Attach files and images to a message

You can add files and images to any message in DataMind Oda: pick them, drag them in, or paste them. This page covers adding them, the limits that apply, and what happens to what you attach. What the model finally receives for each attachment is covered on Attachments in model requests.

Add files and images

1. Add items in any of three ways: the + control (Add files or run commands), dragging files anywhere onto the window, or pasting them into the message box.
2. While a file drag is over the window, an overlay invites the drop (Drag files or images here to add them) and names the limits in force; when drops cannot be accepted it reads Files and images cannot be added right now.
3. Your items wait in a row above the message box: images as thumbnails, other files as cards showing the name, the extension and the size (sizes read like 2.5MB).
4. Remove an item with the control that appears on it. A file that failed to upload shows Upload failed; click to retry; click the card to retry, or remove the item and add it again. A retry sends the file from the start: an upload that stopped is not resumed where it left off.
5. Send waits until every item has finished uploading; until then the box answers Files are still uploading; send after they finish.
6. A failed send returns your items to the row above the box, so you can send them again. See The message box.

• Click an image thumbnail, or an image in the chat, to open the original in a larger preview; close it with its close control, Escape, or a click beside it. The preview has no zoom or download, and an image that fails to load offers a retry instead.
• On the desktop app, a folder or a non-image file that already lives on your computer becomes an @ reference to its location instead of an uploaded copy; images are always uploaded. The file dialog cannot choose folders, and a folder in a browser is refused with Folders can only be added in the desktop app; add individual files in the browser.
• Files that are not images upload two at a time by default, in the background. Their state and progress survive switching to another chat, and removing an item from the draft skips or cancels its upload.
• A command takes attachments only when it accepts them; a command that does not answers /{command} does not accept attachments; remove them first and keeps your draft and items. Commands that take attachments receive them in the order you added them. See Slash commands and references.
• A subagent's chat cannot take attachments at all: its message box offers no way to add files.

What happens to what you attach

• Every item is stored on the computer that runs Oda. An image is kept under an internal identity, never as a file path or a public link; a file is kept byte for byte, identified by a fingerprint of its bytes, so two identical files share one stored copy and a zero-byte file is still a valid attachment.
• Stored attachments are never deleted automatically, and they can only be read from the computer that holds them: Oda on another computer cannot open your copies.
• Nothing collects them. No step removes stored attachments, including copies no chat uses any more, so the store keeps everything it has saved.
• Images stay part of the chat after you send them and are reused in later turns, including after you reopen the chat.
• An unsent draft is not saved: items that never leave the message box do not become part of the chat.
• If a stored copy cannot be read or written, the app reports it instead of serving something different, for example File attachment object is missing. or Stored file attachment failed integrity verification.; a failed write reports Unable to persist attachment.

Image formats and limits

• These are the shipped values; your organisation can set others, and every refusal names the limit that applies.
• While you add images, the drop overlay carries a short guide in force, and a refusal names the limit that applied; the browser interface shows Image limit: up to 20 images, 5MB each, and a picture over its side limit is refused with Image sides must be at most 2000px; downscale it and try again. Those numbers follow the deployment you use; the table above holds the shipped values the checks accept.
• The limits apply to images only. Files that are not images have no list of accepted types, and their bytes are kept exactly as you sent them.

Why Oda converts some images

• A PNG, JPEG or WebP that is a single frame, carries no extra metadata and is already within the limits is stored exactly as you sent it.
• Anything else is converted before it is stored: the orientation recorded by the camera is applied, metadata and colour profiles are removed, and transparency is kept untouched.
• An image with transparency is stored as WebP; without transparency, as JPEG. The converter tries a few quality steps and keeps the first result that fits the byte target, or the smallest one it produced.
• An animated GIF is stored as a static first frame.
• A large image is scaled down proportionally before it is stored, so a very wide or very tall image keeps its short side; the stored copy keeps to at most 2048 px per side and 4 MiB.
• File names are tidied before storage: folder parts are stripped, so C:\Users\me\report.docx becomes report.docx; characters that Windows file names cannot hold become _; reserved names get a _ prefix (CON becomes _CON); long names are cut, and an unusable name falls back to file.

