Attaching files

Describing a spreadsheet to Rally is slow, and you will get a column wrong. Attach the spreadsheet instead. Rally reads what you attach, and so does everyone else in the Channel.

Four ways to attach#

1. The + button. Click + at the left of the message box (its label is Composer actions) and choose Attach files. The file picker lets you choose several files at once.
2. The /attach command. Type /attach into an empty box and press Return. The file picker opens. (More on slash commands in The message box.)
3. Drag and drop. Drag files from Finder onto the message box, onto the conversation, or onto the panel on the right. The area lights up while a file is over it. Selecting a pile of files in a folder and dragging them all at once works too.
4. Paste. Copy a file or an image and press ⌘ V. You do not have to click into the box first. Pasting works anywhere in the Channel as long as you are not typing in some other field or dialog.

The tiles above the box#

Each file you add shows as a small tile above the message box.

• A progress ring turns while the file uploads.
• A retry button (a circle of arrows) appears if the upload fails. Hover it to see what went wrong, and click it to try again.
• The X removes the file from the message.
• Click the tile itself to preview the file before you send.

You cannot send while a file is still uploading. Wait for the ring to finish, then press Return as usual. Attachments are part of your draft, so they come back with it if you leave the Channel and return later (see The message box).

Pasted screenshots get a sensible name#

When you paste a screenshot, Rally names it after the moment you pasted it, for example Pasted image 2026-10-01 at 14.03.22.png. Paste three in the same second and the next ones get (2) and (3) on the end. This saves you from a message full of files all called "image.png", which is nobody's idea of a good filing system.

A file you copied from Finder keeps its own name. And if you copy cells from a spreadsheet, you get the text of those cells in the box, not a picture of them.

Limits#

Duplicates are judged by the file's contents, not its name, so two different files called "notes.txt" are both welcome.

What Rally can read#

Rally sorts every file into a kind and reads the ones it understands:

With a file in hand, Rally can read it page by page, search inside it, summarise it, and answer questions about it. It can look at up to eight images at once. While a Word file or PDF is being turned into readable text, its preview shows Preparing preview....

Some things Rally cannot read:

• Sound and video. You can attach a recording and people can play it, but Rally cannot listen to it or watch it.
• Locked files, such as password-protected or encrypted PDFs and Office files.
• Damaged files, and file types Rally does not recognise.

When a file is long, Rally reads it in pieces. If it only managed part of it, it is meant to say so rather than pretend it read the lot. And if Rally could not open a file at all, it will not state facts from it.

Rally always answers a message with a file#

In a Channel full of people, Rally sometimes stays quiet and lets the humans talk (see People in the room). A message with an attachment is different. Rally always responds to it, on the reasonable guess that you did not attach a contract for decoration.

Things to ask#

• "Here's last quarter's sales sheet. Which three products grew fastest?"
• "Summarise this contract and list anything about termination."
• "What's wrong in this screenshot? The button should be blue."
• "Compare these two PDFs and tell me what changed."

Files that stay with the Channel#

An attachment belongs to the message you sent it with. If you want a file to be part of the Channel itself, where Rally and your teammates can always find it, add it as a resource. That is covered in Resources: things you bring in.

Next: what happens after you press send, in While Rally works.