Maintain Attachments (Environment setting)

Tools that honor the Maintain Attachments environment will copy attachments from the input features to the output features. An attachment table and a relationship class will be created.

Usage notes

• The input feature class must have attachments. This setting will not otherwise create or enable attachments on the output.
• The output workspace must support attachments. Attachments will not be copied if the output workspace does not support attachments; for example, shapefiles and DBF files do not support attachments.
• The following tools will transfer attachments:
  • Append
  • Copy
  • Copy Features
  • Copy Rows
  • Feature Class To Feature Class
  • Table To Table
  • Merge

• The Copy tool will always copy attachments, regardless of the Maintain Attachments environment setting.

• Since relationship classes are used to maintain the linkage, and relationship classes require an ArcGIS Desktop Standard or ArcGIS Desktop Advanced license, a Desktop Standard or Desktop Advanced license is required to maintain attachments when copying features. With ArcGIS Desktop Basic, you can read and open attachments.

Dialog syntax

• Checked—Attachments will be copied to the output feature class. This is the default.
• Unchecked—Attachments will not be copied to the output.

Scripting syntax

arcpy.env.maintainAttachments = True

maintainAttachments syntax

Parameter	Explanation
boolean_option	Specifies whether attachments will be copied to the output features. The default is True.

Script example

import arcpy

# Set the maintainAttachments environment to False (no attachment copy)
arcpy.env.maintainAttachments = False