A Remote Server Mount reads the remote system live as users browse it, and Files.com keeps no record of what the mount contains. Search cannot find files on the mount by name, and a file created on the remote system goes unnoticed until someone lists the folder it sits in.

The Remote Metadata Index keeps that record. On a schedule you set, Files.com scans the entire mount, from its root down through every subfolder, and records metadata about the files and folders it finds. File contents stay on the remote server. Files.com stores only the metadata.

Indexed files and folders appear in Search, so users find content anywhere on the mount by name. Results pass through the normal permission checks, and enabling the index grants no new access.

The index also turns remote-side changes into actions. The first scan establishes a baseline of what the mount contains. From then on, each scan records newly discovered files as create actions and confirmed removals as delete actions, attributed to Remote in the History log. Action-triggered Automations, Webhooks, and Notifications fire on those actions, so a workflow reacts to a file that landed on the remote system even though it never passed through Files.com. Workflows that existed only to notice remote changes, such as Agent-to-Agent transfers or scheduled syncs feeding a watched folder, can be replaced with Automations that act on the remote system's changes.

The initial scan needs to complete before indexed items appear in search results and before remote changes generate actions. How long that takes depends on the remote system and on how many files and folders it holds.

Enabling the Remote Metadata Index

Each Remote Server Mount is indexed individually, using the Remote Metadata Index settings on the mount. Turn on the Index Remote Metadata setting and set the Indexing Interval in minutes. The interval defaults to 1440 minutes, which is once per day. It must be a whole number of minutes, at least 5, and no shorter than the minimum interval included in your site's plan.

Paths on Files.com are limited to 550 characters. Files and folders on the remote system whose paths exceed that limit are not indexed, so they do not appear in search results and do not generate actions.