Get past the Claude file upload limit per chat.
Claude takes up to 20 files per chat, according to its help center in September 2026. It counts files, not what is in them. Drop the whole folder here or paste a GitHub link: everything is read in your browser and comes back as one file, one of the 20, with its token count.
- Hundreds of files become one attachment
- PDFs and Office docs read in your browser
- No sign-up, nothing uploaded to us
Drop a folder or files
One file comes back, usually in under a second.
Paste a public link
The Claude file upload limits.
Only the first row counts files, and one combined file takes one slot of it. The rest count size, which combining does not change.
| Where | What it caps | Limit today |
|---|---|---|
| A chat | Files you attach | Up to 20 |
| One chat file | Size of a single file | 500 MB |
| A PDF | Pages | 1,000; past 100 pages Claude reads the text only |
| An image | Dimensions | 8000 x 8000 pixels |
| A project file | Size, with no file count | 30 MB; together they must fit the context window |
| The chat itself | Length of what you send | The context window: 200K to 1M tokens on paid plans, by model |
Figures as of September 2026, from the Claude help center on uploading files and on the context window. Anthropic changes them often. A project hits a different wall, its total size: see Project knowledge exceeds maximum.
The second wall is length, not count.
Counted before you send
The result screen shows the combined file's token count and how much of the model's window it fills. It is an estimate: Claude's own count differs, so leave some room.
Past the file count, Claude can still refuse a message for its length:
Your message will exceed the length limit for this chat. Try attaching fewer or smaller files or starting a new conversation.
A combined file holds the same text as the files in it, so it is just as long. On paid plans with code execution on, Claude manages long conversations itself, but its help center says a very large first message can still hit this error. If the count is near the window, leave out what Claude does not need under Adjust what's included, or pick a model with a larger window.
From a folder to one attachment.
- 1
Drop everything
Drag in the folder you meant to attach, subfolders included, or paste a public GitHub link.
- 2
It reads and counts
PDFs, Word, Excel and notes become text in this tab, and the token count shows whether the one file fits the chat. Nothing is uploaded to us.
- 3
Attach the one file
Set Format to Plain, download the .txt, and attach it to your chat: one of the twenty. Claude's help center lists TXT, not XML or Markdown.
206 files, one attachment.
We imported the Express repository on 2026-09-24. Its 206 files would fill 11 chats at 20 each. As one file they took one slot, at 196,127 tokens by our estimate: 20% of a 1M-token window, and 98% of a 200K one, where the length limit is the wall to watch.
213 files fetched
7 left out
11 chats at 20 files eachThis is a packed snapshot of a
codebase, assembled by fileconcat.com.
Source: https://github.com/
expressjs/express
File count: 206.
...Common questions.
- What is the Claude file upload limit?
- Up to 20 files per chat, each up to 500 MB, according to the Claude help center in September 2026. A PDF can have at most 1,000 pages and an image at most 8000 x 8000 pixels. Files added to a project are capped at 30 MB each with no file count, but together they have to fit Claude's context window.
- Does a combined file count as one of the 20?
- Yes. The cap counts files, and FileConcat hands back one file however many documents went into it, with a file tree at the top so Claude can tell them apart. Two hundred files combined take one of the twenty slots.
- Why does Claude say "Your message will exceed the length limit for this chat"?
- That is the length limit, not the file count. Claude's help center says it appears when a message is longer than the chat can take, and that a very large first message can still trigger it. A combined file holds the same text as the files in it, so it is just as long. Leave out what Claude does not need, start a new conversation, or pick a model with a larger context window: 200K to 1M tokens on paid plans, depending on the model.
- Can I upload a PDF over 1,000 pages to Claude?
- Not as a PDF. Claude's help center says it refuses one with an "Uploaded file is too large" error, and that past 100 pages it reads a PDF's text only, not its charts or images. FileConcat pulls the text out in your browser into a text file, which is not counted in pages, though it still has to fit the chat's length limit.
- Which file type should I attach?
- Set Format to Plain, and the download is a .txt file. Claude's help center lists TXT among the document types it takes, and does not list XML or Markdown, the other two formats FileConcat offers.
- Is this the same as the Claude Project limit?
- No. A chat caps how many files you attach: 20. A project has no file count, only a 30 MB cap per file and a total that must fit the context window, so for a project the fix is leaving files out rather than combining them.
- Are my files uploaded to a server?
- Not to us. FileConcat reads every file, PDFs and Office documents included, in your browser tab, and a public GitHub repository is fetched by your browser straight from GitHub. There is no account to create. The only upload is the one file you attach to Claude.
Send the whole folder as one attachment.
Working in a Claude project instead? Fix Project knowledge exceeds maximum. Every assistant's caps side by side: AI file upload limits.