The ExtFile/ExtImage Product stores a file externally in the filesystem and keeps only meta data in the Zope Database. The file is stored in an external file repository and is accessible via its corresponding Zope object.

ExtFile can display icons depending on the MIME-Type of the file, wich can used as download links. ExtImage Product additionally creates preview-thumbnails from images and can display them like the icons of ExtFile.

ExtFile and ExtImage basically work like the Zope File and Image products. Unlike them only meta data (like title and description) is stored in the ZODB whereas the (plain text or binary) file is stored in the local file system. This prevents the Database swelling up quickly, when many large files are uploaded, thus increasing database performance and makes the file accessible for external programs (e.g. search-engines).

Note: If you are upgrading ExtFile/ExtImage from a version previous to 1.1.0 final (including 1.1.0 beta releases), make sure to apply the UpgradePatch_to_1.1.x first. See Upgrade_Info for more information on that.