# Attachments
> Put a file, a recording or something you already made into a conversation — and know who can see it afterwards.
Source: https://endless.app/docs/chat/attachments
Anything you attach to a message becomes part of the conversation: Endless looks at it, works
from it, and can come back to it later in the same chat.
## Four ways to attach something
**"Open add menu"** next to the composer, then **"Attachments"** — described
as *"Choose from your library or upload files"*.
Drag files anywhere over the chat: *"Drop files to attach"*, *"Drop anywhere
to add them to your prompt"*.
Paste a screenshot or a copied image straight into the composer. A copy that
also carries text — a spreadsheet selection, say — pastes as text instead.
The same **"Attachments"** row opens a picker over your **Library**, with an
**"Upload file"** button beside the search for a fresh upload.
The picker is titled **"Attachments"** and offers the Library's search and filters, so you can
narrow it down by type and the rest before you pick.
Existing work is reached through that picker, not through `@`. Mentions bring
in projects, transcripts and models; files come from the add menu. See
[Mentions](/docs/chat/mentions).
## What you can attach
Images, video, audio, and documents and text files — PDF, Word, Excel, csv, markdown, plain
text, JSON and similar. Video and audio can be up to **2 GB** each and everything else up to
**100 MB**; a file over its limit is refused with a message naming the file and the limit. You
can attach up to **20 files at once**; ask for more in one go and the whole
batch is refused with *"You can upload up to 20 files at a time"*. Attach another
batch after it and they add up — there's no cap on how many end up on one message.
**Documents have a much lower ceiling than that 100 MB limit suggests**, and a
document that's too big can be left out of the message without an error saying
so. If Endless answers as though a document wasn't there, its size is the
first thing to check — split it or attach the part that matters.
## What Endless does with each kind
Seen directly — Endless reads the picture itself, so you can ask about
what's in it, edit it, or use it as a reference for a new one.
Read as text. PDFs, Word files and spreadsheets are extracted and handed to
the conversation as reference material. A scanned PDF with no text layer
can't be read this way — Endless will say it can see the file but not read
it.
Not watched automatically. Endless is told the file is there and looks at it
when the question needs it — and for speech, the better route is a real
transcript.
An attachment stays available for the rest of the conversation, not just the
message you attached it to. You don't need to attach the same file again to
ask a second question about it.
For anything speech-heavy, make a transcript — it's searchable, has speakers
and timestamps, and the chat can read it back on demand.
If the model powering the conversation can't look at pictures, sending is
blocked with *"…can't analyze images. Pick another model"*. Switch model and
send again.
## What happens to an attachment afterwards
This is the part worth reading twice, because attaching a file has consequences beyond the
message.
### Uploaded media becomes an asset
Images, video and audio you upload are saved to the workspace and show up in the
**Library** — the same as anything you generate. They're **private to you** the moment they land.
### Documents from your device don't
A PDF or spreadsheet you drag in from your computer is used by the conversation but is **not**
added to your Library. If you want a document kept, upload it in the **Library** first and
pick it from there in the attachment picker instead.
### The chat carries its own access
When you attach a file you own, it is linked to the conversation, and that link is one of the
ways someone else can end up seeing it: **anyone who can open the chat can see what you attached
to it.** Share a chat with your workspace and those attachments come along, without the files
themselves changing. Attaching someone else's file links nothing: it stays in your message, but
it gives nobody access they didn't already have.
Attaching doesn't make a file public, and sharing a chat never makes its
attachments editable by anyone else — the chat only lets people view them.
Only whoever created a file can re-share or delete it; people it was shared
with at **"Can edit"** can rename it. The complete list of ways someone can
see your work is in [Assets and visibility](/docs/concepts/assets-and-visibility).
The paths to an asset — you made it, it's shared with the workspace or with
them by name, or it's in a chat, a canvas or a project they can reach.
**Library** in the sidebar, filterable by type, project, creator and date.
## If an attachment won't send
Endless checks attachments before it sends, and says which one is the problem:
* *"Wait for the upload to finish before sending"* — the file is still going up. The message
keeps everything you typed; send again in a moment.
* *"An attachment failed to upload. Retry or remove it first"* — the chip itself becomes the
retry control. Select it to try the same file again, or remove it.
* *"An attached file can't be sent. Remove it and try again"* — an older library item that
Endless can't hand to a model. Remove it and attach a current one.
Uploading needs your workspace to have the **Library** turned on, and it needs
permission to create content — a **Viewer** has neither the upload nor the
generate half. If every upload fails immediately, that's the thing to check
with an admin. See [Roles and permissions](/docs/governance/roles-and-permissions).