When an attachment is refused

• Images are checked before your message is accepted. If one image of a batch is refused, the whole message fails and nothing reaches the chat; your draft and items stay so you can fix the problem and send again.
• The message says what to do, for example Only PNG, JPG, WebP, and GIF images are supported, A message can include up to {count} images, Each image must be smaller than {size}, Images exceed {size} in total; remove some and try again, Image resolution is too high; compress it and try again, Image sides must be at most {size}px; downscale it and try again, The current model does not support images; switch to a model that does, The file has not finished uploading; re-add it and try again or Session unavailable; files cannot be uploaded.
• When the whole batch is refused before anything is stored, the message names the limit, for example Image batch exceeds the configured image-count limit., Image batch exceeds the configured aggregate image-byte limit. or Image type <type> is not accepted by this deployment.
• An upload whose data is malformed is refused before anything is stored: Image upload is not canonical base64. or File upload is not canonical base64.
• A send failure without its own wording folds into one line that carries a short code, reading Sending images failed ({reason}); re-add them and try again. Quote the code when you report the problem.
• Image checks use the codes TOO_MANY_IMAGES, IMAGES_TOO_LARGE, UNSUPPORTED_IMAGE_TYPE, INVALID_IMAGE_BASE64, INVALID_IMAGE, IMAGE_TYPE_MISMATCH, IMAGE_TOO_LARGE, IMAGE_TOO_MANY_PIXELS and IMAGE_DIMENSION_TOO_LARGE.
• File and storage checks use INVALID_FILE_BASE64, INVALID_ATTACHMENT_REF, ATTACHMENT_NOT_FOUND, ATTACHMENT_READ_FAILED, ATTACHMENT_CORRUPT and ATTACHMENT_WRITE_FAILED.

Questions, answered

Which files and image types can I attach?

Any file. Images must be PNG, JPEG, WebP or GIF; files that are not images have no list of accepted types, and Oda keeps their bytes exactly as you sent them (even a zero-byte file).

How many images can one message include?

Up to 20 images and 200 MiB of image bytes in one message, with each source image up to 20 MiB, 64,000,000 pixels and 8192 px per side. These are the shipped limits; your organisation can set others, and a refusal names the limit that applies.

Where do my attachments live, and does Oda delete them?

They are stored on the computer that runs Oda, and they are never deleted automatically. An image is kept under an internal identity, a file byte for byte, and both can only be read from the computer that holds them.

Can I attach a folder?

In the desktop app, yes, as a reference: a dropped folder becomes an @ mention of its path instead of an upload. The file dialog only chooses files, and in a browser a dropped folder is refused with Folders can only be added in the desktop app; add individual files in the browser.

Can I attach files to a command?

Only commands that take attachments. When one does not, it answers /{command} does not accept attachments; remove them first and keeps your draft and items; remove them and run the command again. See Slash commands and references.

Why did Oda rename my file?

Stored names are tidied: folder parts are stripped, characters that Windows file names cannot hold become _, reserved device names get a _ prefix, and very long names are cut. C:\Users\me\report.docx is stored as report.docx.

Why is the stored image not identical to the one I uploaded?

A clean single-frame PNG, JPEG or WebP within the limits is kept exactly as sent. Anything else is converted first: orientation applied, metadata and colour profiles removed, transparency preserved, large sizes scaled down, and transparency decides the format (WebP with it, JPEG without it). An animated GIF becomes a static first frame.

Why was my whole message refused when one image failed?

Images are checked as one batch: if any image is refused, the message fails as a whole and nothing reaches the chat. Fix or remove the image named in the message and send again; your draft and other items stay.

What happens if an upload fails?

The card shows Upload failed; click to retry; click it to retry, or remove the item and add it again. Send stays blocked while an item is still uploading, with the note Files are still uploading; send after they finish.

What if the model does not support images?

Attaching images to a chat whose model accepts text only is refused with The current model does not support images; switch to a model that does. The images stay in your draft; switch the chat's model and send again. See Chat with Oda.

Are my attachments kept if I never send the message?

No. An unsent draft is not saved: items that never leave the message box do not become part of the chat. Once a message is accepted, its stored copies stay and are never deleted automatically.