Overview

The setting “As part of the file entry, return also the following information (if available)” controls which additional details appear alongside each file in the My Files section of the end-user portals.

When users (Students, Parents, Teachers, or Alumni) view their personal or educational files in the portal, each file is displayed as a card showing the file name, size, and upload date by default. This setting lets administrators choose whether to also display the file’s Notes and/or File Category on those cards, giving users richer context about each document at a glance.

What This Setting Does

This is a multi-select setting with two independent options that can be enabled individually or together:

Option 1 — Notes

When selected, any note or description that was entered for a file at the time of upload is shown on the file card in the portal. Long notes are truncated and the full text is visible on hover. If a file has no note, nothing extra appears.

Option 2 — File Category

When selected, the category assigned to the file (for example, “Study Materials”, “Certificates”, “Official Documents”) appears as a small label/tag on the file card. If a file has no category assigned, nothing extra appears.

Both options can be enabled at the same time. If neither option is selected, each file card shows only the file name, icon, file size, and upload date.

The setting applies specifically to:

• Personal files — files uploaded directly to a user’s profile.
• Educational files — files attached to Groups, Grades (Classes), or Courses (Subjects) that the user is enrolled in.

 Where It Is Used

Setting location in the administration panel

Configuration > Main Settings > General Settings > Basic Customization tab > Core Entities Settings section

Where the effect is visible to end users

This setting affects the My Files section in all end-user portals:

• Student Portal — Students see their personal files and educational files from their enrolled Groups, Grades (Classes), and Courses (Subjects).
• Parent Portal — Parents can view files for their linked children (switching between children using a dropdown if applicable).
• Teacher / Staff Portal — Teachers see their own personal files and educational files associated with their assigned Groups, Grades, or Courses.
• Alumni Portal — Alumni users can view their personal files where access has been configured.

To reach the My Files section, users navigate to their portal dashboard and click the “My Files” or “Personal Files” option (typically shown in the quick-action area or in their profile).

The setting is configured per institution (per company) and is not period-specific — the same display configuration applies across all academic periods.

Business Logic / Behavior

• This setting controls only the portal display of files. It does not affect how files are uploaded, managed, or stored in the administrative interface.
• The system shows each selected piece of information only “if available.” If a file has no note or no category, that field simply does not appear for that file — there are no blank placeholders shown.
• Notes appear below the file title on the file card. If the note is longer than 30 characters, it is truncated and the full text is readable on mouse hover.
• File Category appears as a small colored tag/badge on the file card, alongside the folder path label. If the category name is longer than 50 characters, it is truncated with hover text.
• The setting applies equally to all user types who have access to the My Files section (Students, Parents, Teachers, Alumni).
• Changes to this setting take effect immediately for all users upon their next visit to the My Files section — no logout or system restart is required.
• The setting does not affect which files are visible — it only changes the metadata shown alongside each file entry that is already visible to the user.

 Example(s)

Example 1 — Both options enabled

• An administrator at Greenfield Academy enables both “Notes” and “File Category”.
• A student logs in to the Student Portal and opens My Files. For each file card they see:
• File name: “Semester Schedule.pdf”
• File size: 420 KB | Upload date: 15/09/2025
• Category tag: “Official Documents”
• Note: “Please read before the first day of term.”

The student immediately understands what the file is about and can read the teacher’s note without downloading it first.

Example 2 — Only “File Category” enabled

Oakwood University enables “File Category” only. The institution uses well-defined file categories (“Lecture Notes”, “Assignments”, “Lab Guides”, “Announcements”) and uploads files consistently with these categories assigned.

Students browsing My Files see a category badge on each card — for example, “Lecture Notes” on one file and “Assignments” on another — allowing them to quickly filter visually without relying on file names alone. Notes are not shown because staff do not fill in notes consistently.

Example 3 — Neither option enabled

Riverside School prefers a clean, minimal file view. Neither option is selected. Each file card shows only the file name, file icon, size, and upload date. This is appropriate when files have self-explanatory names and categories/notes are not consistently maintained by staff.

When to Use

When to enable “Notes”

• Staff or teachers regularly add meaningful notes to files and you want users to read those notes before downloading.
• Multiple files have similar names and notes help users distinguish which file to open.
• You want to reduce user confusion or support requests by surfacing brief file descriptions in the portal.

When to enable “File Category”

• Your institution uses a consistent set of file categories and assigns them reliably when uploading files.
• Users need to identify file types at a glance without opening or downloading the file.
• The file list can grow large, and category labels help users visually navigate without searching.

When to leave both disabled

• You prefer a clean, minimal file interface with no extra metadata visible.
• Files do not have categories or notes consistently assigned, so enabling the options would add clutter or empty space for most files.
• Users are comfortable identifying files from their names and file type icons alone.

 Notes

Prerequisites

The following must be in place for this setting to have a visible effect:

• The “Show Personal Files” setting must be enabled for the relevant user types (Students, Parents, Teachers). If users cannot see the My Files section at all, this setting has no impact. Path: Configuration > Main Settings > General Settings > Basic Customization > Core Entities Settings.
• For the “Notes” option to be useful, files should have notes or descriptions entered at the time of upload by staff or administrators.
• For the “File Category” option to be useful, file categories must be configured in the system and consistently assigned to files when they are uploaded.

K-12 Mode vs. Higher Education Mode

This setting behaves identically in both K-12 mode and Higher Education mode (controlled by the “Enable Configuration for Higher Education” setting). The difference between the two modes is only in terminology:

• K-12 mode: educational files may be attached to Grades (Classes) and Groups.
• Higher Education mode: educational files may be attached to Courses (Subjects) and Groups.

The display logic — whether Notes and/or File Category appear on each file card — is the same regardless of the operating mode.

Related Settings

The following settings are directly related to this one:

• “Show Personal Files” (Configuration > Main Settings > General Settings > Basic Customization > Core Entities Settings — Show_Personal_Files): Controls which user types (Students, Parents, Teachers) are allowed to see the Personal Files section in their portal. This setting must be enabled for the relevant users before the current setting has any visible effect.
• “Enable Configuration for Higher Education” (Configuration > Main Settings > General Settings > Basic Customization — Xrisi_parametropoihshs_kolegiou): Switches the system between K-12 and Higher Education operating mode, which affects terminology used for educational structures (Grades vs. Courses, etc.) but does not change the behavior of this setting.