A File Action trigger starts a run when a selected file action occurs in the folder you choose, so the Automation runs when a file changes instead of at a scheduled time. A file uploaded through any interface is processed as soon as the upload is recorded.

The run starts with the files involved in the actions that started it, not with everything in the folder. When several files are uploaded together, they are processed in one run with many items, so 40 uploads are one run whose nodes each process 40 items, not 40 separate runs.

An Automation with a File Action trigger cannot be started manually, because its run needs the file action that starts it.

Folder Path selects the folder whose activity starts runs, and it can be a glob, a path with wildcards that covers many folders. Incoming File Pattern narrows the run to the files whose names match it, and Exclude Pattern removes the files whose names match it.

Which File Actions Start a Run

File Actions lists the actions that start a run, and at least one is required: Create, Download, Update, Delete, Move, Copy, and Archived Delete. Create, Download, Update, Delete, Move, and Copy are file and folder actions that File Actions / History records, where they are named Created, Read, Updated, Deleted, Moved, and Copied. Create is recorded when a file is uploaded, Update when its contents change, including when a new upload replaces it, Download when it is downloaded or previewed, and Move when it is moved or renamed, because a rename changes its path.

Moving a folder records one move for the folder and no action for the files inside it, so a File Action trigger does not start for those files.

Files on Remote Servers

A file written on the remote system starts a File Action trigger only when the mount's Remote Metadata Index is enabled, because Files.com keeps no record of what a Remote Server Mount contains without it. Files.com scans the mount on the indexing interval you set and records new and removed files as actions, and no others, so the run starts after the next scan records the file, not the moment it is written, and a file changed on the remote system starts no run.

When the workflow must run sooner than the indexing interval allows, or needs the files copied into Files.com, use a Sync to copy files from the remote server into a Files.com folder on a schedule, and trigger the Automation on that folder.

Child Sites

An Automation in a Parent Site can process folders in its Child Sites, and the Automation and its Run Logs exist only in the Parent Site. Each site records its own file actions, and an Automation starts only from actions recorded in its own site, so a Parent Site Automation starts on activity in a Child Site folder only when that activity is performed through the Parent Site. Activity performed directly in the Child Site does not start it.

A Child Site is isolated from its parent and from every other Child Site, so an Automation in a Child Site processes only that Child Site's folders, and its File Action trigger does not start on activity performed through the Parent Site, even when that activity changes the Child Site's files.