Downloading attachments off trello
Asked by Suzanne Tapper:

Hi there

If I attach images or documents for another board member to use, can they download them to use? Or do we need to email them?

Thanks,

Suzanne


Answers:
author: Kaitlin Hochgreve
body: Still having issues with this, opening a new tab loads nothing, saving as you suggest saves an HTML link rather than the uploaded file format. If your users need to search google for 20 minutes to find instructions for something as simple as downloading an attachment you have a UI problem.

comments: author: Thinzar.Myint
body: 100% true. I have the exact same problem.


author: Cheryl Richardson
body: ME TOO and it is VERY FRUSTRATING ?? I have really stressed over this and have already rescheduled 3 parties


author: konradkalemba
body: I faced the same exact problem so I created the solution myself -- you can check it out here: <https://trello.com/power-ups/6411ecf3afd8d088e3639f64/>

If you have any suggestions/features requests, I'll be happy to implement them. :)


author: Mark Ballew
body: Here we are in 2024 and still the same issue in Trello, definitely a UI problem but also a development team QA problem, this has to of made it on a issues/enhancements list by now and it's not been coded to or even given tips to help.


author: Luka Ro?man
body: Hi! is there a solution? i got 14 documents in my list and it's not very friendly to clink each attachment and doing "save as"..

anything?

comments: author: christine_0044
body: Answer is above.


author: ??????? ?????
body: Right-click and "Download" is OK, but what if I have 20+ files attached and I would like them to be downloaded together?

comments: author: christine_0044
body: If I need to download all documents attached to a card I use this - [https://trello-downloader.xiat.net/](https://trello-downloader.xiat.net/?)

It is not an Atlassian tool, but it works.


author: Dario Belaga
body: Hi, does anyone know a tool like this one from above that still works?? Apparently Trello changed something in the JSON files so Bendellar is not working anymore.

I have at least 200 pictures to download everyday and well, you can see why this tool was amazing for me.

Thanks!


author: Lisa at TEB
body: Downloading files is far more complicated than one would expect!  

From a Mac, I've been able to option click and save images, but haven't been able to save word or excel documents. You can open them to view them, but I haven't figured out how to download the actual file, and then be able to copy and use the content, which I need to for design work.  

Can anyone share if they've figured out if this is possible, as currently I'm having to ask clients to email me the files...it would be so much easier if I can download through Trello.

comments: author: Lisa at TEB
body: Found my answer by reading through all the suggestions posted in here ....  

option click on the tiny arrow to the right of the file...thank goodness!


author: drappleby
body: I have lots of browsers open all the time for website development so prefer to use the desktop app.

The desktop app seems to have no options for downloading images.


author: Kaitlin Hochgreve
body: Hey, I figured out a fix in my case so just updating in case it helps others. I am using Chrome on a PC and right-clicking on the Image of the attached file vs the name of the attached file produce different save options.   

Right-clicking on the file name opens a new tab that does not function for many file types we use and only saves an HTML weblink (SVG for example). But if you do what seems counter-intuitive, right-click the image and select "Save Link as" I am presented with a save window that allows me to actually select and save the correct file format.   

I hope that helps someone until the UI issue is addressed.

comments: author: Erin
body: Right-clicking doesn't work for me at all. Nothing happens.


author: Thinzar.Myint
body: There is an arrow after the file's name on the attachment. That would let you download the file. It worked for me.


author: Kaitlin Hochgreve
body: Yup we see the arrow but in our case it opens a new tab with the open file where we can right-click to download and save an HTML file not the original format. So that does not work for many.


author: Claire Charpentier
body: Hi there all.

I am using MacOS Big Sur Version 11.4. I have logged in via Chrome and via Safari but I'm unable to preview pdf or xls files, I can't open them in a new tab and I can't download them.

I can however do all of the above on my cellphone. I do not use VPN and don't have an antivirus, yet.  

Does anyone have any ideas?


author: sombreptile
body: You can option-click on the external link icon to the right of the filename to download (on Trello app on Mac OS)


author: Matthew N
body: Hi Suzanne

When an attachment is added to a card, the attachment is available for anyone to download.

Fore more info, see "[Preview and Download Attachments](https://help.trello.com/article/769-adding-attachments-to-cards)"

comments: author: Aleksander Daniel Matikainen
body: Hi, there's no any download button with or without a right click. The only thing I get is

This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.  
\<Error\>\<Code\>AccessDenied\</Code\>\<Message\>Access Denied\</Message\>\<RequestId\>BC41E31C6778EE44\</RequestId\>\<HostId\>9toP1roSmg1+aYKv6pclThbo7F6MoswTue1olTwPFJKMSMFvIMZvTxz9o85T/NP2nTOV+2sIAn4=\</HostId\>\</Error\>


author: swedishpotato
body: I'm sorry, but for xls documents, none of us using the Trello board can work out how to download it at all... You can see a preview, but nowhere is there a download option.


author: Daniel Eads
body: Hey all,

At this point you'll need to right-click on the preview or "open in new tab" links and [use the download option from your browser](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Trello-articles/Download-attachments-from-Trello-cards/ba-p/904808).

