# Attachments: what you can send with a prompt > The paperclip, drag and drop and paste, the accepted file types, the 10 file and 20 MB per prompt limits, how images are downscaled before the model reads them, and why Word and Excel are refused. URL: https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/ Updated: 2026-08-28 --- - Getting started [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/) - [Install](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/install/) - [Your First Prompt](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/first-prompt/) - [How It Works](https://cadabrai.com/docs/getting-started/how-it-works/) ### Modes - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/) - [All Modes](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/all-modes/) - [Ask Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/ask-mode/) - [Plan Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/plan-mode/) - [Agent Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/agent-mode/) - [Drawings Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/drawings-mode/) - [Debug Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/debug-mode/) - [Imagine Mode](https://cadabrai.com/docs/modes/imagine-mode/) ### Prompts - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/) - [Writing Prompts](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/writing-prompts/) - [Prompt Library](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/prompt-library/) - [Attachments](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/attachments/) - [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) ### Standards - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/) - [Drawing Standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) - [Modeling Rules](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/modeling-rules/) - [Components and Fasteners](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/libraries-and-plm/) ### Account and plans - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/) - [Your Account](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/your-account/) - [Workstations](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/workstations/) - [Plans and Limits](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/plans-and-limits/) - [Preferences](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/preferences/) - [Billing](https://cadabrai.com/docs/account/billing/) ### Team - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/) - [Seats and Members](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/seats-and-members/) - [Single Sign-On](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/sso/) - [Directory Sync](https://cadabrai.com/docs/team/directory-sync/) ### Security and data - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/) - [Data Handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) ### Troubleshooting - [Overview](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/) - [CADABRA Issues](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/cadabra-issues/) - [SOLIDWORKS Errors](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/solidworks-errors/) - [Error Messages](https://cadabrai.com/docs/troubleshooting/error-messages/) # Attachments Ten files a prompt. Images, PDFs and text are uploaded; CAD files are read from your disk. ## Three ways to attach - The paperclip, left of the prompt box, labelled **Attach files**. - Drag files onto the composer. It highlights while a file is over it. - Paste into the prompt box. Files on the clipboard are staged; a copied image from a screenshot tool lands the same way. Each staged file becomes a chip above the prompt box, with a thumbnail for an image. A file too large to ride inside the message is transferred in chunks first, showing `Uploading …`, and Send stays disabled until that finishes. ## What is accepted | Kind | Extensions | Limit per file | | --- | --- | --- | | Images | PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, WEBP | 5 MB | | PDF | PDF | 4.5 MB | | Text | TXT, LOG, MD, CSV, HTML, HTM | 4.5 MB | | SOLIDWORKS files | SLDPRT, SLDASM, SLDDRW, PRTDOT, ASMDOT, DRWDOT, SLDDRT | 20 MB | | Exchange files | STEP, STP, IGES, IGS, X_T, X_B, SAT, DXF, DWG | 20 MB | ## The per-prompt limits - 10 files a prompt. The eleventh is refused with `You can attach up to 10 files.` - 20 MB a prompt across images, PDFs and text. Over it, the batch is refused with `Those files are too large to send together.` - CAD and drawing files do not count toward that 20 MB. They are read from the file on your machine rather than uploaded with the message, which is why a 20 MB assembly and a 20 MB set of images can ride the same prompt. - Over the per-file limit the message names the limit: `That file is too large to attach. The limit is 5 MB.` ## What happens to an image before the model reads it Two separate stages shrink an image, and both lose detail. 1. In the panel, anything over 1600 px on the long edge is redrawn to 1600 px and re-encoded, PNG first, then JPEG at falling quality until it is under roughly 900 KB. 2. Before the model reads an image the add-in captured itself, such as a drawing sheet or a model view, anything over 2000 px on the long edge is resampled to 1568 px. On a full-sheet scan of a print, the smallest text goes first: tolerances, note blocks, and title-block fields at 2.5 mm text height. Crop to the region you are asking about, or attach the sheet in halves, rather than sending one 300 dpi page and asking about a dimension in the corner. A PDF is counted in pages against the context left once the turn has reserved its own share. Past that budget the message reads ` is too large for this model's context. One document can be about pages`, and asks you to split it or attach only the pages you need. N is the figure for the model behind your level, 202 on a 1,000,000-token context. ## Word and Excel are refused `.doc`, `.docx`, `.xls` and `.xlsx` are known to the panel and deliberately not deliverable. The picker does not offer them, and a dragged one is refused with `Unsupported file type. This model can read:` followed by the list above. Save the sheet as CSV, or print the document to PDF, or paste the text into the prompt. ## An attachment in Drawings Mode is not just context Drawings Mode classifies what you attach by extension before it does anything else. A `.slddrw` or a `.pdf` is a reference drawing: it is stored against a drawing standard and learning runs on it. A `.sldprt` or `.sldasm` with the same base name is filed as that reference's source model. A `.drwdot` becomes a template and a `.slddrt` a sheet format. That is the right behaviour when you are teaching CADABRA your standard, and the wrong behaviour when you meant "read this print and build it". For that, attach a **PNG or JPG**, which is treated as a sheet capture and never learned from. [Drawing to CAD](https://cadabrai.com/docs/prompts/drawing-to-cad/) has the detail. `.dwg` and `.dxf` are accepted as reference drawings and stored, and nothing is learned from them. [Drawing standards](https://cadabrai.com/docs/standards/drawing-standards/) covers the quotas: 5 standards, 10 reference drawings each, 25 MB a file. On an account under zero-retention handling, an attachment sent with a prompt is not stored, and neither is chat history or the index. One exception you trigger deliberately: a file that becomes part of a drawing standard, a `.slddrw`, `.pdf`, `.dwg`, `.dxf`, source model, template or sheet format attached in Drawings Mode, is uploaded and kept against that standard, zero retention included. [Data handling](https://cadabrai.com/docs/security/data-handling/) has the list. On this page - [Three ways to attach](#adding) - [What is accepted](#types) - [The per-prompt limits](#counts) - [What happens to an image before the model reads it](#images) - [Word and Excel are refused](#rejected) - [An attachment in Drawings Mode is not just context](#in-drawings-mode)