Using the Attachments tool

Tools › Attachments lists every file attached in the project, once each, however many messages it is attached to. A file goes with its message unless you leave it out, or keep it where its messages are binned. Use this tool to make those exceptions in bulk, and to see which files are kept once with duplicates left out.

It earns its place when one file is on many messages, or when a project has 50 or more files. For a few files, decide on the rows under each message instead (see How attachments work in a project).

Getting there

Open the Tools menu and choose Attachments (Keep or leave out) under Analytics & Management. You can also click Open Attachments on Stats, or +N more under a message.

Reading the list

The line at the top sums up the project, for example 1,312 files attached · logos, invites and the like set aside · 12 ready to redact · 3 converting. Each row then shows:

• The file, its type and size. Same name as another file warns you that two different files share a name, so check you are deciding on the right one.

• Where it is, such as In 214 messages, with a bar split by what happened to those messages: green approved, amber flagged, red binned, grey not triaged. Hover over the bar for the numbers.

• Its decision, if it is Kept or Left out rather than a linked attachment, and whether it is ready to redact (or Needs a password, Couldn't convert or Can't open this type).

• Where it is kept, for a file on several messages, for example Kept with "Trip to Bath" (14/08/2025) · 185 copies left out as duplicates.

The list shows 100 files at a time. Show 100 more at the bottom loads the next lot.

A file on many messages is kept once

RedactBox exports and redacts a shared file once, beside the earliest approved message carrying it. The copies on the other messages are left out as duplicates automatically, so there is nothing to decide on them. If that message is later trashed, the file moves to the next approved message that carries it.

To see these files, choose Kept once, duplicates left out under Where they appear.

Finding the files you want

The rail on the left filters the list. Click a filter again to turn it off.

• What happens to them. All files, Linked attachment, Kept, Left out.

• Where they appear. On messages not triaged yet, Only on binned messages, On one message only, Kept once, duplicates left out.

• Type. PDF, Word, Text, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Attached email, Image, Other. Only the types in the project are listed.

• Set aside. Junk and Can't open yet.

Active filters show as chips above the list; Clear filters removes them all. Search file names searches by name (press / to jump to it). Order sorts by Most attached first, Least attached first, Largest first, Name, A to Z or Recently decided.

Deciding on many files at once

1. Tick the files. Shift-click a second tick to select everything between the two. The tick above the list selects all shown.

2. If more files match than are shown, click Select all N files matching to include them all.

3. Choose a verb on the bar: Leave out, Keep file or Back to linked. Hover over each for what it does.

• Leave out. Never in the export, whatever happens to their messages.

• Keep file. In the export even where their messages are binned, once.

• Back to linked. Back to the default: each goes with its messages.

A file with no PDF to export (a type RedactBox can't open, a password, or a failed conversion) can't be kept. If your selection holds some, the bar says how many before anything changes, and skips them.

In the Junk view the verbs are Not junk: keep file and Set aside again.

When some files already have a decision

If some of the selection was already decided differently, RedactBox asks before it changes them, for example: 4 of these 57 already have a decision: 4 Kept. Change them to "Left out" as well, or leave those as they are? Choose Leave those 4 as they are or Change all 57, or Cancel. Only Leave out and Keep file ask. Back to linked applies straight away. A decision on more than 200 files also asks you to confirm the number first.

Undo

After a decision, a line says what happened, such as Left out 61 files everywhere, with Undo beside it. Undo stays until your next decision, so you can keep searching. If a colleague changed some of those files in the meantime, Undo leaves theirs alone and tells you how many.

Looking at one file

Click a file's name to open its panel on the right.

• A preview of the file, with a download button.

• The three decisions, Linked attachment, Kept and Left out, each with a line saying what it does. Click one to choose it. Below them you see who decided and when, such as Left out by Priya Raman, 3 Oct 2026, 14:02.

• Redacting this file, which says whether it is ready to redact, with Open to redact when it is. See Redacting attachments.

• Kept with, for a file on several messages: the message it is kept with and how many copies are left out as duplicates, with Open to go to the kept copy.

• Attached to N messages, with a count such as 3 approved, then every message it is on and each one's triage status, with Open beside each.

Press Esc to close the panel.

From a message to its files

+N more under a message opens the tool showing only that message's files, with an On one message chip above the list. Show beside the pictures set aside opens the same message's junk. Remove the chip to see the whole project again.

While the list shows one message, Select all N files matching is not offered, so a decision never reaches further than the files on screen.

Who can decide

Anyone who can triage the project can decide on files here. Viewers see the same list and decisions without the ticks, and the panel says You can see these decisions but not change them. Previews are for editors only.

Example: a trust-wide SAR

1. A trust's data protection officer has 1,312 files across four schools' mailboxes. She sorts by Most attached first.

2. The top 20 are newsletters, policies and term-date letters sent to every parent. Each is already kept once, but none is about the pupil. She ticks them and chooses Leave out.

3. She filters to Only on binned messages and searches for the pupil's surname. One report sits on a trashed message, so she opens it and chooses Kept.

4. She checks Kept once, duplicates left out to see which message each shared file will sit beside in the export.