Most upload failures come down to one of four things: a file over the plan's size limit, a file type gated to a paid plan, a dropped connection on a very large file, or a folder batch that's too big to send at once. Preview and download problems on the viewer side are almost always the recipient's corporate firewall. This page walks each one.

"1 file could not be uploaded"

This toast appears when one or more files in a batch fail. The count reflects how many failed, not which. The usual causes:

The file is over your plan's per-file size limit. See the limits below. On the Free plan a file over 50 MB is rejected with a message telling you to upgrade to Business.
The connection dropped mid-transfer. Common on multi-GB video over slow or unstable networks, or when you switch browser tabs during the upload (switching tabs can drop the connection). Retry on a stable network and don't switch tabs while it runs.
The file type is gated to a paid plan. HTML, video, and audio require Business or higher — see File Type Is Gated below.

If a single file fails repeatedly on a stable connection and it's under your limit, send support the file name, size, and a screenshot of the error and we'll dig in.

Per-File Size Limits

Peony enforces a maximum size per file, by plan:

Free — 50 MB per file, 500 MB total storage
Business — 2 GB per file, 50 GB total storage
Data Room / Deal Team — no per-file size limit, 2 TB total storage
Enterprise — custom

Going over the limit fails that file with a message naming the exact cap. There is no per-viewer or per-visitor charge and no fee for the number of files — the only limits are the size and storage figures above.

Folder Uploads

Drag a whole folder in and Peony preserves the nested structure. Two things to know:

Split very large folders. A single batch of more than roughly 2,000 files is too large to send in one go. Peony will tell you to split it into folders of about 2,000 files or fewer, then upload each.
Cloud-synced folders may live in the cloud, not on disk. Dropbox especially, and often on Macs, keeps files as online-only placeholders. Make the folder available offline (or download it locally) first, then drag it in — otherwise the nested structure won't come through.
macOS hidden files. macOS adds entries like .DS_Store that Peony skips by design. If a file count looks short, re-upload the same folder and choose to merge only the missing items — nothing was actually lost.

When you drop several loose files (not inside a folder) onto a data room, Peony generates a container folder for them. This automatic multi-file folder is created only at the root of a data room — a fix shipped June 24, 2026. Drop loose files into a specific subfolder and they land directly in that subfolder instead.

File Type Is Gated to a Plan

Some file types require a paid plan. On Free, uploading one of these is rejected with a message that a Business plan is required — every other common document type (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text, Markdown) works on Free.

HTML and HTM — require Business or higher. They render live in the in-browser viewer, JavaScript runs, so interactive AI-generated artifacts display as intended. For an uploaded HTML page to work, it must not open links in a new tab (target=_blank) — Peony does not modify the HTML you upload, so a new-tab link breaks the controlled view.
Video and audio — require Business or higher (see below).

Video Uploads

Video is supported on Business and above. Once uploaded, video streams in place inside the secure viewer — it is not downloaded to the viewer's device. Downloading is blocked at the player level (the native download control is removed and the right-click context menu is suppressed), and the dynamic watermark overlay renders on top of the video the same way it does on documents. Dynamic watermarking is a Data Room tier feature.

If a video upload fails:

Confirm you're on Business or higher — video is gated.
Check the connection. Multi-GB files can time out on slow networks, and switching browser tabs mid-upload can stall the transfer. Retry on a stable connection without switching tabs.
Note when it fails — right at the start, or partway through — and whether the progress circle moves between attempts. That detail helps support diagnose it fast.

Excel & Spreadsheet Preview

Excel (XLSX) and other spreadsheets render in a secure in-browser viewer. Very large or very complex workbooks can be slow to render or fall back to a no-preview state, and the in-browser preview is more limited on the Free plan. If a spreadsheet won't preview, viewers can still be granted download to open it locally, or you can upgrade for a fuller preview experience.

Counterparty Can View but Can't Download

When a viewer can open and read a document in the room but every download fails, the cause is almost always on their side — a corporate firewall or Microsoft Defender for Endpoint blocking the request to Peony's file storage. Peony serves file downloads from Cloudflare R2 storage on a domain distinct from the app, and locked-down corporate networks sometimes block that storage domain even though the room itself loads.

Ask the viewer's IT team to allowlist:

www.peony.ink and app.peony.ink
The Cloudflare R2 storage domain shown in the browser's network error when a download is attempted (open the browser dev tools Network tab, retry the download, and read the blocked host from the failed request)

Once IT whitelists those hosts, downloads work. This is a network policy on the viewer's end, not a Peony setting you can toggle for them.

Invite & Notification Emails Are Being Quarantined

If viewers on a Microsoft 365 tenant never receive invite emails, expiry reminders, or new-file notifications, Microsoft Defender is likely quarantining them as spam before they reach the inbox. This is a Microsoft-side domain-reputation flag, not a Peony bug.

Ask the recipient's IT / mail admin to add both peony.ink and notification.peony.ink (the subdomain Peony sends invite, reminder, and new-file notification emails from) to the tenant safe-sender allow list. The same block can also swallow sign-in codes — see Can't Sign In: OTP Not Arriving for the full Defender walkthrough and the clean-email report link.

Common Questions

A whole folder of Excel files gave an error and some files look missing — did I lose them?

No. macOS counts folders and hidden files (like .DS_Store) that Peony skips by design, so the total can look short even though every real file uploaded. Re-upload the same folder and choose "Upload missing only" (the alternative is "Upload as new") — the "Upload missing only" option merges just the skipped items.

My video keeps failing at the same point every time.

First confirm you're on Business or higher, since video is gated. Then treat it as a connection issue: multi-GB files time out on slow networks, and switching browser tabs mid-upload can drop the transfer. Retry on a stable connection without leaving the tab. If it still fails, tell support whether it dies at the start or partway and whether the progress circle moves — that narrows it quickly.

Is there a storage or file-count limit?

Yes, by plan: Free is 500 MB of storage and 50 MB per file; Business is 50 GB and 2 GB per file; Data Room and Deal Team are 2 TB of storage with no per-file size limit. Viewers and visitors are always unlimited and free — the limits are on stored files, never on who views them.

A viewer says the room loads but downloads fail on their office network.

That's their corporate firewall or Microsoft Defender blocking Peony's file-storage domain. Have their IT allowlist www.peony.ink, app.peony.ink, and the Cloudflare R2 storage domain shown in the network error. Viewing works because the room page loads from the app domain; downloads come from the storage domain, which their network is blocking separately.

Can a viewer download a video I shared?

No. Video streams in place inside the viewer with the native download control removed and the right-click menu suppressed. On Data Room and above it also carries the dynamic watermark overlay. If you want a counterparty to keep a file, share a downloadable document type and grant download on that item instead.

On the Roadmap

Bulk multi-select move for files and folders
ZIP upload with automatic folder-structure extraction
More reliable folder drag-and-drop on iPad (the app works best on a laptop or desktop today)
An archive folder / recycle bin for deleted items