---
schema_version: "1"
id: dce12fd21a2d022299c0ddb8312f5ca079f6ef3d28612172f67ad960cf754af6
title: Seeding Support for Attachment, Document, and ContentDocument Objects
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/platform/264-0-0/seeding_o_file_objects.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=platform.seeding_o_file_objects.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: ff47c305d6076ecae3b9df17c9515cbf375e6c05eb6317a05683e3a076ecf2f5
description: The Seeding application for Salesforce seeds dummy files. During a seeding job, the original files are replaced with a dummy file that correlates to the original file type, matching it by file name. Replacement with a dummy file is done to prevent users from seeing the actual data, thereby making the replacement file comply with Personally Identifiable Information (PII) protection.
products:
  - Security
  - Salesforce Platform
release: "264"
---
# Seeding Support for Attachment, Document, and ContentDocument Objects

The Seeding application for Salesforce seeds dummy files. During a seeding job, the original files are replaced with a dummy file that correlates to the original file type, matching it by file name. Replacement with a dummy file is done to prevent users from seeing the actual data, thereby making the replacement file comply with Personally Identifiable Information (PII) protection.

## Nodes Template Content Options

With Nodes templates, you can choose either to seed dummy content or to seed the real content when using that template to seed the ContentDocument object. These options are provided in the ContentDocument Handling section of the Advanced Settings for a Nodes template.

## Objects Representing Uploaded Files

The following objects represent uploaded files:

- Attachment
- Document
- ContentDocument

## Attachments

Files that are uploaded and attached to a parent object. They are created in the Notes & Attachments section of the parent object record. The following objects are supported as parents of attachments:

- Account
- Asset
- Campaign
- Case
- Contact
- Contract
- Custom objects
- EmailMessage
- EmailTemplate
- Event
- Lead
- Opportunity
- Product2
- Solution
- Task

## Documents

Files that are uploaded to Documents. Unlike attachment records, documents are not attached to a parent object.

## ContentDocuments

Files that are uploaded to either Content or Files. The following objects are used to store file data:

- ContentDocument
- ContentVersion
- ContentDocumentLink

The actual file content is saved as a ContentVersion, representing a specific version of a document and storing document information.

- A ContentDocument object is automatically created when the first ContentVersion is created for that file.
- ContentVersion is a child of the ContentDocument object.
- Subsequent file versions are saved as multiple ContentVersion child records of the ContentDocument object.
- The ContentDocumentLink object connects the ContentDocument object to a given record, in which the original file was uploaded.

## File Storage and Relationships Example

If you added a file to an Account record, the relationships are:

Account → ContentDocumentLink → ContentDocument (required parent of ContentDocumentLink) → ContentVersion (required parent of ContentDocument)

ContentDocumentLink shares the files with Users, Records, Groups, etc. It is possible to create multiple records to attach the same files between various records.

![Note](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-platform-own_from_salesforce-264-0-0-production-enus/8ac98673-ede2-4046-a41e-2d5c846f24ff/images/icon_note.png)

Note Files attached to emails and events can be saved in Salesforce as either ContentDocument or Attachment objects (ContentDocument is the default). In either case, the files are stored in Salesforce under the Notes & Attachments section of the primary associated object(s).