Can users upload PDFs, Word Documents, etc. into Salesforce, possibly through the Text (Rich) field?

Question

I know that by using the text(rich) input field on an sObject, users can upload images if a <apex:textarea ... richText="true"> is available on a VisualForce page. Is there a way to enable users to upload PDFs, WORD, or other full fledged files?

The standard richtext editor does not allow anything other than images. From what I have been reading on Google, I understand that the ckeditor can be used to modify the richtext editor on Salesforce. This would allow a user to add a PDF or other file. Will SalesForce accept it?

Any other ideas on how to allow a user to upload non-image files to be stored in an sObject?

Thank you!

Answer 1

There are several mechanisms that allow you to upload files into SFDC. Rich Text Area is not the proper place where you should store these (I don't think its even possible either).

1. Attachments
   • Attachments are linked directly to a SOBject via the ID of the record. (Attachment.ParentId) and show as a related list at the bottom of the Detail Record.
   • Attachments are limited to 5MB of data per file.
   • http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/api/Content/sforce_api_objects_attachment.htm
2. Documents
   • Documents show up in Documents tab. They have a limit of 10MB. They are not directly linked to Records but can be filed in folders. -http://www.salesforce.com/us/developer/docs/api/Content/sforce_api_objects_document.htm
3. CRM Content
   • Allows large file sizes (up to 2GB). Allows for Versioning, Libraries, Metadata, etc.
   • Does not show up directly on a record layout, but you can use Visualforce to display this on a detail record with custom code to query metadata.
   • https://login.salesforce.com/help/doc/en/content_about.htm
4. Chatter Documents
   • Allows large file sizes, versioning. Shows up in a Chatter Feed for the related record.
   • http://blogs.salesforce.com/community/2012/04/chatter-files-a-better-option-for-attaching-files-to-records.html

Answer 2

I agree with everything @CoryCowgill has posted.

I'd just like to add that technically, a WORD Document is essentially a Rich Text Format Document, so a copy/paste into a Rich Text Area Field should preserve most of a WORD Document's formatting. Note: newer features of MS WORD aren't fully supported by the Rich Text specification.

Images are supported in Rich Text Area Fields in part because they can be embedded in a Rich Text Format document.

A PDF is a PostScript formatted document. Postscript was originally developed as an output language for documents being sent to PostScript printers. For that reason, PDF documents are completely different "animals" so to speak. When WORD documents are printed to postscript using Acrobat Distiller, or some other software postscript RIP (Raster Image Processor), the resulting output can be saved as a PDF file. That's the essence of how PDF files are created.

Hope this helps shed some further light on the subject.