> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ai-kb.automationanywhere.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# File Helpers Toolkit

> Save, read, re-encode, and inspect files for agents and workflows

The **File Helpers** toolkit gives agents file utilities: save base64 payloads to storage, read files with intelligent text extraction, change text encodings, and detect MIME types. No connection or API key is required.

Add it on the agent **Toolkits** tab, then reference the tools with `@` in the personality prompt when the agent should handle files.

## Prerequisites

* An agent you can edit
* For **Read File**, **Change File Encoding**, and **Check File Type**: a filesystem path returned by a prior save step (or another tool that writes a local file path)

## Available tools

| Tool                     | Description                                                                                                                                                                    |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Save Base64 File**     | Decodes base64 content (including `data:…;base64,` prefixes) and saves it. Optional MIME type and file name. Returns file id, path, name, size, MIME type, and a download URL. |
| **Read File**            | Reads a file at a local path and extracts text for common formats (PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, CSV, JSON, TXT, email formats, and more).                                            |
| **Change File Encoding** | Re-encodes a text file (for example utf-8 ↔ latin-1) and writes a new file.                                                                                                    |
| **Check File Type**      | Detects MIME type from extension and file content. Optionally validate against an allowed MIME-type list.                                                                      |

## How the tools work together

Typical flow:

1. **Save Base64 File** — for example from an email attachment or integration payload
2. Use the returned **file path** with **Read File**, **Check File Type**, or **Change File Encoding**

**Read File** needs a server filesystem path. It does not take a public URL or Knowledge Base name by itself — save or obtain a path first.

## Use cases

* Persist base64 attachments from email or webhook steps, then read them as text
* Inspect MIME type before routing a file to another toolkit
* Normalize encoding for CSV or log files before analysis
* Pair with the [PDF toolkit](/agents/toolkits/pdf) when you need PDF-specific page images or PDF generation (File Helpers **Read File** can extract PDF text as one of many formats)

## Tips

* Prefer clear file names when saving so later steps can identify the file.
* Use **Check File Type** before downstream tools that only accept certain formats.
* Files saved by this toolkit are not automatically available inside the Python sandbox. To analyze them with [Python Code Execution](/agents/toolkits/python), upload into the sandbox separately when your flow requires it.
* For in-chat markdown documents (create/edit/list), use [Document Manager](/agents/toolkits/document-manager).

## Troubleshooting

| Symptom                          | What to check                                                                                                           |
| -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Read File fails                  | Confirm you passed a `file_path` from Save Base64 File (or another writer), not a URL or KB display name                |
| Wrong characters after read      | Use **Change File Encoding** with the correct source and target encodings                                               |
| Check File Type rejects the file | Adjust the allowed MIME list, or confirm the file is the type you expect                                                |
| Confused with PDF toolkit        | File Helpers is general save/read/encode/inspect; PDF toolkit adds extract-all-pages, page-to-image, and PDF generation |

## Related

* [PDF Toolkit](/agents/toolkits/pdf)
* [Document Manager](/agents/toolkits/document-manager)
* [Python Code Execution](/agents/toolkits/python)
* [Toolkits overview](/agents/toolkits/overview)