Amazon SNS
Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service) is a publisher-subscriber messaging service from AWS. A publisher sends a message to an SNS Topic, and SNS delivers that message to every subscriber attached to the Topic. Subscribers can be AWS Lambda functions, SQS queues, HTTPS endpoints, SMS recipients, or email addresses.
Configure Files.com to publish to one of your SNS Topics and Files.com sends a message to that Topic each time matching activity happens in a folder. From there, your subscribers handle delivery and fan-out. Files.com hands the message to SNS, and SNS does the rest.
How Amazon SNS Notifications Work
Sending messages to Amazon SNS from Files.com requires an SNS Topic and an IAM user configured in AWS. The IAM user's credentials are used to publish messages to the Topic.
Once those exist in AWS, add an Amazon SNS Topic notification in your Files.com site, providing the SNS Topic ARN and the IAM user's credentials.
When matching file activity happens in the configured folder, Files.com publishes a message to the Topic. All further message handling — including delivery to subscribers — happens within Amazon SNS.
What is Included in Amazon SNS Notifications From Files.com
SNS Notifications use a JSON message structure containing the fields listed in this table.
| Field | Possible/Example values | Description |
|---|---|---|
source | "Files.com" | Where the SNS message came from. This is always Files.com. |
action | create, copy, move, archived_delete, update, read, destroy | The type of operation performed. |
interface | web, ftp, robot, sftp, dav, desktop, restapi, office, mobile, as2, inbound_email, remote | The interface used for the action. |
path | path/to/file | For create, update, read, destroy actions: the file or folder path. For copy, move, archived_delete actions: the original path for the file or folder. |
destination | path/to/dest | For copy, move, archived_delete actions: the target path for the file or folder. |
at | ISO-8601 timestamp string (example: 2026-02-25T14:03:11+00:00) | Event timestamp |
username | Username string or absent | Username who performed the action |
ip | IP string, empty string | The IP address of the session that started the action. |
type | file or directory | Item type, when available. |
size | Integer bytes | File size, when available. |
Configuration in AWS
Adding an Amazon SNS Topic notification in your Files.com site requires you to first create an SNS Topic in your AWS account. The AWS documentation has instructions on Creating an Amazon SNS Topic. Take note of the SNS Topic ARN and the region used.
The Amazon SNS Topic notification requires credentials that AWS can use to authenticate your requests. Create a new IAM user and grant them permission to publish to your topic. AWS publishes a help document with an example access control policy. You will need the credentials for this user when you configure the notification in your Files.com site.
Configuration in Files.com
Site administrators and users with admin rights to at least one folder can manage Amazon SNS notifications within Folder Settings.
You will first need to create an Amazon SNS topic and then obtain its unique ARN (Amazon Resource Name) to add an Amazon SNS notification.
When you create a new Amazon SNS Notification in your Files.com site, you must provide the settings that allow your site to publish to the Amazon SNS topic. In the SNS Topic ARN field, enter the ARN for your topic. Choose the correct region for your topic in the AWS Region setting. Add your AWS Access Key ID and AWS Secret Key to provide the IAM credentials for publishing messages to the topic.
Multiple SNS Topic ARNs can be added to the same Amazon SNS Notification, but the same AWS credentials are used to publish to each topic. If you need different credentials per topic ARN, add a separate Amazon SNS Notification for each set of credentials.
Select the folder to monitor for activity. By default, activity in subfolders will also generate messages; you can change the settings to only include activity directly in the chosen folder. Activity in a mounted folder within your folder will not generate messages if it occurs outside of the Files.com platform.
By default, Amazon SNS notifications will trigger for any file or folder action (create, read, update, delete, move, or copy) within the configured folder. You can limit which actions generate Amazon SNS notifications.