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Rodney · January 31st, 2007

Uploading Photos, Images, Files to the Forum - A Quick "How To"

There are times when it's nice to have a visual to go with the message you are posting. Pictures can help members better assist you on the type of printing method that will work for your design, they can help you provide a screen shot of the software application you're having problems with, you can even upload tools (like spreadsheets) that can benefit other members.

The preferred method for adding an attachment to a post is via the "Manage Attachments" screen. This will automatically create a small clickable thumbnail of your image that will keep the forum threads loading fast.

Here's how to upload photos or files as an attachment to your forum post or reply.

We currently accept the following file extensions as attachments to messages: bmp doc eps gif jpe jpeg jpg pdf png psd txt xls zip

When you reply to a message or post a new topic, click on the "Manage Attachments" button to upload pictures.

The "Manage Attachments" link is located under the "Submit Reply" "Preview Post" buttons on the posting screen, under the "Addtional Options" area:

(Figure 1: screenshot of where you can find the "Manage Attachments button)

If you're using QuickReply, you will need to click the "Go Advanced" button to see the image upload options:

(Figure 2: screenshot of the "Go Advanced" button that you'll need to click to get to the "Manage Attachments" screen pictured in Figure 1).

From the Additional Options screen, just click on the Mangage Attachments button and on the next screen you'll be able to upload a file from your computer.

(Figure 3: closeup of Manage Attachments button)

When you click the Manage Attachments button, you will see a new browser window popup that allows you to select an image or file from your computer.

(Figure 4: pop up window where you select the file you want to upload)

After you find the file on your computer and click the upload button, the filename you just uploaded will show up on the screen.

(Figure 5: showing the location where you can verify what file you uploaded)

After you've uploaded all the files you want (you can attach several files by repeating the steps above), scroll down and click the "Close this Window" button to return to where you were typing your message.

(Figure 6: location of Close button at bottom of popup window)

You will see the name of the file you just uploaded next to the Manage Attachments button.

(Figure 7: location showing your upload on the message window)

After you finish typing your post, just click on the "Submit New Thread" or "Submit Reply" button to post your message with the attachment included.

The attachment will show up at the bottom of your post after your message.

(Figure 8: where the uploaded files show up on your post)

Adding Images Inline with your Message

Sometimes there may be times where you want to include an image right next to the text in your post (like is done on this message) instead of at the bottom.

To do this, you copy the link to an image on your website (or an image hosted at a free image hosting service like imageshack or photobucket) and then click on the MEDIA button in the posting toolbar.

(Figure 9: what the MEDIA button looks like in the post toolbar)

This will add the MEDIA tags to your post like this:

[media][/media]

You can then just copy and paste the URL to your hosted image in between those tags so it looks like this:

[media]http://www.t-shirtforums.com/images/e3second.png[/media]

And when you click the submit button, it will look like this in the post:

Notice how the forum automatically creates a nice thumbnail that you can click on to see the larger images. This helps to prevent side scrolling of the forum webpages

If using a picture hosted on your website, please try to keep the file size small (to keep the threads loading fast.