SMF2.1:Attachments and Avatars

Work in progress, expect frequent changes.

Please see SMF1.1:Attachments and Avatars, SMF2.0:Attachments and Avatars or SMF2.1:Attachments and Avatars depending on the version of SMF you are using.

In Admin Center > Forum > Attachments and Avatars, administrators can manage attachments: files which have been attached to messages and uploaded to the server; as well as avatars, and thumbnails of attachments. The thumbnails are made automatically, according to settings, upon upload. This is a useful area to work out how much your server is storing in the way of attachments and user-uploaded avatars, which over time can soon become a large figure especially if you have a large membership. Of course the decision whether to delete attachments, when, and how, is personal to every forum and admin. If you are unsure, perhaps discussing it in the Community Forum with other admins would be helpful?

There are five pages/sub-menus here: Browse Files, Attachment Settings, Avatar Settings, Attachment Directories, and File Maintenance.

Browse Files

On these pages, administrators can view the Attachments, Avatars, and Thumbnails (of attachments) uploaded to the forum and server. At the top left area, you can choose whether to view Attachments, Avatars, or Thumbnails. The lists have six columns each:

Attachment Name - This is the name of the file that was uploaded, whether attachment, avatar, or thumbnail. The name is also a text link which will open the image or file.
File Size - This is the size of the file that was uploaded.
Posted By - This is the name of the member who uploaded the file. It's also a link to the member's profile.
Date - This is the date it was uploaded. Beside or below the date is the subject or topic title of the thread in which the attachment was made.
Downloads - This is the number of times either the file was opened or the image was viewed, depending on the type of file.
There is no title for this column but it's the checkboxes. By checking the boxes beside file you want to remove, and clicking Remove Selected button, you can remove attachments, avatars, or thumbnails of attachments.

Attachment Settings

Here you can configure your Attachment options with information, such as number, size and type of allowed files, including security and thumbnail options.

Attachment Settings

Attachments mode - From the dropdown menu, choose Enable attachments, Disable attachments or just Disable new attachments. These are explained in the little question mark icon to the left of the option.
Choose the method for the management of the attachment directories - By default, SMF puts new attachments into a single folder. For most sites this is not a problem, but as a site grows it can be useful to have multiple folders to store attachments in. See the little question mark icon for details. There are five settings to choose from.
Attachments directory - This displays the directory or directories of attachments, depending on previous settings.
Maximum number of files per directory - Enter the number of files you want here, or enter zero for no limit.
Do not show attachments under the post if they are already embedded in it. - Attachments normally appear under a posted message. But if you embed an attachment, then it will appear both within the message, and below it. This option, when the box is checked, makes the attachment show only once.
Max attachment size per post - Set the total for all attachments in a post. If this is lower than the per-attachment limit, this will be the per-attachment limit.
Max size per attachment - Set the maximum size for a single attachment. Note that the maximum size per post and per attachment allowed by php.ini is 32768 kb.
Max number of attachments per post - Set the maximum number of attachments per post. Set to zero for no limit.

Attachment Security Settings

Check attachment's extension - Check this box to enable attachment filtering. If enabled, you can specify in the option below this, which extensions are allowed to be uploaded by your members.
Allowed attachment extensions - If Check attachment's extension is enabled, you can specify here which attachments are allowed to be uploaded; for example: TXT, DOC, MP3. These three extensions would allow members to upload Text Documents, Word Documents and MP3 Audio files. Type the extensions without caps, dots, or spaces, just a comma between extensions. For the previous example, it would look like "txt,doc,mp3". Warning! - Be careful in your choice of file extension. Some file extensions, such as HTTP, PHP, or JS can cause a major security risk to your website's security!
Re-encode potentially dangerous image attachments - Checking this box will enable trying to re-encode the uploaded image attachments, which offers better security. Note however that image re-encoding renders all animated images static. Note that this feature is only possible if the GD module is installed on your server.
Perform extensive security checks on uploaded image attachments - Warning! - The extensive security checks can result in a large number of rejected attachments. Read the details in the question mark icon on the left.

Thumbnail Settings

Display image attachments as pictures under post - When this box is checked, if the attachment is an image, it will be displayed as an image. Otherwise, there will only be a text link, so that the reader must click on the link to view the image.
Resize images when showing under posts - If the option above is checked, this option will save a separate (smaller) attachment for the thumbnail, to decrease bandwidth.
Save thumbnails as PNG- Checking this creates a higher quality thumbnail.
Adaptive thumbnail memory -

**Waiting for answer to forum post**

Maximum width of thumbnails - Set the maximum width you want for thumbnails. This is only used when Resize images when showing under posts is enabled.
Maximum height of thumbnails - Set the maximum height you want for thumbnails. This is only used when Resize images when showing under posts is enabled.
Max display width of posted or attached images - Set the maximum width of displayed images when thumbnail is clicked on. Set to zero for no limit.
Max display height of posted or attached images - Set the maximum height of displayed images when thumbnail is clicked on. Set to zero for no limit.

Be sure to click the Save button in the bottom right corner, after you finish configuring all the options on this page.

**Page mostly updated to this point. Update in progress after this point**

Avatar Settings

This page is at Admin Center > Forum > Attachments and Avatars > Avatar Settings. These options allow you to configure avatars and set up their directories.

Server-stored Avatars

These are the avatars which administrators have uploaded to their server. By default, they should go into the "avatars" directory. But if admins want to add sub-folders, they can create categories of avatars. Members will be able to browse them, and choose an avatar for their profile.

Note that when searching for avatars to use in their forums, administrators should be mindful of copyrights and licenses, and only use avatars which they have permission to use.

