obsidian/raw/_processed/fields__upload.md

title	label	order	desc	keywords	source
Upload Field	Upload	210	Upload fields will allow a file to be uploaded, only from a collection supporting Uploads. Learn how to use Upload fields, see examples and options.	upload, images media, fields, config, configuration, documentation, Content Management System, cms, headless, javascript, node, react, nextjs	https://payloadcms.com/docs/fields/upload

The Upload Field allows for the selection of a Document from a Collection supporting Uploads, and formats the selection as a thumbnail in the Admin Panel.

Upload fields are useful for a variety of use cases, such as:

• To provide a Page with a featured image
• To allow for a Product to deliver a downloadable asset like PDF or MP3
• To give a layout building block the ability to feature a background image

To create an Upload Field, set the type to upload in your Field Config:

import type { Field } from 'payload'

export const MyUploadField: Field = {
  // ...
  // highlight-start
  type: 'upload',
  relationTo: 'media',
  // highlight-end
}

**Important:** To use the Upload Field, you must have a [Collection](../configuration/collections) configured to allow [Uploads](../upload/overview).

Config Options

Option	Description
name *	To be used as the property name when stored and retrieved from the database. More details.
relationTo *	Provide a single collection slug or an array of slugs to allow this field to accept a relation to. Note: the related collections must be configured to support Uploads.
filterOptions	A query to filter which options appear in the UI and validate against. More details.
hasMany	Boolean which, if set to true, allows this field to have many relations instead of only one.
minRows	A number for the fewest allowed items during validation when a value is present. Used with hasMany.
maxRows	A number for the most allowed items during validation when a value is present. Used with hasMany.
maxDepth	Sets a number limit on iterations of related documents to populate when queried. Depth
label	Text used as a field label in the Admin Panel or an object with keys for each language.
unique	Enforce that each entry in the Collection has a unique value for this field. This creates a database-level unique index on the field's path. More details.
validate	Provide a custom validation function that will be executed on both the Admin Panel and the backend. More details.
index	Build an index for this field to produce faster queries. Set this field to true if your users will perform queries on this field's data often.
saveToJWT	If this field is top-level and nested in a config supporting Authentication, include its data in the user JWT.
hooks	Provide Field Hooks to control logic for this field. More details.
access	Provide Field Access Control to denote what users can see and do with this field's data. More details.
hidden	Restrict this field's visibility from all APIs entirely. Will still be saved to the database, but will not appear in any API or the Admin Panel.
defaultValue	Provide data to be used for this field's default value. More details.
displayPreview	Enable displaying preview of the uploaded file. Overrides related Collection's displayPreview option. More details.
localized	Enable localization for this field. Requires localization to be enabled in the Base config.
required	Require this field to have a value.
admin	Admin-specific configuration. Admin Options.
custom	Extension point for adding custom data (e.g. for plugins)
typescriptSchema	Override field type generation with providing a JSON schema
virtual	Provide true to disable field in the database, or provide a string path to link the field with a relationship. See Virtual Fields
graphQL	Custom graphQL configuration for the field. More details

* An asterisk denotes that a property is required.

Example

import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'

export const ExampleCollection: CollectionConfig = {
  slug: 'example-collection',
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'backgroundImage', // required
      type: 'upload', // required
      relationTo: 'media', // required
      required: true,
    },
  ],
}

Filtering upload options

Options can be dynamically limited by supplying a query constraint, which will be used both for validating input and filtering available uploads in the UI.

The filterOptions property can either be a Where query, or a function returning true to not filter, false to prevent all, or a Where query. When using a function, it will be called with an argument object with the following properties:

Property	Description
relationTo	The collection slug to filter against, limited to this field's relationTo property
data	An object containing the full collection or global document currently being edited
siblingData	An object containing document data that is scoped to only fields within the same parent of this field
id	The id of the current document being edited. id is undefined during the create operation
user	An object containing the currently authenticated user
req	The Payload Request, which contains references to payload, user, locale, and more.

Example#filter-options-example

const uploadField = {
  name: 'image',
  type: 'upload',
  relationTo: 'media',
  filterOptions: {
    mimeType: { contains: 'image' },
  },
}

You can learn more about writing queries here.

**Note:**

When an upload field has both filterOptions and a custom validate function, the api will not validate filterOptions unless you call the default upload field validation function imported from payload/shared in your validate function.

Bi-directional relationships

The upload field on its own is used to reference documents in an upload collection. This can be considered a "one-way" relationship. If you wish to allow an editor to visit the upload document and see where it is being used, you may use the join field in the upload enabled collection. Read more about bi-directional relationships using the Join field

Polymorphic Uploads

Upload fields can reference multiple upload collections by providing an array of collection slugs to the relationTo property.

import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'

export const ExampleCollection: CollectionConfig = {
  slug: 'example-collection',
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'media',
      type: 'upload',
      relationTo: ['images', 'documents', 'videos'], // references multiple upload collections
    },
  ],
}

This can be combined with the hasMany property to allow multiple uploads from multiple collections.

import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'

export const ExampleCollection: CollectionConfig = {
  slug: 'example-collection',
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'media',
      type: 'upload',
      relationTo: ['images', 'documents', 'videos'], // references multiple upload collections
      hasMany: true, // allows multiple uploads
    },
  ],
}