files.remote.add

Adds a file from a remote service

Facts

The add method adds a remote file to Slack. Adding a file does not share it to a channel. To make your beautiful remote file visible, use the files.remote.share method.

Remote files exist across the whole workspace (or organization, for Enterprise Grid). Because of that, remote files must be added by bots with the bot scope, not by an individual user.

Arguments

Present arguments as parameters in application/x-www-form-urlencoded querystring or POST body. This method does not currently accept application/json.

preview_image is displayed when your remote file is shared. It's a binary image file.

external_id is the unique ID of the remote file, according to the external host of the file.

indexable_file_contents is a text file that represents the file for search. When a user searches in Slack, their query will be compared against the contents of this text file for matching. Think of this text file like the alt parameter on an HTML <img> tag — a textual representation of a non-textual object. The text file can contain a description of the remote file, or it can contain search keywords, or anything else text-based.

Note: this method performs an upsert. If you add a file that has been added before, the existing file will be updated.

Response

    {
        "ok": true,
        "file": {
            "id": "F0GDJ3XMH",
            "created": 1563919925,
            "timestamp": 1563919925,
            "name": "LeadvilleAndBackAgain",
            "title": "LeadvilleAndBackAgain",
            "mimetype": "application/vnd.slack-remote",
            "filetype": "remote",
            "pretty_type": "Remote",
            "user": "U0F8RBVNF",
            "editable": false,
            "size": 0,
            "mode": "external",
            "is_external": true,
            "external_type": "app",
            "is_public": false,
            "public_url_shared": false,
            "display_as_bot": false,
            "username": "",
            "url_private": "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TA9fIaph4eSz2fC_1JGMuYaYUc4IvieIop0WqfCXw5Y/edit?usp=sharing",
            "permalink": "https://kraneflannel.slack.com/files/U0F8RBVNF/F0GDJ3XMH/leadvilleandbackagain",
            "comments_count": 0,
            "is_starred": false,
            "shares": {},
            "channels": [],
            "groups": [],
            "ims": [],
            "external_id": "1234",
            "external_url": "https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TA9fIaph4eSz2fC_1JGMuYaYUc4IvieIop0WqfCXw5Y/edit?usp=sharing",
            "has_rich_preview": false
        }
    }

One tricky bit: in the response, the file object may indicate that "has_rich_preview" is false, even if you include preview_image. That's because it takes a few seconds for Slack to parse the preview_image you pass. If you call files.remote.add with the same external_id later, you'll see "has_preview_image": true.

Errors

This table lists the expected errors that this method could return. However, other errors can be returned in the case where the service is down or other unexpected factors affect processing. Callers should always check the value of the ok params in the response.

Warnings

This table lists the expected warnings that this method will return. However, other warnings can be returned in the case where the service is experiencing unexpected trouble.