---
title: "File - Chat Thing Documentation"
canonical_url: "https://chatthing.ai/docs/file-data-source"
last_updated: "2026-07-10T16:08:01.018Z"
meta:
  description: "The file data source allows you to upload PDFs, CSVs, HTML, MHT, Markdown, JSON, DOCXs, EPUB and text files to power your bots."
  "og:description": "The file data source allows you to upload PDFs, CSVs, HTML, MHT, Markdown, JSON, DOCXs, EPUB and text files to power your bots."
  "og:title": File
  "twitter:description": "The file data source allows you to upload PDFs, CSVs, HTML, MHT, Markdown, JSON, DOCXs, EPUB and text files to power your bots."
  "twitter:title": File
---

**Data sources**

# File

💡

The file data source allows you to upload PDFs, CSVs, HTML, MHT, Markdown, JSON, DOCXs, EPUB and text files to power your bots.

## Supported file types

The file data source allows you to upload many different types of files to use as the knowledge base for you bot. Currently we support uploading and parsing the following types of files: .csv, .pdf, .json, .md, .html, .mht, .docx, .txt, .zip and .epub file formats.

We are always adding more file types, if there is one you need, let us know!

## Adding a file data source

Navigate to the Data sources tab on your bot's dashboard page to add a file data source.

1. Click the _New data source_ button, select _Upload files_ and click _Create data source_. ![upload files](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1721381213/upload_files_9a27f3610d.png)
2. On the file data source settings page that appears, click the _Upload content_ button to choose the files you want to upload. ![upload files - settings page](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1721381429/upload_files_settings_2ac37bbd0b.png)
3. Drag the files you want to upload into the box. ![Xnapper-2023-06-21-15.44.33.png](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1687358979/Xnapper_2023_06_21_15_44_33_e1644ce8eb.png)
4. You should see your files listed on the settings page. You can add more files, or if you are happy, click the _Synchronise_ button to begin uploading. ![sync files](https://res.cloudinary.com/djyjvrw5u/image/upload/v1721381743/sync_files_52579aab06.png)

## Are my files secure?

When you use the file upload data source, we upload your files securely into our storage. We use a Supabase private storage bucket to store your files: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/storage

This means they are kept privately and are only accessible internally by our API so we can parse their contents and make it available to your bot. **We only access your files during synchronisation.**

When you delete the file data source or delete your bot, we delete all of your files forever.