Private attachments

By default an attachment link works for anyone who has it. Making attachments private closes that, with one trade-off.

By default an attachment link works for anyone who has it. Making attachments private closes that, with one trade-off.

What the default means

An attachment has a long, unguessable address, and anyone holding that address can open the file without signing in. Nobody is going to guess it, but a link forwarded in an email works for whoever receives it.

Not forever, in one case. An agent's public attachment that is sent as a link expires after twenty-four hours by default, after which opening it needs a sign-in; Attachment expiration sets that number. It does not cover files attached to a comment as real attachments, and it does not cover what a customer sent you, which stays open until you change the setting below.

For a screenshot of an error message that is fine. For a passport scan or a payslip it is not.

Turn on private attachments

1. Open Admin Center, then Objects and rules > Tickets > Settings, and expand Downloads and attachments.
2. Switch on Private end-user attachments for files customers send you, or Allow secure downloads for every attachment on the account, agents' own included.
3. Save.

From then on, opening an attachment requires signing in as somebody permitted to see that ticket. The two are not stacked: with secure downloads on, the end-user setting is not offered at all, because everything is already behind a sign-in.

The trade-off

Customers have to sign in to open a file you sent them. For a help centre where people already have accounts, that is barely noticed. For customers who only ever email you, it is a new step and some will not manage it.

That is the actual decision. It is not about whether privacy is good; it is about which of the two failure modes you would rather have.

See also

• Allowing and limiting attachments
• Protecting your customers' data