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Move File (v2)

The Move File node in Automations v2 moves each incoming file to one or more destinations. For a file already stored in a folder, the move removes it from its original location. Use it to deliver finished files to a partner folder or a downstream system, to route uploads out of an inbound folder so they are not processed twice, or to archive files after the nodes before it have processed them.

Move File accepts only file items, because a data item has no file to move. Destinations can be folders on your site, on a Remote Server, or in a Child Site.

For temporary files from Incoming Email, Move File saves their contents to the chosen destinations. The run retains the temporary content for other branches and reruns under its retention rules.

Settings

Each destination has a Destination Type, Move to a specific folder or Move relative to the Automation's source path, and a Destination Folder Path that accepts TransformScript templates. A path that ends with / keeps each file's name and the source-tree structure while the current file remains in that selection, and a path that does not end with / renames the file.

Under Advanced Settings:

  • Destination Path Replacement replaces every occurrence of exact text across the entire resolved destination path after templates are applied, using Text to Find in Destination Path and Replace With. It can change the folder structure as well as names. Matching is case-sensitive.
  • Overwrite the Existing Files with New Ones has one option, Always overwrite files with matching names, because a move makes no size comparison. It is off by default, and with it off the move fails for a file whose name already exists at the destination.
  • Flatten Folders writes every file directly in the destination folder instead of recreating the source folder structure below it.
  • Exclude Pattern removes matching files from the items the node moves, using the same syntax as the trigger's Exclude Pattern.
  • Ignore Locked Folders bypasses the Lock Subfolders Folder Setting for the move. The Automation's setting defaults to on (ignore_locked_folders: true), and the node inherits it unless explicitly configured otherwise. This lets automated routing create its destination structure while locks protect against accidental manual changes. Set the node's value to off (false) when that step must also preserve the locked structure. A Connected Host's folder locks apply regardless of this setting.

With several destinations, the node copies each file to every destination except the last and then moves it to the last. For a stored source file, this writes every destination before removing the original. Overwriting applies to every destination, including the ones written as copies, and when overwriting is on, each destination on a Remote Server needs delete permission there, for the copies as well as for the final move.

What the Next Node Receives

Move File passes on one file item for each destination, referring to the file at its new path. When the source was stored in a folder, its original path no longer exists, so a node on a parallel branch that still refers to it fails with a not-found error. Place the Move File node after the branches that read the stored original.

Errors

A file that no longer exists when the node runs fails with a not-found error, and a destination where a file of the same name already exists fails the move for that file unless overwriting is on. Error Handling rules on the node determine what happens to a failed item.