Attaching Files

This lesson will teach you how to edit an existing web page on a Drupal website hosted at the Baskin School of Engineering.

This lesson assumes that you have logged in to your Drupal site and that you have created a web page that you want to attach files to.

You can attach any number of files to web pages in Drupal. By default, the system will accept most common file formats, such as images, PDF files, documents and more. Additional file formats can be added by sending a request to the BSOE webmaster.

To upload a file, click the Choose File button within the Attachments fieldset. Select the file you wish to upload from your hard drive, and then click the Upload button. Repeat this process for each file you wish to upload.

If you would like Drupal to automatically create a table of attachments at the bottom of your web page, you can leave the Display checkbox checked. If you want to embed the attachments into the page content, you should un-check the Display checkbox.

Embedding Images

To embed an image attachment into the web page, right-click the attachment file name and select Copy Link Location. Then, put your cursor in the Body editor where you want the image to appear, typically at the beginning of a paragraph. Click the Image tool in the editor toolbar (it looks like a little tree), and then paste the URL you copied into the Image URL box. You should also add an image description, which will be read to visually-impaired users who are visiting the web page using a screen reader. You can choose to align the image left, center or right. If you choose left or right, the text will flow around the image. If you choose center, the image will appear above the text following it.

By default, the system will auto-populate the width and height fields for you. If you wish to reduce the size of an image, it's recommended that you set the width, but leave the height empty, so that the user's web browser can automatically calculate the height for you. However, unless you want a larger-than-necessary image made available to your users, it's better to re-size the image using Photoshop or Gimp before uploading it. You should leave the border, horizontal space and vertical space boxes empty, as these settings are overriden by the site theme.

Click the Insert button and your image should now appear on the page. Save your changes to view the embedded image.

Making Attachments Available In-Line

To make an attachment available by clicking some words on the web page, right-click the attachment file name and select Copy Link Location. Then, highlight the words on the web page that you want to make clickable. Click the link tool in the editor toolbar (it looks like a chain link) and then paste the URL that you copied into the Link URL box. You should also specify a Link Title, which will appear when the user hovers over the link on your web page, and which will also be read to visually-impaired users who are visiting the web page using a screen reader.

Click the Insert button and the words you highlighted should now be a link. Save your changes to try the link out.