com  if your account is in Zoho's US data center, and  creatorexport.zoho.eu  if in the EU data center.
  • account_owner_name  contains the user name of the Creator application's account owner and the link name of the application.
  • reportLinkName  is the link name of the report where the corresponding file upload field is displayed.
  • fieldLinkName  is the  link name  of the corresponding file upload field. 
  • fileName  is the corresponding file's name.  Learn more

For example, imagine that you've built a  Candidate Recruitment  app. In this application, you have created a form named  Candidate Details , where your users will enter the required details and upload their resume. When you access the  Candidate Details  report, you may want to view their resumes. To do this, you can configure a custom action in your report such that when you click the button  Download resume , the resume is downloaded as a file. This custom action has the above URL format constructed as follows:

BaseURL = " https://creatorexport.zoho.com" + zoho.appuri + "<reportLinkName>/<fieldLinkName>/download" + input.<fieldLinkName>; 
openURL( BaseURL, “window type”);

where,

  • BaseURL  is a variable that refers to the URL you have constructed
  • zoho.appuri  returns the application details in the format:
     /<account_owner_name>/<application_link_name>/
  • input.<fieldLinkName>  returns the  filename  of each file stored in the corresponding file upload field
  • The  openUrl  Deluge task is used to redirect the user to the specified URL. This URL can be opened in the same window, new window, parent window, popup window, or iframe

Now, when you access the  Candidate Details report,  you can see the  Download resume  button:

In the above image, Megan is the <account_owner_name> and candidate-recruitment is the <application_link_name>

Tip : This URL format can be used to download files from the field upload, image, audio, video, and signature fields

Download files in bulk using the file download tool


Note :
  1. The file download tool supports download of files from file upload, image, and signature fields as of now. You cannot download the files if these fields are in a subform inside the parent form.
  2. This tool is currently only supported for Windows.
  3. Ensure that you have ten or fewer authtokens in your accounts.zoho.com to avoid any username or password-related errors

Zoho Creator provides a tool that enables you to download all the files stored in a file upload field, at once. To use this tool:

  1. Download the tool and run it. Ensure to download the right tool:
    As  announced  recently, this tool will be completely phased out by November 30, 2020. Please reach out to us at  support@zohocreator.com  for file download related queries.
  2. Enter your  Zoho Credentials , then click  Sign In :

  3. Alternatively, you can use a pre-generated  application-specific password  and the email address used to log in to your Zoho account to sign in to the filedownloader.exe tool.
  4. Select the required  Application Name . This is the application containing the uploaded files.
  5. Select the required  View Name . This is the report in the specified application containing the files.
  6. Enter the  Field Deluge Name . This is the field link name of the required file upload field. Click on the " ? " icon to view field deluge names in your applications.
  7. Specify the  Local Folder Path . This is the folder where your files will be saved.
  8. Click  Download.

Once all the files have been downloaded, a success message will pop up. The downloaded files will be stored in the folder specified in the tool.

Known limits

When you access  file upload  fields via a form’s  published URL  or the  customer portal :

  • The field will be disabled when it is configured to only accept a file from cloud storage services (Zoho WorkDrive and Google Drive)

  • Your users will only have access to the upload icon when the field is configured to accept files from both, local and cloud storage




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