Overview
Connect your own Network Attached Storage (NAS) device to store project files externally. This is a "Bring Your Own Storage" option for businesses that prefer to keep files on their own hardware.
The NAS is for your project's working files: artwork, source material, footage and other large files you already manage on your network. Financial documents always stay in Beeswax, as described in What always stays in Beeswax below.
Setup
- Click the menu to add a new NAS connection
- Provide a name and connection details for your storage device
- Once connected, project files can be stored on your NAS instead of Beeswax cloud storage
Prefer Google Drive? You can also connect your own Google Drive as a storage backend instead of — or alongside — a NAS. Google Drive works the same way: drop files on its card to store them there, or link files that are already in your Drive. See the Google Drive Storage help article.
Choosing your default
If you have more than one storage location configured, the File Storage page shows them in a table with a Default column. On a project's Files page every connected location gets its own card and you choose where a file goes by dropping it there; the default is used for files added where there is no card to choose from, such as attachments on tasks and task messages. It is never used for financial documents. You can also test each connection from there.
The Files page shows what is in the folder
A project's Files page lists the project's folder on your NAS as it is: every file and folder in it appears, whether it was uploaded through Beeswax or copied there from a computer on your network. Folder counts include all of them.
- Upload through Beeswax. Drop the file on your NAS card on a project's Files page. Beeswax writes it straight to your NAS and does not store the file itself. For images and PDFs it keeps a small preview image, so the Files page can show a thumbnail.
- Or just put it in the folder. A file saved into the project's folder over your network shows up in Beeswax the next time the page loads. It can be downloaded and shared from there like any other.
No file on your NAS counts toward your Beeswax storage limit — only files dropped on the Beeswax Storage card do. None can be versioned yet: Upload New Version isn't offered, because there is no Beeswax copy to keep as a previous version.
Files that Beeswax did not upload additionally:
- Can't be shared publicly from Beeswax. Share links to named recipients work; a public link does not. Share the file from your NAS yourself if you need one.
Delete removes the file from your NAS. Because the page shows the folder itself, Delete... on any file in the project's folder deletes it from the NAS after you confirm. This cannot be undone, and any share links to the file stop working. The one exception is a file added with Browse existing files from somewhere else on your NAS (only people who can change the storage connection can browse outside the project's folder): that file is outside the project's folder, so deleting it in Beeswax removes it from the project and leaves the file where it is.
Note: Files that are only on your NAS are not found by Beeswax's search until they have been shared or opened with More options.
What always stays in Beeswax
Connecting a NAS never moves the money side of the business onto it. These are always stored by Beeswax and count toward your plan's storage allowance:
- Invoices, quotes and expenses, and every file attached to them
- Supplier invoices sent in by email, and receipts uploaded from the Uncategorised inbox or the mobile app
- PDFs Beeswax generates, such as invoices and payslips
- BAS and tax statement files
- Bank statements
This is by design, for security and privacy. Financial records hold your clients' and staff's details and your bank information, and they shouldn't sit in a folder that anyone on your office network may be able to open.
Beeswax also keeps its own copy in two other cases:
- Preview images. Small thumbnails of images and PDFs on your NAS are stored by Beeswax so the Files page can show them. They don't count toward your storage allowance.
- ZIP shares. Sharing several files at once creates a ZIP file, and Beeswax stores that ZIP.
Changed: before September 2026, files attached to invoices, quotes, expenses and BAS statements could be copied to a connected NAS as well. Beeswax now stores them itself again. The copies already on your NAS were left where they are, so you can keep or delete them as you like.
Deleting files
The project's folder on your NAS belongs to the project, and Beeswax shows it as it is. So:
- Deleting a file in the project's folder deletes it from your NAS, whoever put it there. Beeswax always asks first, and it cannot be undone. If the NAS can't be reached the file is not deleted and nothing changes in Beeswax.
- Deleting a file added from elsewhere on your NAS (with Browse existing files) only removes it from the project. That file lives outside the project's folder and stays where it is.
Google Drive storage keeps the stricter rule: a file linked from your Drive is never deleted by Beeswax.
Changed: files that were already in the project's folder used to be "linked", and deleting one removed only the link. Now that the Files page lists the folder itself, such a file would simply reappear, so Delete... removes it from the NAS.