File Action (v2)

The File Action trigger in Automations v2 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 items from the actions that started it, rather than everything in the folder. Its mode determines whether those items are files to process or data about the events. When several files are uploaded together, they are processed in one run with many items.

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.

From the Default Workspace, the folder picker can browse and select folders in other Workspaces. Inside a Custom Workspace, it stays within that Workspace.

Files or Event Data

File mode is the default. It supplies the existing regular file at each event's path, so later nodes can read, move, or convert that file.

Folders are skipped; use Folder Creation when a new folder should start a workflow with data about that folder. A file that no longer exists when the trigger collects its items is also skipped, with the reason recorded in the run's log. If every event is skipped, no later node runs.

Event mode always supplies data about the recorded action, without looking up or reading its file. The data includes the action, path, and destination, and the event's path and name are available through attributes. Use it when the workflow responds to an event rather than needing the file's contents, including a deletion that should start an Import File or Run Sync step.

The selected mode determines which nodes can follow the trigger. Event mode produces data even when the file still exists; file mode never substitutes event data when a file is missing. This makes the input kind predictable regardless of whether another process changes or removes a file before the run starts.

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 remain in the Parent Site. File actions through the Parent Site's Child Site mount are recorded in both sites: the Parent Site uses the _/Sites/<child-site-id>/... path, and the Child Site uses its own folder path.

A File Action trigger on either site starts a run when its selected actions, Folder Path, and file patterns match that site's record. A Child Site Automation can therefore respond to a Parent Site upload into its folder. Activity performed directly within the Child Site is recorded there only and does not start a Parent Site Automation.

An Automation in a Child Site processes only that Child Site's folders. Receiving a file event from a Parent Site operation does not give it access to the Parent Site or sibling Child Sites. For copies and moves across sites, select the action recorded on the Child Site, such as Create for a file transferred into it.