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Include attachments

You can associate nongeographic data, such as images of design documents or images collected during fieldwork, with geographic information using attachments in a report. The attachment report element displays attachment images for each feature in the report and can only be added to the details subsection of a report.

Add attachments

Complete the following steps to add an attachment element to a report:

  1. Select the details subsection in the report.

    You may need to increase the height of the subsection before moving to step 2.

  2. On the Insert tab, in the Data group, click Attachments .

  3. Click and drag a rectangle to place the attachment element in the details subsection of the report.

Only the first image attachment is included when the report is shared. You can include more by configuring it to display multiple images.

Modify attachments

Once you've added an attachment element to a report, you can change the number of image attachments displayed, how they are organized, and how they appear. To modify an attachment element in a report, on the Attachment Frame tab, modify the outline and border of the images and the background, border, and shadow of the element.

Attachment sort order

When multiple attachments are included in a single attachment element, they are displayed in the order they were added to the geodatabase. You can change the sort field, in combination with using row filtering of images, to control which attachments are displayed when the report is generated. For example, you can display only the most recent annual inspection image for a fire hydrant or use the attachment names to show a well-defined set of ordered images.

Optionally, create an expression to further limit which attachments are displayed.

Filter attachments

You can filter attachments so that only specific attachments are shown. On the Options tab of the Element pane, under the Images heading, select a row filter. Four filters are available:

  • None—No filter is applied and all attachments are shown.

  • First—Only show the first number of attachments.

  • Last—Only show the last number of attachments.

  • Index—Use a zero-based index to define the first attachment to appear.

Tip:

Use sort order when including a single attachment to display either the first or last image. Select fields that allow sorting and apply ascending or descending sorting.

Attachment appearance

The attachment element frame, and the frames for individual images within it, can be formatted with the following options:

  • Border—The symbol of the border around the outside of the attachment element. An X and Y gap and corner rounding can be included.

  • Background—The symbol that fills in the background of the attachment element. An X and Y gap and corner rounding can be included.

  • Shadow—The symbol that appears as a shadow cast from the attachment element. An X and Y offset and corner rounding can be included.

  • Image—The border and background symbol for the frame around individual images in the attachment element. The attachment image and its frame symbol draw on top of the background color of the attachment element.

Include multiple attachments

By default, only the first image attachment is included in an attachment element, but you can configure it to show additional attached images. When multiple images are included in the attachment element, they can be organized into a grid formation or placed one per page.

Create a grid of attachments

Use a grid to configure a combination of rows and columns and internal spacing distances. In the Element pane, on the Placement tab, under the Arrangement heading, choose Grid in the drop-down and then increase the number of rows and columns. Image border lines appear as the element divides itself into the new configuration. Optionally, check the Dynamic option to allow the element to repeat the row configuration until all image attachments are seen.

Note:

The maximum number of allowable rows and columns is 100.

Use Fill the row to arrange them in reading order, left to right. Use Fill the column to stack attachments vertically in columns.

The overall element frame size can be manually configured on this tab by adjusting the element width and height values under the Attachment frame size heading. To control the size of the individual attachment images in the element, adjust the width and height values under the Image size heading.

Increase the column and row spacing values to add space between the images. The image border appears beyond the row and column edges.

View attachments one per page

For larger images, in the Element pane, on the Placement tab, under the Arrangement heading, choose One per page in the drop-down menu. If there is enough room on the same page, the first image appears immediately after any preceding elements. Optionally, check the Start on new page option to force all image attachments, including the first, to appear at the top of the next page.