A Remote Server defines how Files.com connects to another storage service or file server: the destination, authentication, and connection settings. This lets your organization give people and applications access through Files.com while keeping an existing storage system, partner connection, or business application in place.

The connection and the work performed through it are separate choices. Adding a Remote Server does not copy its files into Files.com or make them available to every user.

For storage or services inside a private network, the Files.com Agent runs in your environment and connects them to your site. It can expose local folders and attached network shares, or route connections to other Remote Servers. The host's local permissions and network access determine which locations it can reach.

Mounted Access or a Separate Copy

A Remote Server Mount presents a remote location as a folder in your Files.com file tree. People and workflows act on the files at that location. An employee opening a document and an Automation delivering a new file can use the same mount; the remote system remains the working storage.

A Sync transfers files from a source to a destination on a schedule or when started by an Automation. It creates a separate copy, which can differ from the source between runs. Use this arrangement when a receiving application needs a delivery, your team needs an independent working copy, or you are migrating storage. Automations can also copy, move, and process files through mounted folders.

Mounting and copying have different recovery consequences. Deleting through a mount acts on the remote files. A Sync is not automatically a versioned backup. Choose the storage and recovery arrangement before configuring the connection's use in a workflow.

Connection Identity and User Access

The remote service sees the account or credential configured on the Remote Server. That identity needs the remote permissions required for the work. Files.com folder permissions separately govern what each user can do through a mounted folder. Giving someone Files.com access does not increase the connection's rights on the remote service, and signing in to Files.com through SSO does not automatically sign them in to that service.

For an organizational connection, use credentials your team can maintain when staff change. The Remote Server Credential Manager lets you reuse and rotate supported credentials in one place. OAuth connections instead retain authorization with each Remote Server and can require re-authentication. Where the remote account belongs to an individual, an Integration-Centric Profile lets that person establish and maintain their own connection.

Site Administrators and Workspace Administrators can add Remote Servers within their administrative scope. Use the connection's Browse action to inspect the intended location before creating a Mount or Sync. Browsing can change remote files; it is also a way to establish whether the connection has the required access before introducing user permissions or workflow rules.

Storage Location and Transfer Path

Keeping files on remote storage does not establish the path their contents take during a transfer. Direct Routing carries eligible client transfers straight to supported cloud storage. Other transfers relay through Files.com, and Buffered Uploads temporarily stores incoming files before onward delivery. Required processing on a mount can also stage files.

These choices affect network requirements, transfer usage, and what upload completion confirms. A successful connection test proves reachability for that test; it does not prove that every user's workstation can reach a direct-transfer endpoint or that a buffered upload has arrived at its final destination.

Inactive Remote Servers

A Remote Server's status becomes inactive when Files.com can no longer connect to it, or when its authentication credentials expire. Files.com then disables the Remote Server and reports the error in your site alerts and in the site warnings on the top bar of the Administrator view in the web portal.

Use the Connect button to re-connect and re-authenticate with the Remote Server. Use the Edit button to update the connection information. Saving the configuration re-enables the Remote Server.

Case Sensitivity

A Remote Server's case sensitivity can differ from that of Files.com. Moving or copying files and folders between systems with different case sensitivity can produce unexpected effects.