![image.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/33787i8301F8F638983FD4/image-dimensions/322x222?v=v2 "image.png")

Cheers,  
Daniel


author: GriehleNEF
body: Does that degrade the image quality?


author: Daniel Eads
body: [@GriehleNEF](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2600714) the image quality will be the same as the attached image. It's not converting from PNG to JPEG or even re-encoding the same JPEG. Just storing the attachment byte-for-byte. Good question!


author: Eric Bernal
body: Agreed, downloading file attachments is not very user-friendly. A colleague uploaded an Adobe Illustrator file to a card, and when I click on it to download, I get a blank screen and if I save the file, Adobe Illustrator says it's the wrong file type and I can't download it. Why can't I just click on a download link that starts the download process?


author: k
body: I also agree. I just came across a situation where someone uploaded an excel document. There is no download button or obvious way to download the attachment. The answer provided by others does not explicitly explain how to download anything. It only says "it's possible"


author: Daniel Eads
body: [@k](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3254545) Please see the screenshot above - you'll need to **right-click** the attachment and select the download option that your browser provides. [There's a full article here showing the options for all major browsers](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Trello-articles/Download-attachments-from-Trello-cards/ba-p/904808) if you want to see additional screenshots.

Cheers,  
Daniel \| Atlassian Support


author: Dave Madaras
body: Agreed - needs a quicker "download" button available from trello ticket.


author: GriehleNEF
body: :)


author: Kate Fox
body: Daniel, I am not seeing what you posted when I right-click anywhere on the attachment box. For a Word document, if I right click on the DOCX icon on the far left or on the up arrow after the name of the document, I get the standard box that asks if I want to open the link in a new tab, or new container tab, etc. If I click on the name of the document, I get the standard box of save page as, view page source, etc. I don't know if it is browser specific, but I am using Firefox. It would be great if there was a download option.


author: Daniel Eads
body: Hi [@Kate Fox](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/4035317) , I've just tested on Firefox 79 on macOS with a docx file. Right-clicking on the preview box (which simply says DOCX in Trello) yielded the option to download (Save Link As...) but right-clicking on the file name did not. Here's a screenshot to illustrate which portions I tested right-clicking on:

![image.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/105538i8082205A6CC8065B/image-dimensions/556x294?v=v2 "image.png")

If you're not seeing this with a current version of Firefox, let me know the version of Firefox and operating system you're on and I'll give it a try. Cheers!


author: BrightBold
body: I'm in the Trello MacOS app, and when I right-click the thumbnail (not the file name) for a Docx I get "Copy Link" and "Open Link" as the only options. So what I always do is 1) click the filename to open the preview, 2) click the external launch icon in the upper right corner, wait for it to open in my browser, then 3) click the browser button for "Open original," even though that's not actually what I want to do, and then get redirected to a new browser window (this is in Firefox) with a dialog box allowing me to 4) save the file. This turns what should be a one-step process into 4 steps.

As I was reproducing the steps to type this up, I noticed for the first time that there's a tiny diagonal arrow next to the file name that shortcuts to the 4th step! That's great, but I've done the ridiculous 4-step dance numerous times without ever noticing that icon, so it should really be made more prominent (it seems like it's missing the box that would typically surround an external link arrow --- this would not only make it more prominent but would make it more obvious what the arrow does.)

Plus, how about a little love for the app in your directions, since it isn't even mentioned in your [download instructions?](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Trello-articles/Download-attachments-from-Trello-cards/ba-p/904808)


author: creativeresearchanddevelopment
body: [@BrightBold](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/2459402)

Right!

Bump. Hello Altassian, can you please look into this. It's a bit silly to have to click 3 times just to download a file. What is point of allowing people to attach files in a project management tool if others can't download them.

Trello on Mac OSX

- No download button  
- They are PNG files  
- If I right click I get Open Link or Copy Link.  
- I then have to go into Chrome and then right click or download.   

Totally inefficient.


author: seyed_ehsan_hosseini
body: Hello to all  
You can use the software I just created to download all attachments of Trello cards at once  
**This software is free and will remain free forever**   
You can download the version for Mac and Windows operating systems from the address below  
<https://github.com/SeyedEhsanHosseini/TCAD/releases/tag/v0.1.0>  
In addition, the source code of this software is freely available to you, so that your thoughts about the program's performance and security are at ease.


author: Michael Shurtleff
body: I have noted that if you right click on the image to the left it gives one set of options including "save link as" and if you right click on the wording just to the right of the image thumbnail it gives another set of options including "save as"

"Save link as" allows you to easily download the actual file format. at least on windows/chrome

"save as" only saves some HTML thing.


author: Phil Gamache
body: I am just adding to this thread as I also had a very hard time downloading files.

Look for a small upwards arrow near file name. This will download the file on a PC.