The File Upload component lets people attach a file — a receipt, a photo, a signed PDF, anything — as part of filling out a form. It's a write-only component: it collects a file from the person filling out the form and stores it, it does not display or browse existing files from a data source.
Scope note: this guide covers the current File Upload experience (drag-and-drop / click-to-browse, single preview, storage destination). Newer display styles and gallery-style presentation are being worked on separately and aren't covered here yet.
The problem: a claim without proof is hard to act on — "I paid for this" or "here's the damage" means little without something to back it up.
In practice: someone attaches a real receipt before submitting. The field shows the filename and file size right away, so both the submitter and anyone reviewing the record can see exactly what was provided:

The value: the record is now backed by an actual file, not just a text description — ready for a human reviewer to open, or for a downstream workflow step (like OCR) to read.
Adding a File Upload field
- Open your form in Form Studio.
- In the component panel on the right, find File Upload under the Input section (search "file" if you don't see it right away).
- Drag it onto your form canvas, or click it to add it to the end of the page.
- Click the new field to open its settings in the right-hand panel.
Configuring the field
Content
- Label – the question or instruction shown above the upload area (e.g. "Upload your receipt").
- Default Value – optionally pre-attach a file when the form loads. You can either upload a file directly here, or turn on the
{} toggle to compute the default with a formula.
- Required – blocks submission until a file has been attached.
- View only – shows whatever file is already attached but prevents changing it.
Upload settings
- Allow multiple files – lets people attach more than one file; when this is on, you can set a maximum file count.
- Max file size – the largest file (in MB) the field will accept.
- Accepted file types – restrict uploads to certain types (images, PDFs, etc.). Leave this open if you want to accept anything.
Storage
- Storage destination – where the uploaded file is saved. By default, files go into your workspace's built-in storage; if your workspace has other storage destinations configured, you can choose one here.
- Folder path / File name prefix – optionally organize uploads into a specific folder or add a naming prefix. Both can be a fixed value or bound to data from elsewhere in the form (using the
{} binding button).
What the person filling out the form sees
- A drop zone they can drag a file onto, or click to open a file browser.
- Once a file is attached, they see a preview/filename and can remove or replace it (unless the field is View only).
- If Required is on, they can't submit the form until they've attached a file.
Tips
- Use Max file size and Accepted file types together to avoid unexpected uploads (e.g. restrict an "ID photo" field to images under 5 MB).
- If you need the uploaded file to be picked up by a workflow step afterwards (e.g. OCR, an approval task), make sure the field has a clear, unique label — later steps reference it by name.
- File Upload doesn't read from an existing list of files or records — if you need people to choose from existing files, that's a different pattern (e.g. a Select field bound to a table of documents), not File Upload.