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Uploading Documents

Stop! Should you be uploading a document?
While there may be times you need to upload a PDF or other file, your informational content should be created as webpages. Cascade webpages are more accessible for those using assistive technology and easier for your visitors to view across their devices — using PDFs or other files can create unnecessary barriers between your visitors and your content.

Tip: If you need to update a document that is already uploaded in Cascade, follow the instructions to replace a file instead.

Upload a Single Document
  1. Make your document accessible.
  2. Remove any spaces or upper case letters in your file name – this will become the system File Name and URL for the uploaded file. For example, basket-weaving-form.pdf. Tip: keep your file names evergreen by not including a date. This will allow you to easily update the file later to a newer version without renaming it — renaming the file changes the URL breaking links you've shared and links in search results.
  3. Navigate to and select your "documents" folder. If you don't have a storage folder, create one.
  4. From the top toolbar, choose Add Content >> File.
  5. Enter the required Display Name.
  6. Click "Drop a file here or choose one from your computer" to select the file on your computer.
  7. Select "Preview Draft" – then Submit >> Check Content & Submit.

Remember that you've just uploaded this document into Cascade. It is not available publicly until you publish it. And it is not easily found by visitors or search engines until you link to it on a page.

Document Size Limit

The document size limit is about 9.7 MB. If you have documents that exceed this limit review the available storage options and contact [[creative]]. For PDFs that exceed the file size limit, you can first try the online tool SmallPDF to compress your PDF. This tool can also merge and split PDFs and convert PPT, JPG, Excel or Word documents to PDF.

Bulk File Upload

To upload more than one file:

  1. Make your document accessible.
  2. Remove any spaces or upper case letters in your file name. When uploading multiple files, the file names will be used by default and may be updated by the system if they do not meet the naming standards.
  3. Navigate to and select the documents folder.
  4. From the top menu, select Add Content >> File.
  5. Note that all of the files to be uploaded cannot collectively exceed the 9.7 MB file size limit.
  6. Select the “Choose” link or drag and drop files from your computer into the drop zone. 
  7. Submit.
  8. Once you have uploaded your files, you will need to edit each of them to provide the required Display Name.
Uploading a Zip Archive

Here are the steps for importing a zip file of documents directly into Cascade. This method is useful if you have multiple folders worth of files you’d like to upload and want to maintain the folder structure, as it will be recreated within your site when the zip archive is unpacked.

  1. Make your document accessible.
  2. Zip up the set of documents. Note that all of the files to be uploaded cannot collectively exceed the 9.7 MB file size limit.
  3. Select the Cascade folder where the documents will be uploaded. If you don't have a storage folder create one.
  4. Click Add Content >> File from the top navigation menu in Cascade.
  5. Scroll down and drag-and-drop or choose a zip file from your computer.
  6. Select 'Yes' to extract and save all of the contents into the current folder
  7. Click 'Unpack' and you will land on a Zip Archive Report that displays the items unpacked successfully or with errors.
  8. Close. Then refresh your view of the folder to see the files listed.
  9. Finally, you will need to edit each file to provide the required Display Name.