Files and Documents

Save It As an Acceptable File Type

Acceptable file types are:

• txt
• pdf
• doc
• docx

Make It Accessible

All files added to our site must be accessible to people with disabilities and meet federal accessibility guidelines.

See Grinnell's Digital Accessibility Policy for details.

Contact Accessibility and Disability Services if you have questions or need help making your document accessible.

To add a new file from a WYSIWYG editor:

1. Click the first Link icon.
2. Check if there's already a copy of your document on the site by typing the title and see if a matching document appears in the drop-down list. If it does:
   • and you need to replace the copy with a newer version, see Update a Media Record / Replace a Document on this page.
   • and you can use that copy, select if from the drop-down list.
3. If the document doesn't already exist, click Upload Document. This opens a new media record.
4. Complete the new media record and click Save. You may have to close the browser window to return to your original page.
5. On your original page, start typing the title and select your document from under Media.

Important: For links to all documents, warn users that they are opening a document rather than a web page.

For example, Investigations: Handbook for Biology, Chemistry, BioChem Course (PDF).

By using Media > Add Doc, you can add your documents before making edits to a node. This comes in particularly handy if you are adding several documents at one time or want to add a note about a document for future editors.

To do so:

1. Click Editor Tools in the black Admin menu.
2. Click Media and then Add Doc.
3. Browse for and select your document.
4. Enter a title. This title will be how you find the correct document when you link to it.
5. Tag the audience, group, and/or services as applicable.
6. Add a note if you want to.
7. Click Save.

Note: If you need to replace an old version of a document while editing a node, do not upload it as a new document. Instead, update the original media record.

Option 1: Find the media record in Media

Useful if you are just updating the document itself. 

1. Click Editor Tools in the black Admin menu.
2. Click Media.
3. Search for your old document. (Filter using the fields at the top to reduce your choices. You must click Apply to see the changes.)
4. Click Edit, which appears under the “Operations” column.
5. Click Remove to remove the old file.
6. Click Browse and find and select the new file.
7. Click Save.
8. Edit the title or tags if appropriate.
9. Click Save to save the changes to the media record.

Option 2: Find the media record from the page you’re editing

Useful if you’re editing a page with a link to the document you're trying to replace.

1. While editing your page, view the link to the document. You should see something similar to /media/99999. This is a link to the media record.
2. Copy the media record link.
3. Open a new tab.
4. Paste the URL in the address bar and add www.grinnell.edu to the beginning and /edit to the end.
   • Example: https://www.grinnell.edu/media/17882/edit 
5. Follow steps 4 through 7 of updating a document.

Note: If you leave the /edit off the end of the media record link, you'll be directed to the original document. Just try again with the /edit.

Replacing a file with a new version may not automatically remove the old version completely.

If the old version still comes up in searches a few days after you replaced it, contact us to get it removed.

You can link to your document by using the first Link icon in a WYSIWYG editor.

This automatically uses the media ID to link to the document.

To do so:

1. Select the text you want to link to your document.
2. Click on the first link icon in the WYSIWYG icon bar.
3. Begin to type the title of the document's media record (the one you enter when you load a document).
   Drupal will present a drop-down list of items that match.
4. Find your file under the documents section and click on it.
   Drupal will enter the media ID URL for you.

The media ID URL will include the document's unique media ID. For example: .../media/7146

It's easiest to use lookup fields in Drupal to link to your documents. When you don't have one at hand — e.g. when you want to link to a file on our site from an event or announcement in GrinnellShare or in an email — use Editor Tools > Media to find the media ID URL.

To find the media ID link from Media:

1. Click Editor Tools in the black Admin toolbar.
2. Click Media.
3. Search for your document.
4. Click Edit in the Operations column on the right.
5. Copy the URL in the address bar. Discard "/edit" plus anything after that. What remains should be the media ID link.

If you look at the URL, the last number should be the document's unique media ID. For example: .../media/7146

When you're adding a link to a document that's on our site, you might be tempted to browse to it and copy the link once it opens.

That will give you a link that looks something like this:
https://www.grinnell.edu/sites/default/files/docs/2018-10/YourFileName.pdf

Don’t do that!

• The media ID URL will continue to work even if the file gets replaced.
• If you link to someone else’s document, they can update it and your link will still work. And vice versus.
• It's just as easy to find the media ID URL

Important: To save yourself grief, use the media ID URL when you send a link to the document to others, for example in a mass email. When you find out there was a problem with the original document, you can fix it quickly and without fuss by replacing the document and perhaps without having to send out a corrective email.

Think your file won't change? They often do. Reasons include:

• typos
• updated roles
• new contacts
• a change to a policy or procedure
• an accessibility issue