Troubleshooting

An image or file won't upload

Most upload problems come down to the file's format or size, and the limits depend on where you upload it. Check the table, then find the message you saw.

What each place accepts

Where you upload

Formats

Largest file

Images in an article

JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP

30 MB

Logo, favicon and other images in the template editor

JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, SVG, ICO

10 MB

Category cover image

PNG or JPG, at least 640 × 360 pixels

10 MB

Your profile photo

PNG, JPG, GIF

Larger photos are resized to 512 pixels wide

File attachments

PDF, images, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, archives, audio and video

25 MB

"Unsupported image type"

The file isn't a format that place accepts.

  • "Unsupported image type. Upload a JPEG, PNG, GIF, or WebP image." appears in the article editor. SVG, HEIC (the usual format of iPhone photos), BMP and AVIF files aren't accepted in articles. Save or export the picture as PNG or JPEG and upload it again.

  • "Unsupported image type. Upload a JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, SVG, or ICO image." appears in the template editor and for category images. Convert the file to PNG.

  • "That file is not an image. Please choose a PNG, JPG, GIF or WebP." means you picked a document or another kind of file. To offer a file for download, attach it instead. See Attach files.

"The image is too large"

You'll see "The maximum allowed image size is 30MB." or "That image is too large to upload. The limit is 30MB." in the article editor, and "The image is too large. The maximum upload size is 10 MB." in the template editor. Resize or compress the picture and upload it again. For screenshots, PNG or WebP at the size readers will see it is plenty.

An SVG logo isn't accepted

SVG files are cleaned before they're stored. If you see "The SVG could not be sanitized safely. Export it as a simple SVG or PNG and try again.", export the logo again as a plain SVG from your design tool, or use a PNG.

Your profile photo doesn't change

Profile photos have to be PNG, JPG or GIF. An SVG, or a file in another format, looks as if it uploads, but the photo stays the same and no message appears. Upload a PNG or JPG instead. See Update your profile.

A file attachment is refused

  • "Files up to 25MB work here." The file is over 25 MB. Compress it, or split it into smaller files.

  • "Unsupported file type. Upload a PDF, image, document, spreadsheet, archive, audio, or video file." For safety, files such as HTML, SVG and scripts can't be attached. Put them in a zip archive, or share them another way.

Pictures pasted from another document

  • From the Word desktop app, pictures don't come along with pasted text. The editor tells you how many "could not be copied over". Copy and paste each picture on its own.

  • From other documents and web pages, pictures pasted together with text can stay linked to where they came from instead of being uploaded to your help center. If that document is private, or its links stop working, readers see a broken image. Paste or drop each picture into the article on its own so it's uploaded.

"The image could not be uploaded. Please try again."

The upload didn't finish, often because of a dropped connection. Try again. If it keeps happening with a file that fits the table above, contact us.

Still stuck?

Contact our support team and attach the file that won't upload, if you can share it. See Contact HelpCenter.io support.

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