Manage Salesforce document storage: Files vs Notes & Attachments

The problem, straight

If you generate contracts, proposals or renewals from Salesforce, you end up with a lot of PDFs. You need to know whether those signed PDFs should be saved to Salesforce Files or kept on the record as Notes & Attachments, and what happens when a document is bigger than the platform limits.

Savvy DocuGen can write documents back to the record either as Salesforce Files or as Notes & Attachments, and it accepts documents up to 40 MB. Notes & Attachments, however, are capped at 25 MB by Salesforce and cannot be raised. That distinction is what causes most surprises.

Salesforce document storage: Files vs Notes and Attachments

Files and Notes & Attachments are both ways to keep generated documents on a record, but they behave differently and have different limits.

Salesforce Files - modern option for most use cases. Works with Lightning, supports larger files, and stores versions. Documents you want to keep long-term or that exceed 25 MB must go to Files.
Notes & Attachments - legacy storage attached directly to a record. Salesforce enforces a 25 MB file size cap on Notes & Attachments and that cap can block large documents.

Savvy DocuGen lets you choose per template whether the finished document is filed to Files or to Notes & Attachments. Use that choice to keep your storage predictable and avoid failed uploads.

Plan your storage: a simple hypothetical scenario

Here is a hypothetical example so you can see the math. Imagine your renewals team generates 200 agreements a month. Each signed PDF averages 6 MB once it includes signature images and appended T&Cs. That is:

200 documents x 6 MB = 1,200 MB per month (about 1.2 GB)
~14.4 GB per year

If those documents are saved as separate Files, your file storage will grow by that amount. If instead you were trying to save them as Notes & Attachments and any one file exceeds 25 MB, the save will fail. Bundling templates into a single signature run reduces the number of files you create, and Savvy DocuGen supports bundling several templates into one signature run.

Two other practical points from the scenario:

Signed documents returned to Salesforce add to your storage footprint. Keep that in your forecast.
If you keep versions (and Files does), each version consumes space. Delete old, unwanted versions to reclaim storage.

Decide per-template: when to use Files

Choose Files for any of these conditions:

Document size might exceed 25 MB. Savvy DocuGen accepts up to 40 MB, which requires Files for anything over 25 MB.
Documents are long-lived records, like fully executed contracts or evergreen agreements that must be retained for audit.
You want version history, or the document will be shared and previewed by multiple users in Lightning.

When Notes & Attachments makes sense

Save to Notes & Attachments only when:

Files are small and short-lived - for example, temporary internal snapshots under 25 MB.
Your org has a workflow or integration that expects attachments in that format and you cannot change it easily.

But remember: the 25 MB cap is firm. If your template can produce larger documents - long appendices, embedded images, or bundled templates - switch to Files.

Salesforce document storage: practical steps you can click through today

You don't need code to get ahead of storage growth. Do these admin-friendly steps.

Audit current usage. In Setup go to Storage Usage to see file storage and attachment usage. Note the trend month over month before you change anything.
Pick per-template storage. For each Savvy DocuGen template choose whether to save to Files or Notes & Attachments. Default large or signed templates to Files.
Bundle where it reduces files. If your agreement is split over multiple templates only because they are modular, bundle them into one signature run so you produce one signed PDF instead of several.
Set a retention and cleanup policy. Create a scheduled Flow (or a manual cleanup run) that deletes or archives obsolete signed PDFs older than your retention period. Keep the executed copy, and consider removing working drafts.
Monitor new templates. When a stakeholder requests a new long template, ask: "Will this be signed or stored long-term?" If yes, choose Files up front.

Edge cases and gotchas

If a template includes many high-resolution images, expect larger PDFs. Test the produced file size in sandbox before you roll it out.
Notes & Attachments saves can silently fail on large files. Always validate a save in a test run when pushing a template to production.
Signed PDF returned by the signature provider counts toward whatever storage location you chose. If your signature flow returns both the pre-sign and post-sign files, decide which you actually need to keep.

How Savvy DocuGen fits

Savvy DocuGen gives you the choice per template to write the finished document to Salesforce Files or to Notes & Attachments, accepts documents up to 40 MB, and bundles multiple templates into a single signature run if you want. That means you can keep large, signed contracts in Files, avoid Notes & Attachments 25 MB failures, and reduce the number of stored files by bundling.

Try these settings and one template test in your sandbox to see how file sizes grow over a month. Then adjust templates and retention so storage stays predictable.

Ready to try it in your sandbox? Log into your sandbox and create a test template that saves to Files, generate a few documents, and watch the Storage Usage report—see immediately how the choices affect your org.