Copy attachments in LotusScript without detaching

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This procedure copies file attachments from the current Web document to an existing document (but it can be modified to work for the Notes client as well just by changing the docSource object).

There is no direct way to copy file attachments -- copying the $FILE item with CopyItemToDocument and using doc.ReplaceItemValue do not work on $FILE items. Using doc.CopyAllItems works, but that is not desirable, as I only want to copy the attachments.

The normal workaround is to detach attachments from the source document to the hard drive and re-attach them to a rich text field on the target document. However, that's often restricted on a server, so I'd like to avoid it.

Here is a better strategy:

MEMBER FEEDBACK TO THIS TIP

This is a very easy way to do a very useful thing.

—Alejandro M.

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This is a great tip. However, I was trying to e-mail attachments to another person using a new document I created in LotusScript, but the attachments did not send.

—Annonymous

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I'm pretty sure you would need to save the document for the attachments to be stored on

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it. This isn't necessary with most types of fields, but it is usually the case with rich text data. (You just don't normally save documents that are created in the background only to be e-mailed out.)

—Brad Balassaitis, tip author

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Thanks for the tip. I'm using R5, and have no chance of testing whether this is required for other versions, but in my case I also had to copy the rich text field in which the file was originally attached to have it work properly. Without it the docTemp that contained only the $FILE field lost its Items-property entirely.

—Jukka D.

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When I created this code, I tested it in a web application, where attachments are not tied to specific rich text fields. This user probably used it in a Notes client application where the attachment was stored in a specific field, so this makes sense.

—Brad Balassaitis, tip author

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