Setting up a Documents folder for brand assets needs three things: a folder with the right visibility, the IsPublic flag set on each Document that will be embedded in an email, and a clear naming convention so future admins can find what was uploaded.
- Create the folder
Go to the Documents tab > Create New Folder. Name it Brand Assets or similar, and set Folder Access to Read Only for the audience that will browse it.
- Set folder visibility
Choose This folder is accessible by all users, or restrict to specific roles, groups, or users. Pick the broadest visibility appropriate, since Documents have no per-record sharing.
- Upload the Document
From the folder, click New Document. Enter a Name, an optional description, optional keywords, and upload the file. Keep the body under 5 MB.
- Mark it Externally Available
Check the Externally Available Image checkbox before saving. This sets IsPublic to true and unlocks the servlet URL for use in email templates and public Sites.
- Capture the public URL
Open the Document, right-click the image preview, and copy the image URL. The format is /servlet/servlet.ImageServer?id=<DocumentId>&oid=<OrgId>. Save this in your email-template reference doc.
- Reference it from an email template
In the HTML email template, use <img src="https://<your-instance>.salesforce.com/servlet/servlet.ImageServer?id=...&oid=...">. Test by sending the template to an external address and confirming the image renders without a login prompt.
- Document the asset in a brand register
Track Document Name, URL, intended use, and review date in a separate sheet or wiki. Without this register, future admins will be afraid to delete anything because they cannot tell what is still in use.
Sets IsPublic = true. Required for any Document referenced from an email template that goes to external recipients.
Sets IsInternalUseOnly = true. Indicates the Document is not licensed for external distribution. Useful as a metadata flag; it does not block access.
Comma-separated tags searchable from the Documents tab. The only built-in mechanism for organizing Documents across folders.
Free text shown on the Document detail page. Use it to record intended use and the email template that references the file.
Read Only or Read/Write at the folder level. There is no per-Document override, so plan folder structure around access groups, not topics.
- The Externally Available Image checkbox is the same flag as IsPublic in the API. Forgetting to check it is the single most common reason an email template renders a broken image for external recipients.
- The servlet URL hard-codes the Document ID. If you delete and re-upload a logo, every email template referencing the old ID breaks. Update the body in place using the Replace Document button instead.
- Documents cannot be migrated to Files while preserving the public URL. Plan to keep email-template assets on the Document object for the lifetime of those templates.
- Folder visibility cannot be set per record. If one Document in a folder needs broader access, you have to move it to a more permissive folder, not adjust the Document directly.
- Body size caps at 5 MB. Large images need to be optimized before upload, and the Documents tab has no built-in image-optimization step, so do it in your image editor first.