Membergroups allowed to select a server stored avatar - Choose which membergroups can or cannot use server stored avatars.
Avatars directory - The path for the base directory where server stored avatars are stored.
Avatars URL - This is the URL for the avatars directory.

External Avatars

These are avatars which exist on a third party website or host. The downside is that administrators cannot control from which site their members get the avatars, whether the avatars are a good fit for their site, or whether their member had permission to use them.

Membergroups allowed to select an external URL - Choose which membergroups can or cannot use externally stored avatars.
Download avatar at given URL - Specify whether external avatars are downloaded onto your own server. Once this box is checked, and the member enters the URL, the external avatar becomes like an uploaded avatar. If it's not checked, the avatar becomes essentially hot-linked, once the member enters the URL. Checking the box may speed up the handling of these avatars. Read the question mark icon window for more details.
Maximum width of external avatar - Set the maximum width of externally linked avatars. Set to zero for no limit.
Maximum height of external avatar - Set the maximum height of externally linked avatars. Set to zero for no limit.
If the avatar is too large... - If the avatar is over the specified size, there are three options in this dropdown menu: Refuse it, Resize it in user's browser, and Download and resize it on the server. See the question mark icon window for the pros and cons for each option. Note that either the GD Library or ImageMagick are needed on the server, for this option to work.

Uploadable Avatars

These are avatars uploaded to the forum's server by the forum's members. This gives administrators more control than external avatars, but takes up space on the server.

Allow members to upload their own avatars - Choose which membergroups can or cannot upload avatars to your server.
Maximum width of uploaded avatar - Specify the maximum width allowed for avatars that are uploaded. Set to zero for no limit.
Maximum height of uploaded avatar - Specify the maximum height allowed for avatars that are uploaded. Set to zero for no limit.
Resize oversized large avatars - If enabled this will resize larger then specified avatars (requires a GD module).
Use PNG for resized avatars - PNG files are larger, but offer better quality compression. If this is unchecked, JPEG will be used instead. Although JPEG images are smaller in size they are usually a lower quality than PNG files.
Re-encode potentially dangerous avatars - Selecting this option will enable trying to re-encode the uploaded avatars, which offers better security. Note however that this will render animated images static. (This requires a GD module to be installed on your server.)
Perform extensive security checks on uploaded avatars - Selecting this option will enable very strict security checks on avatars. Enabling this option can, however, result in a lot of safe avatars to be rejected. Read the question mark icon window for more details.
Upload directory - This is the directory for uploaded, or custom avatars. It should be a valid and writable directory, different from the server-stored directory.
**Waiting for answer to forum post**
Upload URL - This is the URL of the directory.

Gravatars (Globally Recognized Avatars)

To use this feature, members must register their email address and an avatar at https://www.gravatar.com/. After that, the same avatar will be used on every site across the internet, in which the member uses the same email address. Note that there are obvious potential security issues when using this feature.

Enable Gravatars for forum users? - Check this box to allow this feature in the forum.
Force Gravatars to be used instead of normal avatars? - Check this box to use only Gravatars, and no other avatars in the forum.
Allow storing an extra email address for Gravatars? - Check this to allow more than one email address for Gravatars.
Maximum allowed rating? - Gravatars have audience ratings. The dropdown menu has four options, ranging from G (Generally acceptable) to X (Explicit).
Default image to show when an email address has no matching Gravatar - If a member does not have a Gravatar image, a default image will be shown instead. The dropdown menu has six, self-explanatory options from which to choose.

Be sure to click the Save button in the bottom right corner, when you finish configuring all the options on this page.

Attachment Directories

On this page, administrators can create additional attachment directories. If the forum's active directory is getting too large, for whatever reason, or if you have some other reason for multiple attachment directories, you can manage them here. Perhaps for example, you would like to keep a separate directory per month or per year?

This section has five columns:

Current - There will be a filled dot beside the directory which is active.
Path - This column contains the path to the directory, on the server.
Size - This column shows the size, in kb, of all the files in this directory.
Files - This column shows the number of files in the directory.
Status - If all is well with the directory, this column will show "OK". If the directory is empty, it will say "Unused".

To create a new directory:

Remember that only one directory can be active, or Current, at any given time.

Click the Add Path button in the bottom right corner of the page.
Copy the path from the Path column of the original directory.
Change the name of the last folder (everything after the last / ). For example, the default folder or directory is called "attachments". You might name the new one "attachements2", or "2024attachments" or whatever.
Click the Save button.
Finally, be sure to tick the new path, in the Current column, to make it active.

After that, whenever members upload attachments, they will go into the new directory.

To remove a directory:

Remember that only empty directories can be removed. You can see if a directory is empty by looking at the Size, Files, and Status columns. Their values will be "0", "0", and "Unused", respectively.

Delete the entire path from the Path column.
Click the Save button.

File Maintenance

From here, you can administrate the attached files on your system. You can delete attachments by size and by date from your system. Statistics on attachments are also displayed in this area.

File Attachment Statistics

Total Attachments - Total number of attachment files uploaded.
Total Avatars - Total number of avatars uploaded.
Total Size of Attachment Directory - Total space used on server to hold the attachments.
Total Space Available in Attachment Directory - Space remaining for any new uploaded attachments to come.
Attachment Integrity Check - In this area, you can carry out a check on the integrity and sizes of attachments and filenames listed in the database. If you run this check it will fix any errors which are found.
Attachment Pruning - In this area, you can delete files older then a specified number of days or attachments over a specified size. Both of these options have the added settings of enabling you to include a message of your choice to be included where any attachment has been removed by the system.

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