Uploading Files
There are several ways to get files into Poly, depending on how many files you're adding and where you're working from.
Drag and drop
Drag files or folders from anywhere on your desktop and drop them onto the Poly file browser window. Poly accepts drops anywhere in the main panel — you don't need to target a specific area.
Dropping a folder preserves the folder structure. Poly creates matching subfolders and uploads all contents recursively.
Upload button
Click the Upload button in the toolbar (the icon with an upward arrow) to open a file picker. You can select multiple files at once using Shift+click or Cmd/Ctrl+click.
Most browsers also allow folder selection from the file picker. Choose Upload folder from the upload button dropdown to select an entire directory.
Upload from the desktop app
The Poly desktop app makes uploading even faster:
- Drag onto the tray icon — drag files onto the Poly icon in the menu bar (macOS) or system tray (Windows) to upload to your current folder.
- macOS Finder integration — once Poly appears as a location in the Finder sidebar, you can copy or move files into it directly from Finder. Poly syncs them to the cloud automatically.
Monitoring uploads
Poly uploads files in the background. A progress indicator in the bottom-right corner of the screen shows active uploads. Click it to expand the jobs panel and see:
- Files currently uploading
- Upload speed and estimated time remaining
- Any files that failed to upload, with an option to retry
Uploads are chunked and resumable — if you lose internet connectivity mid-upload, Poly picks up where it left off when you reconnect.
Upload limits
| Limit | Value |
|---|---|
| Maximum file size | 50 GB per file |
| Files per batch | No limit |
| Storage quota | Depends on your plan |
After uploading
Once a file lands in Poly, background processing begins automatically:
- Thumbnail generation (images, videos, PDFs)
- Text extraction and full-text indexing (documents, PDFs)
- Vector embedding (for semantic search)
- Metadata extraction (EXIF, audio tags, dimensions)
Most files are fully indexed within seconds. Very large documents or high-resolution images may take a minute or two.