You can leave out this argument if you do not have any file to attach.

To send a file by email, add a placeholder to the template then upload a file. The placeholder will contain a secure link to download the file.

The links are unique and unguessable. NotifyNL cannot access or decrypt your file.

Your file will be available to download for a default period of 26 weeks (6 months).

To help protect your files you can also:

ask recipients to confirm their email address before downloading
choose the length of time that a file is available to downloadAdd contact details to the file download page

Sign in to NotifyNL.
Go to the Settings page.
In the Email section, select Manage on the Send files by email row.
Enter the contact details you want to use, and select Save.

Add a placeholder to the template

Sign in to NotifyNL.
Go to the Templates page and select the relevant email template.
Select Edit.
Add a placeholder to the email template using double brackets. For example: 'Download your file at: ((link_to_file))'

Your email should also tell recipients how long the file will be available to download.

Upload your file

You can upload the following file types:

PDF (.pdf)
CSV (.csv)
Text (.odt, .txt, .rtf, .json)
MS Word Document (.doc, .docx)
Ms Excel Spreadsheet (.xlsx)

Your file must be smaller than 2MB. Contact the NotifyNL team if you need to send other file types.

You’ll need to convert the file into a string that is base64 encoded.

Pass the encoded string into an object with a file key, and put that in the personalisation argument.

Set the filename

You should provide a filename when you upload your file.

The filename should tell the recipient what the file contains. A memorable filename can help the recipient to find the file again later.

The filename must end with a file extension. For example, .csv for a CSV file. If you include the wrong file extension, recipients may not be able to open your file.

The filename should be no more that 100 characters long

If you do not provide a filename for your file, Notify will:

generate a random filename
try to add the correct file extension

If Notify cannot add the correct file extension, recipients may not be able to open your file.

Ask recipients to confirm their email address before they can download the file

When a recipient clicks the link in the email you’ve sent them, they have to enter their email address. Only someone who knows the recipient’s email address can download the file.

This security feature is turned on by default.

Turn off email address check (not recommended)

If you do not want to use this feature, you can turn it off on a file-by-file basis.

You should not turn this feature off if you send files that contain:

personally identifiable information
commercially sensitive information
information classified as ‘OFFICIAL’ or ‘OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE’ under the Government Security Classifications policy

To let the recipient download the file without confirming their email address, set the confirm_email_before_download flag to false.

Choose the length of time that a file is available to download

Set the number of weeks you want the file to be available using the retention_period key.

You can choose any value between 1 week and 26 weeks. When deciding this, you should consider:

the need to protect the recipient’s personal information
whether the recipient will need to download the file again later

If you do not choose a value, the file will be available for the default period of 26 weeks (6 months).

Files sent before 12 April 2023 had a longer default period of 78 weeks (18 months).