Attachment: An Overview

How are attachments used in bitfarm-Archiv?

Documents which are sent or received as part of an e-mail are called an attachment. These documents are attached to the e-mail as a single or a collection of files with typical document formats such as PDF, DOC or ODT. Simple files as well as executable program files can be sent as an attachment to an e-mail. Often enough though, e-mail systems have an upper limit to the size of the attachment, usually a few megabyte. Bigger files can sometimes not be sent as an e-mail attachment. Even if there are no problems in sending the files there may be a problem with receiving them, because the recipient's e-mail system refuses to receive the files on account of them being too big. In this case, the only option is to make the documents available as a download via an ftp- or web server and send the recipient a download link.

bitfarm-Archiv DMS can send documents either as a PDF directly from the Archive Viewer or in their original format. Additionally it offers functions to comfortably "collect" documents and send them as a larger e-mail later on, or to add all documents into a single large PDF with loads of pages to send as one file. It also simplifies archiving incoming e-mails with attachments. The attachments are treated as individual files in the archive, but can be viewed and found as part of a corresponding e-mail through an automatic link at any time. In bitfarm-Archiv attachments, like any other document, can also be added or linked to processes, commissions or projects. Depositing them in the archive can also be made automatic according to certain rules.

The automatic collection of e-mails from a POP3 and IMAP4 e-mail account and the automatic processing of received e-mails and attachments is possible with bitfarm-Archiv Document Management. For instance, all e-mails sent to order@company.com can be sorted directly into the corresponding archive via DMS, which then triggers a corresponding order workflow.

The attachment is frequently delivered in a portable file format, such as Portable Document Format (PDF), which may be read on a number of systems. Various service providers only accept attachments that are less than 10 MB in size. The transmission time is determined on the file size of the attachment and the data rate. At a data transport rate of 500 kbit/s, large file attachments of 10 MB take roughly 3 minutes to transmit. E-mail attachments, on the other hand, are a conduit for attackers who embed or attach malware such as viruses, Trojans, and spam to the attachments.

If you're sending important data or information over email, make sure it's encrypted. The viewable text and attachments are converted to encrypted text. They can only be decrypted by the recipient who has the relevant key. Since the GDPR went into effect, encryption has become even more important, particularly in businesses. This is because they must take reasonable steps to safeguard personal data, such as customer information, throughout storage, transport, and processing.

Summing up, the keypoints for Attachments are:

• Files within an E-Mail
• Different filetpyes such as PDF, DOC or ODT
• Automatic collection via POP3

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