> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.emanate.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Attachments

> Whether an agent reads the files attached to an email, and what happens when it does not

When someone attaches an RFQ, a spec sheet, a price list or a photo, an agent can read it and use what is in it
to write the reply. Some teams want that. Others would rather nothing inside an attachment reaches a draft.
It is a single switch.

## Turning it on or off

Go to **Tactics → Agent Inbox → Settings** and find **Use attachments**. It is on by default.

The switch applies to drafting for that agent. It does not change what you can open yourself, and it does not
affect documents you shared deliberately through a [document storage connection](/integrations/csm), which have
their own **Allow document lookups** switch.

## What happens when it is on

The agent opens what was attached and uses it the way you would.

| File type | How it is read |
| - | - |
| PDF | Text is read out of the document |
| Word | Text is read out of the document |
| Excel and CSV | Every sheet is read as data |
| Images and photos | Looked at directly, including a spec or a label photographed on a phone |

A few limits keep this quick and predictable:

* Up to five attachments per email
* Up to 10 MB in total across those files
* Up to 5 MB for a single image
* Signatures, logos and other small inline images are skipped so they never take the place of a real attachment

If a file cannot be read, because it is encrypted, corrupt or an unusual format, the draft says so honestly
rather than guessing at what was inside, and asks one narrow question about the detail it is missing.

## What happens when it is off

The draft is written from the words in the email and nothing else.

* The attachment is not opened, downloaded or read
* No text or image is pulled out of it
* The draft never mentions an attachment, never refers to what was in one, and never asks the sender to resend
  anything

That last point matters. A reply that says "I could not open your file" is still a reply shaped by the
attachment. With the switch off, an agent writes as though the message arrived with nothing attached at all.

<Note>
  Filing and prioritising still work normally. An email with an attachment is still recognised, ranked and filed
  the way it should be. The switch governs what goes into a draft, not what Emanate notices.
</Note>

## What is kept

The file itself is never copied into Emanate. It stays where it has always been, in your mailbox.

When an attachment is read, a short extract of its text is kept alongside the email record so the same file is
not opened twice. That extract is capped at roughly 8,000 characters per file. Images are looked at while the
draft is being written and nothing from them is stored.

With the switch off, nothing is read and nothing is kept.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Sensitive data" icon="lock" href="/trust-security/sensitive-data">
    Every control over what an agent can see
  </Card>

  <Card title="Data retention" icon="clock" href="/trust-security/data-retention">
    What is stored and for how long
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.