How attachments work in a project

Every attached file is listed under its message and goes with it. Approve the message and its files go into the export; trash it and they stay out. RedactBox sorts, converts and applies your redactions to the files, and you only step in for the exceptions.

Attached files go into the export while the project setting Include attached files in exports is on. A new project starts with it on. A project created before attached files arrived starts with it off, so its exports stay as they were until the owner turns it on in Project settings.

To decide on many files at once, see Using the Attachments tool.

Where files are listed

Files attached to a message are listed under it, in Triage and Redact. There is no separate "Attachments" file in the sidebar.

• The arrow in front of a message's subject opens or closes its files. The count after the subject, such as 3 files, says how many it has.

• Clicking a message also opens its files. You can turn this off (see below).

• Up to 5 files show under each message. A message with more says +N more; click it to see them all in Tools › Attachments.

• Show all files and Collapse all, above the list, open or close every message on the page. A page with more than 200 files starts with every message closed.

Each row shows the file's name, its type and size, and where it has got to. Once a message is approved its files are converted, and each row reads Ready to redact. In Triage, the Decide column offers Leave out on each one.

What a file's row says

• Linked attachment. Its message is not approved yet, so it is not converted.

• Waiting to convert. In the export and in the queue. Conversion starts within seconds of approving the message.

• Converting. Being converted so it can be redacted. A large file can take a few minutes. A PDF is not converted: it reads Waiting to prepare, then Preparing, while RedactBox checks it opens and reads its text. Its pages are not changed.

• Ready to redact. Converted, with the project's redactions already on it.

When a message's files are closed, its row still says what they are doing, after the count: 1 converting, 2 waiting, 1 couldn't convert, or ready once every file is ready to redact. A PDF that stopped says couldn't prepare.

In Redact, a file you have reviewed gets the same green tick in the Reviewed column as a message. Pressing Enter works through a message and then each of its files, so nothing is left unreviewed.

What you can do with a file

• Linked attachment is the default. The file goes with its message: it is in the export wherever a message carrying it is approved. The row offers Leave out.

• Left out. Removed from the export, whatever happens to its message. The name is struck through and the row offers Undo.

• Binned with its message. The message was trashed, so the file is out too. The row offers Keep file.

• Kept · message binned. You chose Keep file. The file stays in the export whatever happens to its message, when you export its mailbox, and is redacted like any other file. The row offers Undo.

In the ZIP, a kept file sits in a folder called Files without their message.

To decide on several files in Triage, tick them. The bar at the top says what is selected, for example 1 message, 2 files selected, and offers Leave out, Keep file and Back to linked. A file's tab offers the same choices at the right of the tab strip, in Triage and in Redact.

Files have no Flag. If you are unsure about a file, flag its message.

Only people who can edit the project can decide on files. Viewers see what will happen to each file but cannot change it.

A file on many messages is kept once

Identical copies of a file are one file. A letter attached to 37 messages is kept and redacted once, not 37 times.

• The kept copy sits with the earliest approved message carrying it.

• The other copies are duplicates. Their rows are dimmed, with a small Duplicate label, and read Left out · kept with "<subject>". Click one to open the kept copy.

• If you trash the kept copy's message and another message carrying the file is approved, the file moves to that message, with its redactions.

Each message still shows the file under the name it was attached with. A decision on the file covers every message it is on, and its tab says so.

Junk is set aside

RedactBox sets aside files that are almost never relevant, so they do not crowd the list. Each says why, after Set aside:

• a logo or picture used in many messages

• a picture from a signature

• a tiny picture

• a calendar invite or contact card

• a message signature certificate

• a copy of the message text, such as the rtf-body.rtf file Outlook adds to messages in a PST

A PDF or Word document is never set aside for being attached often. Under a message, set-aside files fold into one line, such as 1 picture set aside · Show. Show opens them in Tools › Attachments, where Keep file puts one back in the export.

Pictures and scans are held back

A photo or a scanned letter has no text for Search & Redact, Word Lists or People to reach, so RedactBox keeps it out of the export until someone has looked. Its row reads Held back · no text to search and offers Keep file and Leave out. See Redacting attachments.

Files that cannot go in the export

A file that Needs a password, Couldn't convert (Couldn't prepare for a PDF), is a type RedactBox Can't open this type (a zip file, for example) or is Too large to store has no PDF to export. Its row says which and offers Leave out only. See Attached files RedactBox can't open.

Looking at a file

Click a file's row and it opens as a tab beside the Message tab. On the message's own view, the Attached line under its header lists its files, and a click opens one.

In Triage you can look at a file before anything is approved. See Previewing attached files before you decide.

Opening files when you click a message

If you would rather open files only with the arrow, open Settings from your account menu, choose Working through items and turn off Show a message's files when you open it. It is on by default.

The "Attached files have moved" notice

A project that used to have an "Attachments" file shows this once, above the list:

Attached files have moved. Files attached to a message are now listed under it, not in a separate "Attachments" file in the sidebar. A file goes with its message. Leave one out to remove it from the export, or keep one so it stays in the export whatever happens to its message, when you export its mailbox. Tools › Attachments still works across the whole project.

Click Got it and it does not come back, on any device.

The notice shows on projects created before attached files arrived. Those projects start with Include attached files in exports off, so their exports leave the files out until the owner turns it on.

Example: a subject access request with a shared newsletter

1. The office manager at Oakfield Primary triages a mailbox for a parent's request. She approves October newsletter; the copy of its PDF on Fwd: October newsletter reads as a Duplicate, so it is redacted once.

2. A staff list on an approved message is outside the request, so she chooses Leave out on its row.

3. She trashes a trip message as irrelevant, but its risk assessment names the child. She chooses Keep file on it.

4. The export holds the approved messages, their remaining files, the newsletter once, and the risk assessment in Files without their message.