Overview
Uploading to Firmex and downloading from Firmex is easy and intuitive. This article outlines some of our recommendations to ensure that your upload and download experience is smooth and successful.
Upload recommendations
Note: Administrators may want to check the storage allowance on their account before uploading large amounts of data. Please reach out to your Account Manager or contact Firmex Support.
Uploading data to your project can be done via multiple methods. Keep the following in mind when uploading:
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Multiple smaller uploads instead of one large upload
Although there isn't a definitive maximum upload size for Firmex, uploads done through the web browser must be kept under 50 GB per upload. However, we recommend splitting up large uploads into multiple separate uploads of smaller sizes to reduce the amount of upload time, as well as to ensure a successful upload every time.
Suppose you have a 20GB upload. If possible, we recommend performing that upload using four concurrent 5GB uploads.
Each of your 5GB uploads is handled by a separate server, which means that your four smaller uploads will process faster than having one server handle a larger 20GB upload.
In addition, if your Internet connection experiences an outage or the upload encounters a failure mid-way through an upload, it's more likely that the smaller uploads will be completed, rather than the one larger upload failing entirely.
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Upload files locally, not from the network drive
Documents being uploaded should be located on your local hard drive (i.e. your C:\ drive) rather than a shared network location or directly from the cloud. This will maximize upload speed and minimize the possibility of network disruptions.
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No special characters in document names
To maximize file compatibility across operating systems, do not include special characters such as % percent, & ampersand, { } curly brackets, etc. in your file or folder names.
- Shorter file and folder names
Both Windows and Apple computers have a 255 character limit for a file path. An example file path such as this C:\Users\John Brown\Desktop\Finance\Document.xls contains 48 characters. Once you exceed 255 characters, the operating system must remove characters from the file path and replace them with a tilde (~) in order to make the folder path fit on your computer.
Keep this in mind when uploading data to your project. Aim to keep your file path and folder names as short as possible. While Firmex can display more than 255 characters on-screen, when your users bulk download that information to their operating systems the folder names will contain truncation.
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Turn off your VPN
If you are using a VPN, please disable it before uploading documents to Firmex.
Download recommendations
If an administrator has enabled the bulk download feature in your Firmex project, you may be able to bulk download the entire project from Firmex. Downloads larger than 5GB in size will be separated into 5GB parts. These parts will be zipped. See this article for help with unzipping files.
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Multiple smaller downloads instead of one large download
Although there isn't a definitive maximum download size for Firmex, we recommend splitting up your bulk download into multiple separate downloads of smaller sizes to ensure a successful bulk download.
Suppose you have a 100GB project. If possible, we recommend performing two or three bulk downloads at the index/top-folder level, instead of downloading the entire 100GB project.
This makes the large bulk download more manageable, since the bulk download will be delivered in 5GB parts. That is, it will be easier to download four or five 5GB parts in a 48 hour period than it will be to download twenty 5GB parts. -
Download without numbering if the file path is long
If you are experiencing truncation issues due to a long file and folder path, consider performing your bulk download without numbering. The folders will still be in order, but will not contain the numbering schema characters.
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Download all zip parts within 48 hours
A bulk download and its parts are active for 48 hours. After the 48 hours have elapsed, the bulk download will no longer be available. Download all parts of the bulk download within the 48 hour period.
Related Resources
- Upload folders & documents
- Project Storage Report
- Work with folders & documents
- What is Email In and why should I use it?
- Document Exchange for Desktop