Partner Channels give each partner relationship a defined shape — a folder for each direction, with permissions that enforce themselves and can’t be set the wrong way. Nest channels as deep as the work needs, and because Files.com understands the structure, you get per-partner and per-channel analytics no pile of folders could ever produce. Stop hand-building folder layouts; start seeing the heartbeat of your partner network.
Most file-transfer setups make you invent the structure for every partner from scratch — design the folders, set the upload-versus-download permissions, recreate the routing rules, then do it all again for the next partner. The setup drifts from one partner to the next, permissions get set by hand and sometimes set wrong, and nothing in the system actually knows there’s a path between you and a given partner.
Partner Channels give you that structure out of the box. A channel is a named path with a folder for each direction, and the permissions are already correct. It matches the way legacy MFT tools organize partner exchange, so a team moving off Sterling, GoAnywhere, MOVEit, or Axway lands on something familiar — running inside the Partner Workspace that keeps each partner walled off.
Directional folders with correct permissions baked in, nestable to any depth, with defaults at the top and overrides wherever a channel needs them.
Two-way channels come with two folders, created for you. The outgoing folder is where you drop files for the partner — they can read and download, but never change or delete. The incoming folder is where the partner uploads to you — they can write, but never read back or delete. A safe drop-off one way, a write-only mailbox the other. A delivery-only or collection-only channel gets just the folder it needs.
Those permissions are baked into the channel, not set folder-by-folder by an admin who has to remember the rules. There’s no way to accidentally give a partner read access to your write-only inbox. The structure enforces itself.
A channel can hold child channels, nested as deep as you like. Model a simple single-channel exchange, or a full tree by document type, region, business unit, or application — whatever shape your real partner relationships take.
Set channel defaults once at the partner level, then override folder naming or routing on individual channels. Channel events feed straight into Automation, so a file landing in a channel can kick off the next step on its own.
Because Files.com understands your partner structure, it can report on it. See total files and volume per partner, incoming versus outgoing trends, traffic by day, week, or month, and error rates — the kind of partner-level reporting an arbitrary pile of folders can never give you.
Per-channel analytics show which channels move the most files, which have gone quiet, where spikes hit, and which are stale or deprecated. You stop guessing which partner integrations are actually carrying load.
Built-in dashboards — a partner activity overview, a channel utilization heatmap, incoming-versus-outgoing flow, routing performance, and delivery-time analytics — turn raw transfers into a live picture of your partner network.
Partner Channels are available on every tier, not gated behind a premium add-on. See what each plan includes on the pricing page.
Because Files.com knows how you exchange data with each partner, it can tell you things a folder tree never could: which partners move the most files, which channels eat the most bandwidth, where spikes hit, and which partners are slow to pick up. Files stop just sitting there and start showing you what your partner network is doing.
Channels are the structure; the boundary around them is the Partner Workspace, and the events they generate drive Automation the moment a file lands. Together they give you partner exchange that is structured, observable, and automated end to end.
What teams ask about how Partner Channels structure exchange, enforce permissions, and report on partner activity.
A Partner Channel is a named path for exchanging files with one external partner. Files.com creates a folder for each direction the channel carries, outgoing for files you deliver and incoming for files the partner sends, and a channel can hold nested child channels. It gives partner file exchange a defined structure instead of an ad-hoc folder layout you have to design and police yourself.
A two-way channel has two folders with opposite, automatically enforced permissions. In the outgoing folder (you to the partner) the partner can list, read, and download but cannot upload, change, or delete — a controlled delivery point. In the incoming folder (partner to you) the partner can list and upload but cannot read back or delete — a write-only submission point. Neither side can be misconfigured into the wrong access. A delivery-only or collection-only channel carries just one direction, and can use the channel folder itself instead of a subfolder, so a partner whose script already points at a path keeps that path when the exchange moves to Files.com.
A Partner Workspace is the boundary — a self-contained space that decides who gets in and what they belong to. A Partner Channel is the structure inside that boundary — the incoming and outgoing folders, the nesting, and the analytics that shape how files move. The workspace says who’s in; the channels say how the files flow.
Because Files.com has a formal understanding of your partner structure, it reports on it directly. Per-partner analytics cover total files, volume, incoming-versus-outgoing trends, and error rates. Per-channel analytics show throughput, hot and silent channels, spikes, and stale channels. Built-in dashboards include a partner activity overview, a channel utilization heatmap, directional flow breakdowns, and delivery-time analytics. This is operational visibility into your partner ecosystem, not a replacement for your broader BI stack.
Yes. A channel can contain child channels nested to any depth, so you can model a single simple exchange or an elaborate tree organized by document type, region, business unit, or application. Channel defaults set at the partner level cascade down, with per-channel overrides for folder naming and routing where a specific channel needs to differ.
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