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Salesforce Marketing Cloud

Files.com can prepare and deliver files for Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement imports and collect its exported files for other systems. Engagement's Automation Studio owns the import, extract, and campaign-related processing. Files.com owns the file exchange with the partners and applications around it.

Choose the connection according to which system should start the work. A file-drop automation watches Salesforce's Enhanced SFTP location. A scheduled activity can instead use Files.com as an external SFTP file location. These arrangements use different server accounts and credentials.

Enhanced SFTP and File-Drop Automations

For a file-drop automation, configure an SFTP Remote Server in Files.com with the Enhanced SFTP hostname, port, and credentials provided for your Marketing Cloud account. Verify the remote server's host key during setup. Files.com is the client connecting to Salesforce in this arrangement.

Prepare the input in a Files.com staging folder, then use a Sync or Automation to deliver it to the watched Salesforce directory. Make the trigger select the intended final filenames and keep temporary files outside that selection. Salesforce's Enhanced SFTP guidanceExternal LinkThis link leads to an external website and will open in a new tab explains that a temporary filename matching the pattern can start the automation even when a transfer is interrupted.

In Automation Studio, configure the file-drop starting sourceExternal LinkThis link leads to an external website and will open in a new tab for a directory under Import or Triggered_Automations, with the intended filename pattern. When several active triggers match a file, Salesforce randomly selects one. Use a dedicated subdirectory to avoid that overlap.

Configure the file location and import activity for that same input. For encrypted or compressed files, the automation may need a File Transfer activity before the import. Salesforce's file-drop exampleExternal LinkThis link leads to an external website and will open in a new tab shows how those activities fit together. A completed SFTP delivery alone does not configure or execute the data import.

Files.com as an External File Location

For an activity that accesses Files.com directly, create a dedicated Files.com machine account with SFTP enabled and access to its pickup or output folders. Marketing Cloud initiates this connection, so the credential belongs to a Files.com user.

In Marketing Cloud Setup, create an External SFTP Site file locationExternal LinkThis link leads to an external website and will open in a new tab. Supply the Files.com hostname and directory, port 22, and password or Auth Key authentication matching the account. For key authentication, store the private key in Marketing Cloud and register its public key on the Files.com user.

Make the location resolve directly to the intended directory. An SFTP client root changes the path Marketing Cloud sees. Configure the activity and its schedule explicitly: the file-drop starting source described above watches Enhanced SFTP, rather than this external Files.com folder.

Exports and File Encryption

For an extract published through Enhanced SFTP, configure the Data Extract and subsequent File Transfer activity in Automation Studio. The extract is produced in Salesforce's Safehouse; the transfer makes it available at the selected SFTP location. Salesforce's export workflowExternal LinkThis link leads to an external website and will open in a new tab explains that sequence.

Files.com can collect the resulting file through its Remote Server connection and deliver it onward. Select the export's completed filename and keep collected files separate from the next inbound import.

Choose where file encryption and decryption occur. If Marketing Cloud decrypts an inbound file, encrypt it with the public PGP key matching the private key held there. For an encrypted export that Files.com will decrypt, Marketing Cloud uses the public PGP key whose private key is held in the Files.com GPG Key Manager. These file-encryption keys are separate from the SSH keys used for SFTP authentication. Salesforce documents its File Transfer encryption setupExternal LinkThis link leads to an external website and will open in a new tab.

Test the entire Automation Studio sequence and check its import or extract result alongside the Files.com transfer records. Before repeating a delivery, check whether the first automation already processed it; successful transfer and successful application processing are separate milestones.