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File upload

File upload lets users upload and analyze local files directly in Glean, Public Knowledge, and Apps — querying, summarizing, and generating content from them. This page covers how to enable file upload and the security and retention behavior admins should know. For end-user instructions and supported formats, see the file upload user guide.

Enable file upload​

To enable file upload for all users:

  1. Navigate to the Glean section in workspace Settings.
  2. Locate the File Upload toggle.
  3. Enable the feature.
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File upload is disabled by default for existing customers (as of GA on 9/24) but enabled by default for new customers.

File Upload Settings

Security and data handling​

  • Files are parsed and scanned for malware before storage. Malware-infected files trigger upload errors.
  • File content and metadata are stored in users' chat sessions and retained while the chat session is present in history.
  • Uploaded files can only be downloaded by the original uploader or users with access to the associated shared chat session. Files are not publicly accessible, even if the chat session was previously marked public.
  • Custom data retention policies for file uploads are not supported beyond your configured chat history retention. To delete files and metadata sooner, ask users to disable chat session history or manually delete chat sessions.
  • Optical Character Recognition (OCR) must be enabled for scanned PDFs to work properly. Contact Glean support if you experience issues.

Archive files and the Agent Sandbox​

Users can upload and analyze .zip and other archive files, but archive analysis runs in the Agent Sandbox and is only available in Thinking mode. Agent Sandbox must be turned on for your organization, and archive analysis may be subject to usage-based pricing. For archive limits and security restrictions, see the file upload user guide.

See also​

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