A File Will Not Upload, Open, or Download

On This Page

• The Upload Shows ERROR: Unable to Upload File.
• The Upload Said It Worked, but the File Is Not on the Record
• A Download Link Has Expired or Shows an Error Page
• The File Downloads but Will Not Open, or Opens as the Wrong Type
• A Public Image Does Not Display
• A File Added with Use URL Stopped Working
• Your Digital Library or a Purchased Document Won't Open
• Opening a Password-Protected Data Export
• When to Contact Support

The same upload control appears across Rhythm, including file and image questions on web forms in the Console and portals, file fields on settings screens, and import wizards. Uploading has two steps: Rhythm gives your browser a temporary upload address, then your browser sends the file there. Since you only see the final result, start with the symptom that matches what happened and follow those checks.

The Upload Shows ERROR: Unable to Upload File.

Rhythm shows this red error whenever an upload fails, no matter what caused it. The field also clears, so any file that was already selected or uploaded there is removed.

1. Your session expired, or your connection dropped. If Rhythm asks you to sign in, sign in again. Check your connection, then choose the file again. A similar save error can appear after you have been idle in the Console, even if Rhythm did not sign you out. Refreshing the browser usually lets you continue and save.
2. You left or reloaded the page while the upload was running. Leaving or reloading the page cancels the upload without warning. Stay on the page until you see File uploaded. (or Document uploaded. or Image uploaded.).
3. Choosing the same file again does nothing. Your browser decides whether selecting the same file starts a new upload. If nothing happens, reload the page, then upload the file again. Reloading loses any unsaved answers on that page.
4. The file name contains a plus sign. A + in the file name can stop the upload from finishing. Rename the file to remove the plus sign, then choose it again.

The upload control does not check file type or size, so this error is not caused by a file being too large or the wrong type. For the same reason, you cannot configure a File/Document custom field to accept only certain file types; it accepts any file or document. No custom field or form setting enforces a maximum image size. If you want people to keep images under a practical size, add that guidance to the field's help text; configuration will not enforce it.

An image uploaded to a custom field can save successfully and still show as a broken image, most often when the file is larger than about 10 MB. A smaller version of the same image usually displays correctly. For profile images and logos, keep files under 10 MB and close to a square shape. A very large file, or a strongly oval or rectangular image, can also make the image overlap other elements in the Console and portal.

The Upload Said It Worked, but the File Is Not on the Record

The upload message means the file reached a temporary holding area. The file attaches to the record only when you save the form or record, and the screen does not remind you to save.

• If you left the form without saving, the file was never attached. Upload it again and save.
• You cannot save the form while an upload is still running, and web forms disable Next and Submit until the upload finishes. Wait for the upload message, then continue.
• If you refresh the page after uploading but before saving, (download) can no longer open the file, and the file is not on the record. Upload it again.
• Files cannot be kept in a draft. If a member uses Save & Return Later, they need to attach the file when they return and submit.

A Download Link Has Expired or Shows an Error Page

Download links are temporary. When someone uses an expired link, the browser shows the storage service's error page instead of the file, often with code text that mentions AccessDenied.

Where the link came from	How long it works
(download) on a saved record, in the Console	One hour
(download) on a saved record, in a portal	24 hours
(download) right after uploading, before saving	24 hours from the upload

To fix an expired link, return to the saved record and select (download) again. Each click on a saved record requests a fresh link. Do not bookmark, email, or share a download link; send people to the record instead. After Rhythm issues a link, it works until it expires, even if the person's access changes before then. A shareable link for an asset, such as one used in a template, is different: it does not expire on its own and keeps working until the asset itself is deleted.

If a fresh link shows an error page that mentions NoSuchKey or AccessDenied, the file is not where the record says it is. This happens when the record was not saved after upload, the file was deleted, the record points to the wrong file location, or the file's stored reference is broken or incomplete. Upload the file again and save the record.

Attachments on submitted applications have sometimes shown this error even on what looks like a fresh attempt, because the file reference behind the record had expired rather than the link you just requested. Some attachments uploaded through a portal before January 15, 2025 were affected this way and needed a backend restoration. If an older application attachment still will not download, contact Support so the file can be restored from backup.

If a file backing a purchase in your Digital Library is deleted and then re-uploaded, the new copy gets a new file location. People who purchased before the file was recreated can stay linked to the old, now-deleted location and see this error, while people who purchased afterward can open it normally. Contact Support to have the purchase re-linked to the current file.

