# Include Preparation Attachments into the Web Portal **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Created:** [June 19, 2026, 8:45am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/include-preparation-attachments-into-the-web-portal/3757 "2026-06-19T08:45:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pverley](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/pverley/32/1413_2.png) [@pverley](https://speciforum.org/u/pverley)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 8:45am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/include-preparation-attachments-into-the-web-portal/3757/1 "2026-06-19T08:45:35Z")
We are in the process of sharing our main collection from **French Guiana Herbarium** with the Web Portal (and looking forward to [Specify-7 Export to Web Portal](https://github.com/specify/specify7/issues/7606)!). In the main collection, `CO` are specimen with one or more `Preps` and dry sheet images are attached as `Preparation Attachments`. We do not have `CO Attachments`. The [Web Portal Documention](https://speciforum.org/t/specify-web-portal/716) - _Using-the-Specify-Web-Portal.pdf page 7_ - says that > Note: it is not necessary to include a collection object attachment field in Export Data Map, references (links) to collection object attachments are automatically included in the exported files if the attachment server is used for attachments. As a result, our `Preparation Attachments` are not automatically included and detected as images to be displayed in the portal. We include them as a custom **Images** column (with a formatter on `PrepAtt` that recreates the full image URL) [https://collections.herbier-guyane.fr/](https://collections.herbier-guyane.fr/) ![cay-web-portal](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/specifysoftware/original/2X/4/40ab0da5b3ebe88e3ebdcf15e91db0c269938268.png) But it is not satisfactory. 👉 My question is : how can I tweak either the query or the exported file so that `Preparation Attachments` are acknowledged as **Images** by the Web Portal ❓ ---
**Author:** ![Grant](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/grant/32/4255_2.png) [@Grant](https://speciforum.org/u/Grant)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2026, 8:51pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/include-preparation-attachments-into-the-web-portal/3757/2 "2026-06-22T20:51:27Z")
Hi @pverley, Thanks for your question! The Web Portal only looks for images in a Solr field called `img`. As you observed, when you export from Specify, this `img` field is automatically filled with data from **Collection Object attachments** , not from Preparation attachments. Since your images are attached to preparations, they are not included in the `img` field during export, and the portal has no way to know they exist. That means it isn’t possible without modifying the portal’s source code, updating Specify to add another export option, _or_ manually constructing those `img` column values after exporting to show attachments from the preparation table instead. Is this something you’d like us to write a feature request for? Would this be of interest for other tables? ---
**Author:** ![pverley](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/user_avatar/speciforum.org/pverley/32/1413_2.png) [@pverley](https://speciforum.org/u/pverley)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2026, 2:58pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/include-preparation-attachments-into-the-web-portal/3757/3 "2026-07-06T14:58:39Z")
Thank you Grant for the confirmation. My feeling is that any type of attachments linked to a `CO` could be of interest for exporting to the [Web Portal](https://speciforum.org/t/specify-web-portal/716) but if I narrow it down to **CAY** and **NOU** herbarium, the need arises only for **Preparation attachments** for now since it is the table we use for storing the scans of the herbarium sheets. The answer is yes, feature request please! I’d be interested in hearing how [Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh](https://www.rbge.org.uk/) or any other Herbarium recording their dry-sheets at preparation level, do handle this? (@rdrinkwater) ---
**Author:** ![rdrinkwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@rdrinkwater](https://speciforum.org/u/rdrinkwater)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2026, 7:31am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/include-preparation-attachments-into-the-web-portal/3757/4 "2026-07-07T07:31:23Z")
Hi @pverley , We manage our images through a separate database and have a custom catalogue - so we don’t currently make use of the web portal in Specify. We do link to specimens on the catalogue from the preparation, as we have CETAF stable identifiers implemented, which makes it simple to use weblinks to do this. Robyn