← Al Davies, 250 High Street

SharePoint list attachments not showing

Short answer: attachments need three things. The list must support attachments, you must have Contribute permission or higher, and you must be in the item form, not Edit in grid view. Check those in that order, then look at whether a custom Power Apps form hides the Attachments card.

Start here: what exactly do you see?

"Attachments not showing" can mean three different things. Pick yours.

The first two are covered below. For the third, see the last check, "Files that vanished".

Check 1. Does the list support attachments?

Microsoft's Add list items page says: "If you don't see the Add attachments command, that means your list doesn't support attachments."

So the missing command can be a setting on the list itself and not a fault in your browser. A Microsoft Q&A answer about turning attachments off gives this path: "Open the SharePoint Online List> Settings> List Settings> Advanced Settings> Go to Attachments> Select the option "Disabled"> Click on OK". That is the path to turn attachments off. The same screen is where a list owner would look to see whether the option reads Enabled or Disabled. Exact names may differ on your screen. The Q&A answer is community help on a Microsoft site, not a Microsoft support article.

What to do:

  1. Ask the list owner to open the list settings and look at the Attachments option under Advanced settings.
  2. If it says Disabled, ask why. Someone may have turned it off on purpose.
  3. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: before anyone switches attachments to Disabled, download any files you want to keep and save them in a document library first.

Check 2. Are you in Edit in grid view?

Microsoft says: "You can't attach a file to a list item in Edit in grid view." This is a limit of that view. It is not a missing setting.

What to do:

  1. Leave Edit in grid view.
  2. Select the item's title to open the item form, or select New to start a new item.
  3. In the item form, look for Add attachments.

If Edit in grid view itself is missing or greyed out, see "Edit in grid view is missing or greyed out in a SharePoint list".

Check 3. Do you have enough permission?

Microsoft's Edit list items page says: "Note that you need Contribute level permission or higher to edit items." Its Add list items page says you need Contribute permission level or higher to add items.

If you have only read access, you can open an item but you cannot change it.

What to do:

  1. Ask the list owner what level you have on this list.
  2. If it is Read, ask for Contribute only if your job needs it.
  3. Try a simple test: ask a person who has Contribute to open the same item and look for Add attachments. If they see it and you do not, permission may be the gap.

Check 4. Is the form a custom Power Apps form?

A list can use the default SharePoint form or a Power Apps form. Microsoft's custom form tutorial says to select "Integrate > Power Apps" and then "Customize forms" to change a form. In that tutorial, "Attachments is a predefined card, so it is locked by default, and needs to be unlocked." It then shows how to set the card's Visible property so that the Attachments card is hidden when a condition is met. In other words, a form builder can hide the card on purpose.

A Microsoft Q&A answer about a form that did not change after an edit says to confirm which form the list uses: "please make sure you select Power Apps form as form for your list, you may go to List settings>Form settings to change this". The same answer says a Power Apps form "may not work for the details panel", and it works when you select New or select an item and then Edit.

What to do:

  1. Open the list at the page where you normally use it.
  2. Check whether the command bar has Integrate. If your list uses a custom form, the form builder should know about it.
  3. Ask whoever built the form to open it in Power Apps and look at the Attachments card. In that tutorial, the card's Visible property controls whether it shows.
  4. Test in the form, not in the details panel on the right. The Q&A answer above says the custom form may not work for that panel.

Exact menu names may differ. Microsoft's tutorial is the source for the steps. For a plain hide-and-show change with no code, see "Make the new-item form shorter: sections and show-if rules".

Check 5. Was the field hidden on purpose?

Two Microsoft community threads describe the opposite problem: people wanted to remove the attachments field, and had trouble. In a Microsoft Tech Community thread, one reply reports that after unchecking "Add attachments column to default view" in advanced settings, "it removed it from my form!" That is one person's report and not a Microsoft support statement. In a Microsoft Q&A thread, one answer says a Power Apps form can make the Attachments card invisible by turning off its Visible setting.

You can use this to look backward: if someone wanted the field gone, one of these changes may be the reason you cannot see it. Ask the list owner whether anyone changed the form or the default view setting.

Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: if your team needs attachments back, put a note on the list owner's task list to undo the change, and test with one new item first.

Attachments column missing from the view, or missing only on one form

Two Microsoft Q&A threads describe both cases. They are community posts, not support articles.

Files that vanished

If an item had files and now shows none, look at what happened to the item and to the list.

  1. Open the item and check the Attachments area again. If the Add attachments command is there but the files are not, someone may have removed them. Microsoft says: "To delete an attachment, click the X next the filename."
  2. If the list owner turned attachments off, ask the list owner what happened to existing files. Our advice, not a Microsoft rule: do not turn it back on and assume files return.
  3. Check version history on the item. See "See who changed a row: SharePoint version history".
  4. If the files mattered, they belong in a document library. See "Where SharePoint list attachments are stored, and when to use a library".

A test list

If you want to see the behavior with no risk, build a small test list and try each check.

  1. Create a new list in Microsoft Lists at https://www.microsoft365.com. Name it "Attachment test".
  2. Keep the Title column as it is, or rename it.
  3. Create one item with a Title such as "Test 1". Open the item form and look for Add attachments. The form should show the Add attachments command.
  4. Attach a small file. Open the item again to confirm the file shows.
  5. Ask the list owner (you, if it is your test list) to open Advanced settings and look at the Attachments option. Do not change it on a real list.
  6. Switch to Edit in grid view. Confirm that you cannot attach a file there, as Microsoft says.

Delete the test list when you are done.

What to avoid

Honest limits

Exact names may differ on your screen. The Q&A and Tech Community answers above are community replies on Microsoft sites. They are not support articles, and Microsoft may change how these settings work. If you need a firm answer for your tenant, ask your Microsoft 365 admin.

When to get help

You can build all of this yourself in Microsoft 365. If you would rather have it built and tested for your team, I do that. A tracker like this is a fixed price: $5,000 for one, built in 2 weeks. See "What a SharePoint tracker costs to build". Bring one example of the problem to a free call.

Tell me what's still manual

I am Al Davies. I run 250 High Street LLC and build SharePoint trackers and Power Automate flows for operations teams. I work remotely. The first call is free, and I will not try to sell you anything.

See trackers I built: Tools I built

FAQ

Why is Add attachments missing on my SharePoint list?

Microsoft says: "If you don't see the Add attachments command, that means your list doesn't support attachments." Also check that you are not in Edit in grid view.

Can I attach a file in Edit in grid view?

No. Microsoft says: "You can't attach a file to a list item in Edit in grid view." Open the item form instead.

Why is the attachments column not showing in my SharePoint list view?

A Microsoft Q&A question describes an Advanced settings box named "Add attachments column to default view". Check that box on your list.

Why do attachments show in the edit form but not in the new form?

A Microsoft Q&A thread describes this after attachments were turned off. A custom Power Apps form can also hide the Attachments card. Ask whoever built the form.

What permission do I need to attach a file?

Microsoft says you need Contribute level permission or higher to edit items, and Contribute permission level or higher to add them.

Sources