Knowledge

When a file seems to have gone

A message from last month shows Expired attachment where your PDF used to be. Or you attached a file ten messages ago and wonder whether the model still sees it. Or Lexika refused a file you tried to add. This article covers all three, starting with what you can attach.

Adding files

The round + button under the text box opens a menu with Upload from your device and Choose from your attachments. On a phone set to Above the composer in Settings > Preferences, the button sits above the box. In a browser or the desktop app you can also paste files, or drag them onto the chat and drop them when Drop files to attach appears.

No message carries more than 10 files, and no upload can be larger than 30 MB. The model can set lower limits.

The model decides what fits

The model you picked or @mention sets which file types it takes, how large and how many, and whether they must share one type. Eco, Balanced and Premium take PDFs and pictures only, at most 3 files of up to 20 MB each. Choose from your attachments opens Select attachments, which lists the model's rules at the top and dims your files that do not fit.

When a file does not fit, a notice names it with a reason such as Type not supported by this model, Larger than 20 MB, Limit of 3 files reached or One type at a time. The server refuses a file over 30 MB even when the model allows it, and the file's card above the text box reads Larger than the server allows. A picture wider or taller than 7,680 pixels, such as a long full-page screenshot, fails with Upload failed. Compress or split a file that is too large, and crop a tall screenshot into parts.

If you switch models or @mention another one, Lexika removes the files that model cannot take, and a notice says so. Pick the model before you attach.

When you cannot attach at all

• Your own plan is Free. The menu reads Upgrade your subscription to use attachments. Under it sits See plans. This holds even in a workspace that uses Owner Credit.
• The model takes no files. The menu shows the model's name followed by doesn't support attachments. Pick another model.
• The chat is set to Chatting. The switch beside + reads Chatting. On a phone the switch is a speech-bubble button, filled in while Chatting is on. Pressing + shows Attachments are not available in comment mode, even when you @mention a model. Switching to Chatting also clears files you had added. Press the switch again to return to Asking AI.

Text files go in as text

Lexika hands text and code files, such as .txt, .md, .csv or .json, to the model as plain text, if the model's rules list Text or All file types. Each can be up to 64 KB, and the text files in one message share a 128 KB cap and a length cap. Past a limit, your message shows Message failed to send with CONTEXT_ATTACHMENT_TEXT_TOO_LARGE under it. Send only the part you need, pasted into the message or as a smaller file. Two halves in one message still share the cap.

What the model reads on later messages

With each message you send, Lexika gives the model that message's files first, then the most recent earlier files, up to 10 in all. Pictures the model made in the chat count toward the 10. Lexika leaves older files out, with no note to you or the model. If the conversation is too long for the model, Lexika also drops the oldest of the earlier files it kept, again without a note.

An earlier picture, PDF or other non-text file reaches the model only if the model answering now takes its type and size and has room under its own file count. A model that takes one type at a time also needs the file to match the type already included. Otherwise, or once the file is deleted, the model gets a short note that names the file as unavailable. So does an earlier text file past the text caps.

To be sure the model reads an earlier file, attach it again with Choose from your attachments. Files in the message you send always come first.

• Lexika does not hand the model files from the compacted part of a chat. The Knowledge Base article on context compaction explains where that part ends.
• Files a teammate sent reach the model too.
• Files read again count as input, so a large file makes each message cost more for as long as it is among them. Start a new conversation once you no longer need it. The Knowledge Base article on what a message costs explains the charge.
• A model that can use tools also gets a list of the chat's 12 most recent pictures, so it can edit one on request even when it no longer sees that picture.

What the model wrote about a file in its earlier answers stays with it after the file drops out, but it cannot check those details against the file.

Files are deleted after 30 days

Lexika deletes the files you upload, and pictures a model makes in a chat, once they are 30 days old. A cleanup runs once a day, so a file can last up to a day longer. Nobody can recover a deleted file. The clock starts when the file was uploaded or made. Picking it again from Choose from your attachments does not restart it, and deleting a conversation does not delete its files.

Where	What changes once the file is gone
Your message	Expired attachment, from 30 days after you sent it
A picture the model made	The picture goes blank, and the download button under the answer disappears
Attachments in Settings, and Select attachments	The file is no longer listed

The conversation and its text stay. A message that reused an older file can lose that file before the message is 30 days old. Until Expired attachment appears, a picture's tile is blank, and another file's tile keeps its name but no longer opens.

Finding and deleting your files

Open Settings with the gear at the bottom of the sidebar, then choose Attachments under Personalization. It lists your files, newest first, with the size and the date each was added. For a file you uploaded or a picture made in a chat, that date plus 30 days is when it goes.

Files your teammates sent stay in their accounts, so they are not listed here and only they can delete them. In a workspace that uses Owner Credit, Lexika files pictures the model makes under the owner's account. They show in the owner's Attachments, not yours, and only the owner can delete them.

To delete a file, press the trash icon at the end of its row. On a wide screen it shows when you point at the row. A dialog asks Delete this attachment? Press Delete. The file is gone for good, and your chats no longer open it.

Keeping what you need

• Keep originals on your device. Lexika keeps only a PNG copy of a picture you upload, and deletes that copy after 30 days.
• Save pictures the model made. Within 30 days, press the download button, an arrow icon under the answer. On a computer, point at the answer to show it.
• Upload again to use a file later. A fresh upload starts a new 30 days.
• Save lasting facts to a Brain. If a Brain is attached to the chat and you are the workspace Owner or an Admin, ask the assistant to remember what matters from the file. The entry is its own text, so it outlives the file. The Knowledge Base article on how something gets into a Brain covers the rest.