Let guests view image attachments with Attachment View
Show full-size images to guests without giving them permission to every attachment. Choose the file types, and understand what that opens up.
Updated 3 min read By the D.C Style team
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Attachment View lets visitors who cannot normally open attachments, usually guests, see full-size attachments of the file types you choose. Images posted in your forum stop showing a permission error or a small thumbnail to guests and open like they do for members. There is one setting, the list of file types. There is also one thing you must understand before you use it, explained below. It works on XenForo 2.2 and newer.
Why you might want it
By default, XenForo only shows full attachments to groups with permission to view them. Many forums remove that permission from guests to encourage sign-ups, but that also hides the images that make threads worth reading and sharing. Attachment View is the middle ground: guests see images, while other attachments such as zip or PDF files stay behind your normal permissions.
Choose the file types
- Go to Setup > Options > D.C Style - Attachment View.
- In Attachment extensions, list the file types that may be viewed, one per line, without the dot. The default list is:
png jpg jpeg gif ico - Save. Open a thread with an image attachment in a private browser window, where you are a guest, to check it.
Write extensions in lower case. XenForo reads file extensions in lower case, so jpg also covers a file named PHOTO.JPG, but JPG on your list would match nothing. Each line is compared with the attachment's extension as a whole, so jpg does not cover jpeg, which is why both are in the default list. If you empty the list, the add-on does nothing and XenForo's normal permissions apply everywhere.
What it opens up
Warning: For the file types on your list, Attachment View lets anyone who has the link open the attachment. That includes attachments posted in private forums and in direct messages, not only public threads. Someone who cannot see the private thread still cannot find the image through your forum, but if the image's address is shared or guessed, it will open.
So list only file types you are comfortable treating as public. For most forums that means images, and only if members do not share private photos or screenshots in conversations. If your staff or members exchange sensitive images in private areas, think carefully before using the add-on, or keep the list to types that are never used there.
How it works with your permissions
Attachment View only ever adds access. It never removes it:
- File types on the list open for everyone, whatever their group's attachment permission says.
- File types not on the list follow your normal permissions, set in Groups & permissions > User group permissions and, per forum, in Node permissions.
- Members who can already view attachments notice no difference.
If you are not sure what your groups can see today, XenForo permissions explained shows how to check with Analyze permissions.
If guests still cannot see images
- Check the extension. A file uploaded as
.webpis not covered bypngorjpg. Add every type your members upload. - Clear old cached pages. Pages cached for guests or by Cloudflare can keep showing the old version for a while. Changes not showing?
- Check the add-on is enabled in the Admin CP under Add-ons. Installed an add-on but nothing shows up? covers the other usual causes.
More on the Attachment View page.
Still stuck? Open a support ticket with your XenForo version, your list of extensions and a link to a thread where a guest cannot see an image.