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How to Sync File Attachments

Unito supports file attachments. Learn how they're synced between tools and how to set up attachment support.

Every work management tool has file attachments, and these are crucial to effective collaboration between teams. Specs, wireframes, and screenshots all need to flow between teams, and should stay as close to work items as possible. However, they typically end up hidden away in folders or spread over countless emails. With Unito's support for attachments, this doesn't need to happen to you again.

How to set up attachment support

To sync attachments between tools, you just need to map Attachments from one tool to another field in your second tool — usually the Description footer field. There are independent settings for each tool's attachments, so you can enable attachments to sync in one direction or in both.

After you've mapped your attachments, click on the cog.

If you want to turn on streamed attachments, just hit the toggle to give Unito access to your attachments.

See also the detailed instructions on configuring field synchronization.

Linked vs. streamed attachments

Depending on your plan, you can sync attachments one of two ways. Linked attachments appear as a hyperlink in the work item the attachment is synced to. Clicking on the hyperlink opens it in the block of work it's originally from. For example, if you're syncing attachments from Trello to Asana, the attachment from Trello will show up as a link in the Asana task. Clicking on the link will open Trello. This means that anyone who wants to view the attachment needs to have access to it in Trello.

For specific plans, you can instead choose to stream attachments. This makes the attachment visible in both tools without having to go from one to the other. With the same example, the Trello attachment will show up in Asana as well and can be viewed without having access to Trello.

The advantage of streamed attachments

  • You don't need a license for all tools in order to see attachments. You can access attachments from the tool you prefer, and you never need to go into the other tool. In contrast, linked attachments require that each user have licenses in both tools.

  • Streamed attachments can streamline migrations. You can keep the instance of your old tool around to have access to streamed attachments, but you don't need to keep licenses for each user who is now working in your new tool.

Limitations of file attachment syncing

Streaming attachments during a Unito trial

In order for Unito to stream attachments, you'll need an active Unito subscription. If you're looking at Unito for your migration needs, please reach out to us through the chat bubble at the bottom right corner of your screen.

The instance — or tool — that hosts the attachment still has to exist. If you're migrating tools, you should keep the instance of your old tool running even after removing all paid licenses for as long as you need to access your attachments.

Syncing attachments in work item descriptions

Many tools let you add images and other files directly in a work item's description. Unfortunately, these attachments aren't supported by Unito. They have to be attached to the work item using your tools "attach" option, not just copied and pasted into the description.

The following special cases are not supported at this time.

Versioning: The latest file version is synchronized, but not the version history.

GitHub: GitHub does not have true file attachments, instead they embed links to files (typically images) inside issue comments. These links will be synchronized directly to the corresponding comment; instead of the task description footer. For this reason, we do not list an attachments field for GitHub.