A file can upload and save successfully, then fail to download later because of certain special characters in its original name, especially double quotation marks. Avoid special characters in file names when you can. Rhythm has improved how it handles them over time, so this is less common than it used to be. If a file with special characters in its name will not download, try renaming and re-uploading it, or contact Support.

Custom object image fields store the image's location as a value on the record. Older uploads can still carry a temporary s3://-style location instead of the service:// location that newer uploads use. If one of these fields shows a missing thumbnail or a NoSuchKey error, re-upload the image and save the record to give it a current location. A service://platform-file-uploads/... value, wherever you see it, such as in an export or an audit log, is an internal storage reference, not a browser address. Open the record and use (download) instead of trying to open it directly.

If a file link stored in a custom field fails to download once, refresh the Console page and try again. That has sometimes resolved the issue.

An image uploaded through an Image custom field on a custom object row has at times been kept in a temporary location instead of its normal stored location. When that happens, Rhythm cannot retrieve it the usual way, and it can eventually stop working even though the record still shows it was uploaded. If a custom object's image field stops displaying or downloading after it worked before, re-upload the image on that row and save the record. If it keeps happening, contact Support.

The File Downloads but Will Not Open, or Opens as the Wrong Type

Rhythm stores uploads as a generic file first, then corrects the file type from the extension. It only does this for these lower-case extensions: xlsx, xltx, docx, dotx, pptx, potx, ppsx, jpg, jpeg, gif, and png.

• Upper-case extensions are not corrected. REPORT.XLSX stays generic and can download as if it were an older file. Rename the file with a lower-case extension and upload it again.
• Other formats stay generic, including PDF, older Office formats (doc, xls, ppt), CSV, SVG, and WebP. Your computer may ask you to choose a program to open them. Saving Office files in the newer formats avoids this.
• A name with an unrecognized extension, such as notes.final, is never corrected.
• Renaming a document can drop its extension. If you rename a file in Rhythm and leave off the extension, such as .pdf, the file falls back to a generic type and downloads that way instead of opening as the file you expect. Rename it again with the extension at the end to make it open correctly.

An uploaded PDF downloads instead of opening in a new browser tab. An uploaded image usually opens in a new tab instead of downloading. This is not a fixable error on your file; it is a current, observed limitation across Rhythm, not only in one place such as the portal job board. Rhythm has treated changing it as a feature request rather than a bug to fix, so plan for it to continue for now.

Note

During upload, Rhythm removes accent marks and any spaces at the start or end of a file name, so Günak.pdf is stored as Gunak.pdf. Your own copy of the file is not changed.

A Public Image Does Not Display

Images shown to people who are not signed in, such as a logo or an image in an email or on a public page, must be stored as public. If a file is not stored as public, Rhythm cannot show it that way, and its address returns "not found".

To check, open the image's address in a private browser window. If the image shows, it is being served publicly, and the problem is where it is placed. If it does not show, the file is not public or the address is wrong.

• In your sandbox, an image in an email may be missing because its address points at your live account.
• If an image shows in the Console but not in a portal where the visitor is not signed in, it is usually not stored as public.
• A direct link can also fail if it was changed or copied incompletely, such as a typo in the path or a missing access token. Copy the address again rather than retyping it.
• Contact images and organization images are not handled the same way for public access. Making a contact's photo public does not automatically do the same for the matching organization's logo; you may still need to make the organization's image public separately.

Images brought in through a data import go into a private location that requires signed-in access. Because of that, a URL that works for you while signed in can still return a 403 error on an external site such as WordPress. To display an imported image publicly, upload it again through the normal upload flow so it is stored in the public location, then update the record's image or logo field to point at the new file. A broken logo you cannot otherwise explain is sometimes traced back to a past import for the same reason.

You can also retrieve a previously uploaded file through the Platform API, either with a signed link or by constructing a file address from your account, the record, the file name, and its image suffix. This retrieval does not require you to sign in or otherwise authenticate. Anyone with the constructed address can open the file, so treat it the same way you would treat the download link itself. Testing that address from the API documentation site's own interface may show encoded data instead of the image. That is a limitation of the testing tool, not the address. The same address opens the image normally in a browser or on a web page.

