# Attach a File

Two ways in: attach it to the record it is evidence for, or upload it into Documents on its own.

Most files should be attached to something. The upload route exists for the ones that genuinely belong to the workspace rather than to a transaction.

## Attach it to a record

- **Open the record the file belongs to**

  A purchase receive, a shipment, a return, an adjustment, a bill or an item.
- **Use its attachment control and choose the file**

  It appears against that record, and in the Documents list with the record named in **Associated To**.
- **Check it landed against the right record**

  The Associated To column is what makes the file findable later from three directions rather than one.

  ![The Documents list showing files with their size and type, and an Associated To column naming the record each file belongs to, such as Bill IVB-0024 for Kelso Industrial Fasteners with Bill beneath it, or PR-00005 for Halberd Bearings Ltd with Purchase Receive beneath it.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/inventory/documents/documents-list.png)

## Or upload it into Documents

**Upload** at the top right of the Documents list opens your file picker and files it as **Standalone**: it belongs to the workspace and to no particular record.

> **Tip:**
>
> **Standalone is for policies, not for evidence**
>
> A supplier's terms of trade, an insurance schedule or a company certificate has no single transaction behind it and is right to stand alone. A delivery note is evidence for exactly one receive, and filing it standalone throws that connection away.

## Naming a file so it is findable

The list shows a file's name, its size and its type, and nothing else you did not put there.

| Name | Why it works or does not |
| --- | --- |
| halberd-delivery-note-PR00005.pdf | Names the vendor and the receive. Findable by either |
| hudson-valley-invoice-9341.pdf | Carries the supplier's own invoice number, which is what they will quote |
| fuel-receipt-31-aug.png | Says what it is and when. Enough for a standalone receipt |
| IMG_4471.jpg | Tells nobody anything, six months later or now |

> **Tip:**
>
> **Attach at the point of the event**
>
> A delivery note photographed as the pallet is unwrapped is worth an hour of searching later. The record is already open at that moment, which is the only time attaching costs nothing.