Which files you can upload to a case depends on what is enabled for your workspace. This article shows you the formats, the limits, and what to do when a file does not get through.
Which files can you upload?
PDF files are enabled for every workspace by default. Every format, PDF included, is switched on or off for your workspace by amaise — your workspace administrator cannot change this. If a format you need is missing, ask your amaise contact.
The upload window never lists the accepted formats. You only notice them in what your computer's file picker offers you — and in the message when a file is refused: "This file type can't be uploaded." In a workspace that accepts PDFs only, the message reads "Only PDF files can be uploaded."
📷 A screenshot is coming here soon.
These are the categories — if they are enabled for your workspace:
Category | Formats |
Text | .txt |
Images | .jpg, .png, .tiff, .bmp, .gif, .webp, .avif, .heic |
Web pages and XML | .html, .xml, .svg |
Office documents | .docx, .doc, .rtf, .odt, .pptx, .ppt, .odp, .xlsx, .xls, .ods |
Archives | .zip, .tar, .gz, .bz2, .xz |
Folders | a whole folder, selected or dropped in the browser |
Emails | .eml, .msg, .mbox |
Calendar | .ics |
Not accepted: 7z and RAR archives, Apple Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, as well as audio and video files. The file type is recognized from the file's content, not from its name — renaming a file to .pdf does not help.
Note: Three special cases. A web page saved as XHTML is not accepted — save it as HTML or as PDF. An .ics file in the old vCalendar 1.0 format is not accepted, only iCalendar 2.0. And a .txt file that starts with email headers is treated as an email — it then needs the email category enabled.
What happens to files that are not PDFs
For processing, amaise converts them to PDF. Your original file is kept unchanged: when you click the file name in the file list, you download exactly the file you uploaded. You see one entry per uploaded file, with the name you gave it.
Word, PowerPoint, and text documents keep their page layout.
Spreadsheets have no pages. Each sheet is laid out to fit the page width and spread across up to 40 pages wide if needed.
Web pages, SVG, and XML files are rendered only from what the file itself contains. Images and styling hosted on the internet are not loaded.
Multi-page TIFF and GIF images become multi-page documents. An image page over 80 megapixels is refused — scan or save it at a lower resolution. Making the file smaller does not help here; it is about the resolution.
Text files with separated columns (semicolon, comma, tab, or vertical bar) are laid out as a table.
Calendar files become an appointment record with start, end, location, organizer, attendees, status, and description — in your workspace language and with at most 500 appointments.
XML files that hold a structured exchange format — e-invoices such as UBL or forum-datenaustausch.ch, HL7, ACORD, and in general any XML file that declares a schema — are refused: "This file holds structured data, not a document we can display. Upload the PDF version instead."
After conversion, a file may have at most 2000 pages. If a file is refused for too many pages, or the conversion takes too long ("This file took too long to convert. Save it as a PDF and upload that instead."), save it as a PDF in the program it came from and upload that PDF. PDFs have no page limit — read more in the article Cases overview: Large PDFs and page limits.
Archives, folders, and emails
An archive, a folder, or an email appears as a folder-like entry; the line under its name, for example "12 files", tells you how many files it holds, and those files are nested beneath it. The entry itself has no pages. For ZIP archives and folders, the upload window shows you what is inside even before you upload.
📷 A screenshot is coming here soon.
ZIP archives lose their internal folder structure: all files appear directly under the archive.
Folders keep their structure: subfolders appear as nested entries.
Files inside an archive or folder must themselves be formats your workspace accepts. Otherwise they appear as "not processed".
An archive inside an archive appears as its own entry in there and is unpacked in turn afterwards.
Tip: If folders are enabled for your workspace and you want to keep your folder structure, upload the folder instead of zipping it — drag it into the window or click the folder icon ("Select whole folder"). A dropped folder counts as one of the 500 files per upload, however many files it holds. Without that, a dropped folder is refused.
These limits apply:
At most 500 entries per archive and per folder level — a subfolder counts as an entry too.
An uploaded archive, folder, or email may yield at most 1000 files, counting everything nested inside it. Beyond that, further files are left out and the case owner is notified.
Unpacked, an archive may not be more than 100 times its own size — but always at least 32 MB — and at most 8 GB. No single file inside it may be over 2 GB.
A folder is read up to 5000 files and subfolders, and 16 levels deep. Whatever lies beyond is not uploaded. If you dragged the folder in, the entry then says "Only the first 5,000 files in this folder are included."; a folder chosen with the folder icon, and subfolders nested too deep, are cut without a message. Split very large or very deep folders beforehand.
With an email (.eml, .msg), the message itself becomes the first document, named after its subject; each attachment becomes its own document beside it. Formatting, tables, and embedded pictures are kept. Pictures hosted on the internet — in signatures, for example — are not loaded and appear as a "[picture not loaded]" placeholder. An email may hold at most 100 attachments ("This email holds too many attachments. Upload the attachments individually."), an .eml file must stay under 150 MB, an .msg file under 128 MB, and the message text may come to at most 200 pages.
A mailbox (.mbox) yields one entry per email — at most 500 emails, under 2 GB — and each of those emails is then unpacked the same way.
Upload limits at a glance
At most 500 files per upload. With the next file you see "Upload limit of 500 files reached."
Each file must stay under 2 GB: "File too large (max 2 GB)."
An empty file is refused: "The file is empty."
PDFs have no page limit. A PDF with more than 500 pages is split into parts automatically — see the article Cases overview: Large PDFs and page limits.
Other formats: at most 2000 pages after conversion.
There is no limit on how many files a case holds in total.
Password-protected and signed files
A password-protected PDF first appears as not processed. Depending on your workspace and your permissions, you see "Enter password" in the file list of an open case: enter the password there and processing continues. The window tells you: "We keep your file exactly as uploaded and work on an unprotected copy. The password is kept only until the file is open, then deleted." and "If you download the file later, it is still protected and asks for this password."
If your workspace does not offer this, the message reads "This file is password protected. Remove the protection and upload it again." — take the password off in your PDF program and upload the file once more.
Password-protected Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, as well as archives with encrypted contents, cannot be unlocked in amaise: remove the protection and upload them again. A PDF that is locked to a certificate should be opened where the certificate is installed, and an unprotected copy saved from there. A password-protected PDF that is also digitally signed cannot be unlocked in amaise, because removing the password would break the signature — upload a copy that has no password.
When a file is not processed
The entry stays in the list and shows the reason in red under the file name. The other files of your upload are not affected, and the case owner is informed by email.
📷 A screenshot is coming here soon.
You fix most reasons by uploading a corrected file. There is a retry button only for interrupted uploads.
Tip: If a .tif, .htm, or .jpeg file is refused although your workspace accepts images or web pages, rename it to .tiff, .html, or .jpg — or select it via "Select files" instead of dragging it in. If a file was refused for its type, renaming does not help: convert it instead, to PDF for example.