How to share files with OpenClaw

Send a copy through the conversation

Use your chat app’s attachment control to send the document, with a message explaining the job. On September 20, 2026, we sent PDFs through Telegram to OpenClaw 2026.9.4 and received an updated Excel workbook back. The same walk added more documents to a running workbook. That is a file-in, file-out workflow; it does not require a shared drive.

If you have not connected a chat app yet, start with the Telegram setup guide. For a scan or screenshot where the original bytes matter, send it as a file or document rather than a compressed photo. OpenClaw’s media documentation also describes document-mode delivery for outputs when channel compression would change an image.

Have the agent confirm which files arrived before it begins. For several attachments, check the names and count, not merely that it says it received your message. If a file will be used again, ask it to keep a working copy in a named project folder. Receiving an attachment and deliberately preserving the working material are different steps.

Ask for the artifact, not its address on the server

The agent might say it saved a workbook and show a Linux path. That location belongs to its computer, not yours. Ask it to attach the actual file to the reply. A localhost link has the same problem: opening it on your phone points at your phone.

OpenClaw’s attachment troubleshooting reference distinguishes a generated file from a sent attachment. Delivery uses structured media fields, and the channel must accept that file type and size. If you get a filename but no download, ask the agent to check the send result and use the attachment mechanism instead of repeating the path.

Download and open the result. Check the sheet, document or image you actually received, including whether it is the latest revision. A successful tool call that created a file is not evidence that your device received it.

For repeated work, share a limited collection

A selected folder can be more convenient than uploading the same files repeatedly. Give the agent its own account on the storage service, or another identity with access only to the material it needs. Keep source material read-only when the agent only needs to consult it, and use a separate writable destination for results.

The service’s authorization matters more than the folder named in the request. A connector asking for access to all files has broader reach than an instruction to work in one folder. Read its consent screen. If it cannot grant the scope you want, an account containing only the shared material makes the boundary easier to understand.

Decide which copy is authoritative. Uploading a document into chat does not synchronize later changes on your laptop. A downloaded export from a cloud drive is also a snapshot unless a separate sync or update process exists. Before recurring work starts, establish where new inputs arrive and where the agent writes the next version.

If email is already where the documents arrive, connecting Gmail can be a better fit than creating a second intake folder.

A paired computer is another option, not a prerequisite

OpenClaw’s File Transfer plugin can work with a paired node, a computer connected to the Gateway. Directory listing, fetching and writing are separate capabilities; allowing one does not automatically allow the others. The node and path permissions still decide which files are reachable.

That suits an owner who already uses a paired computer and wants files to stay there. It adds a device that must remain reachable, so it is not the first thing to set up just to send one PDF. The documented node-transfer path is separate from the Telegram attachment workflow we tested.

Working files are not the agent’s instructions

A project document belongs in a working folder. It does not need to be renamed AGENTS.md or pasted into SOUL.md to become usable. Those workspace instruction and identity files have a different job: they shape the agent’s behavior.

Keep original documents, working copies and finished outputs distinguishable. If the work matters beyond this conversation, include the project folder in your backup plan and retain a copy of important results somewhere you can reach without asking the agent.