Upload Your First File

Upload Your First File


Congratulations on taking the first steps towards preserving your digital memories and legacy. Now that you've created an account, the next step is to upload your first file. 

Your first archive

When you log in to your Permanent account for the first time, Permanent automatically creates an archive for you with the name "The [Your Name] Archive." If you wish to upload files to a different archive, you can create a new archive and navigate to that archive to upload your first file. Learn more about creating and switching between archives in this help article.

What should I upload?

It can feel overwhelming to choose which files to upload first, especially if you are just getting started with creating your archive. What's your most cherished digital file? Is it a digitized photograph of your grandmother? Is it a video of your son's first birthday party? Or is it a PDF of the first draft of your book? Start with that file! You can always go back and add more files as you continue to build your archive. Your Permanent archive can preserve whatever files you (or your family, community, or organization) decide are important. 

Permanent.org accepts all file formats for preservation, so any file that you upload will be preserved. However, Permanent supports certain file formats for access. You can learn more about the supported file formats in this help article.

How to upload a file

There are two options for uploading a file to your archive: by clicking on the Upload button or by dragging a file from your computer into the Permanent app in your browser. Below are the steps for uploading a file:
  1. Navigate to the workspace where you want your file to live. You can upload the file to the My Files workspace if you want your file private, or you can upload the file to the Public workspace if you wish to share the file on your Public Gallery. You can change workspaces by clicking on the options on the left side of the screen.



  2. Click the orange Upload button in the top right corner of your workspace. A dialog box will appear where you can choose the file you wish to upload from your computer. Navigate to where the file lives on your computer, then click Open.



  3. Alternatively, you can navigate to the location of the file you would like to upload on your computer (in My Computer for Windows or Finder for Mac). Once you locate the file, click and drag the file into your workspace in the Permanent app in your browser.
  4. Once you have started an upload, a status bar will open on the right side of your screen. When your file is uploaded, it will appear in your workspace.

Please note that to upload folders, you must use the drag and drop functionality for uploading. We currently do not support uploading folders from the uploads button, but we're working on it!



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