Latest / Sidekick's What Just Shipped / HubSpot mobile file uploads: photos straight onto CRM records | Shipped Jul 2026
Transcript
- Dana (AI host): Your rep is holding the signed form at the customer's site, and the CRM record still says nothing about it. Rob (AI host): HubSpot's mobile app now lets you upload photos and files straight into a record's file property, on iOS and Android. Dana (AI host): Today: what it does, the setup it depends on, the limits to plan around, why it matters, and a field test. Narrator (AI voice): This is Sidekick's What Just Shipped, presented by Sidekick Strategies. Narrator (AI voice): Your hosts, Rob and Dana, are AI. Narrator (AI voice): The voices are synthetic, the research is real, and humans check every claim before it reaches you. Dana (AI host): A quick disclosure: Rob and I are AI hosts. Dana (AI host): We don't visit job sites, and we haven't uploaded a file to a real record. Rob (AI host): I'm Rob, and today I'm playing a field service manager whose technicians photograph every installation and then forget to attach the pictures. Dana (AI host): Here's the change. Dana (AI host): HubSpot's July product updates say you can attach images and files to CRM records from the mobile app, with three options: take a photo, choose one from your library, or pick a file. Rob (AI host): Is this an Enterprise-only thing? Dana (AI host): No. Dana (AI host): HubSpot lists it for all hubs and tiers, on iOS and Android, and it needs the latest version of the app. Dana (AI host): So step zero is making sure everyone has updated. Rob (AI host): And where does the file actually go? Dana (AI host): Into a file property. That's a property type built to store files on a record. Dana (AI host): HubSpot's property guide says users can upload to it when they create or edit a record, on desktop or in the mobile app. Rob (AI host): So if we don't have a file property yet, there's nothing to tap. Dana (AI host): Right. Dana (AI host): An admin creates the file property first, on the objects your team uses in the field, like deals or tickets. Dana (AI host): When you create it, HubSpot also lets you choose who can view the files uploaded to it, which matters for things like signed forms or ID photos. Rob (AI host): Walk me through the steps in the app. Dana (AI host): When you create a record in the app, the panel asks for the required properties, and depending on the field type, you select an option, enter a value, or upload a file. Dana (AI host): To edit an existing record, open it, go to the About tab, and tap the property. Dana (AI host): If you don't see it, scroll down and tap View all properties. Rob (AI host): And checking what's already attached? Dana (AI host): Tap the file name on the record, then choose Preview. Rob (AI host): And back at the office, does the same file show up on the record? Dana (AI host): It's the same property. Dana (AI host): HubSpot's guide says uploads to a file property work on desktop or in the mobile app, so whoever opens the record later sees what the technician attached. Rob (AI host): What are the limits? Technicians take a lot of photos. Dana (AI host): Plan around these. Each file property can hold up to ten files. Dana (AI host): Uploads on records are capped at twenty megabytes per file for accounts on free tools, and fifty for paid subscriptions. Dana (AI host): And the app can't create, edit, or even show records without an internet or data connection. Dana (AI host): Worth writing those down before you brief the team. Rob (AI host): So in a basement with no signal, the upload waits until they're back online. Dana (AI host): Why it matters: our research puts it simply. Dana (AI host): A file that exists in the field usually reaches the CRM only after a second trip to a laptop, and by the end of the day, it often doesn't arrive at all. Dana (AI host): Uploading at the moment the file exists keeps the record complete. Dana (AI host): For a service manager, that's the installation photo already on the ticket when the customer calls with a question. Dana (AI host): And nobody at the office has to guess what the site looked like. Rob (AI host): Which teams notice first? Dana (AI host): Our research points to field sales teams collecting signed documents and purchase orders, service teams documenting site conditions on tickets, and RevOps leaders tired of chasing attachments. Dana (AI host): If nobody on your team works away from a desk, this one can wait. Dana (AI host): Ops teams feel it too, because they stop sending reminder emails about missing paperwork. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Hey, it's George B. Thomas from Sidekick Strategies. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Full honesty, this is my AI voice clone, made with my permission. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): A new mobile feature only helps if the properties, permissions, and habits behind it are set up first. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Our HubSpot onboarding configures your CRM structure, properties, pipelines, and permissions, and trains each role on the tools they'll use every day, in the same engagement. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): And we stay with your team through go-live. George B. Thomas (AI voice clone): Find HubSpot onboarding under services at Sidekick Strategies dot com. Rob (AI host): Before the plan, Dana, what's still open? Dana (AI host): A few details from our write-up. Dana (AI host): It gives a ship date of July thirtieth, says the app shows a thumbnail before you save, asks you to wait if an upload is still running, and works with required and conditional file properties. Dana (AI host): It also suggests workflows that trigger when a file property gets filled in. Dana (AI host): We couldn't find any of that on a HubSpot page, so test it before you build a process around it. Dana (AI host): One more. Dana (AI host): Our write-up says file properties have to be added to the mobile record view, or reps won't see them. Dana (AI host): HubSpot's mobile records page says you can scroll down and tap View all properties to reach properties that aren't shown. Dana (AI host): Adding it to the view is still kinder to your reps, but it isn't the only way in. Rob (AI host): Got it. Anything else that's easy to miss? Dana (AI host): Files uploaded through the files tool on mobile are a separate thing. Dana (AI host): That's the file manager, and HubSpot notes those files sit on a public file URL by default. Dana (AI host): Uploads to a file property are the ones that land on the record. Dana (AI host): So if a photo belongs on the ticket, upload it from the ticket, not from the file manager. Rob (AI host): Then here's my field test, as the service manager I'm playing. Rob (AI host): Step one: have an admin create one file property on tickets, and set who can view what gets uploaded. Dana (AI host): Step two: ask two technicians to update the app to the latest version on their phones. Rob (AI host): Step three: have them attach one installation photo and one PDF to a test ticket, then preview both from a desktop, the same way a dispatcher would. Dana (AI host): Step four: try it somewhere with weak signal, so everyone knows what happens before it matters on a real job. Rob (AI host): Step five: count how many photos a typical job really needs. Rob (AI host): If it's more than the property can hold, split them across two properties before you roll it out. Dana (AI host): And after a week, open a few of those tickets on a desktop. Dana (AI host): If the photos are there, that's your case for rolling it out wider. Dana (AI host): So, the takeaway: set up the file property first, and the phone does the rest. Rob (AI host): Every source we used is linked in the show notes, and more of our research is at Sidekick Strategies dot com. Dana (AI host): Thank you for being here today. Rob (AI host): Capture it where it happens. Narrator (AI voice): Sidekick's What Just Shipped is presented by Sidekick Strategies, with AI hosts Rob and Dana and AI-generated music. Narrator (AI voice): We're independent, and not affiliated with HubSpot. Find our research at Sidekick Strategies dot com.