A certificate or ID card template's background image works the same way: it must point at a shareable, public asset address. When you replace a template's image each year, upload the new image as an asset and update the template's background image address to the new asset's link.

Re-uploading your logo in the Console does not necessarily update the logo shown in authentication emails, such as password-reset messages. If those emails still show a broken logo after you update the logo in the Console, the authentication email template's own logo address needs to be corrected separately.

A File Added with Use URL Stopped Working

Use URL stores the address you typed. It does not copy the file into Rhythm, and it does not check whether the address works or points at an image. If the file at that address moves or is removed, the link breaks. Upload the file instead, or correct the address and save.

A profile photo or headshot is different: its clean capture experience comes from the contact social lookup component, not from typing an address into an image URL field. An image URL field is not an equivalent substitute if you want that headshot experience.

Your Digital Library or a Purchased Document Won't Open

• The Documents area or your portal Digital Library won't load, or keeps loading. This can happen when Rhythm cannot load your contact record: the Console shows a RecordNotFound error, and the portal keeps loading without finishing. Contact Support with your account name and the record involved.

• You purchased a digital publication, but the Documents tab or Digital Library shows an error even though your order shows the purchase. A purchase's connection to its file can break if the file's link changes after the purchase. The order looks complete, but the file cannot be found. If other people can open the same publication but you cannot, contact Support; the fix sometimes needs engineering to repair the link between your purchase and the current file.

• Downloading an entire folder shows an error instead of a file. Folder downloads are not supported. Open the folder and download each document individually.

• Selecting several files or folders in My Digital Library only downloads one of them. The portal document library does not support downloading multiple items at once. Download each file one at a time.

• A Documents or Papers folder still shows the name of a session you have since renamed. The folder keeps the name it had when it was created and does not follow later name changes. Rename the folder itself to match.

• Documents in a list are not in the order you expect. Rhythm sorts file and document names as text, not as numbers, so a numeric prefix does not sort by its numeric value. For example, files named 1, 10, 15, and 2 sort in that order, not 1, 2, 10, 15; and 01, 101, 107 sort ahead of 2. If order matters, pad numbers to the same length (01, 02, ... 10) so the text sort matches the numeric order you want.

• Documents do not list in numeric order. File names sort as text, so 01, 101, and 107 come before 2, and 1, 10, 15 sort before 2. Pad numbers with leading zeros so every name has the same number of digits if you want documents to list in a specific order.

There is no direct way to move a file to a different file cabinet. Download it, upload it to the destination cabinet, then delete it from the original.

Opening a Password-Protected Data Export

A data export, such as an account backup or an offboarding export, is delivered differently from an ordinary file attachment.

• The export itself is a signed download link, valid for 30 days, pointing to a ZIP archive encrypted with a password (AES-256). Download it within that window; after that, you would need a new export. You are responsible for keeping your own copy and testing that you can restore it.
• The password is usually sent separately from the download link, sometimes through a one-time-use link of its own. Once you open a one-time password link, it stops working, so save the password somewhere safe the first time you see it. If you lose the password, reply to Support to have a new export generated.
• The archive contains raw JSON files, not documents you can open directly in Office or a PDF reader. Seeing JSON when you open one of the files is expected; that is the data itself, not an error.
• Some ZIP tools do not prompt for the password and show an error instead, especially some versions built into Windows. If your extractor does not ask for a password, or reports the archive as invalid, try a compatible tool such as 7-Zip, WinRAR, or the command-line unzip on macOS.
• If the ZIP downloads but you cannot open or extract its contents at all, try a different extraction tool before contacting Support; this has usually resolved it.
• An export can show RUNNING for a while and later move to FAILED. This is sometimes a temporary problem on Rhythm's side rather than something wrong with your request. Try generating the export again, and contact Support if it keeps failing.
• If the export was produced from a restored backup rather than current data, its file headers include a restoreDate value showing which backup the data came from.

When to Contact Support

Contact Support if a fresh (download) on a saved record still fails, or if uploads keep failing after you sign in again. If uploads are failing on an application and you need documents such as CVs, consider collecting them separately, outside the application form, until the issue is fixed. Include:

• the screen and record where it happened, and whether you were in the Console or a portal;
• the file name, including its extension;
• the exact message or error page text;
• whether the link came from a saved record or straight after an upload;
• the date and time of the attempt.