Automation Types

There are multiple actions that automations can perform. When you select these options, your Files.com automation will execute the specified task upon being triggered.

The available actions include Create Folder, Copy File, Move File, Delete File, and Run Sync. Let's explore each of these actions in more detail below.

Creates folders with a name specified by the destination path. The destination may include formatting parameters to insert the date/time tokens into the destination name. You can optionally choose the time zone used for calculating the date/time tokens in destination folder names.

For example, your business files sales tax for each division in 11 states every quarter and you want to create the folders automatically where those sales tax forms and data can be collected.

For this, you can set up a Create Folder automation with Interval trigger as quarter_end, Folder path where new subfolders will be created as/AccountingAndTax/SalesTax/State/*/, and Subfolder names to create as %Y/Quarter-ending-%m-%d.

Copies files from the selected folder path to the target folder path specified in the destination.

You can pick the wildcard pattern for file names to match from the selected source folder path. If the pattern matches, the automation will only fire on files matching the pattern. The pattern supports globbing (using wildcards to limit the matching files).

You can optionally select to copy all files from the selected source path or copy only the newest 'n' number of files.

By default, the Copy File automation skips copying files if an identical-sized file already exists in the destination to prevent wasteful data transfer and overages.

For example, you can create a Copy File automation with the interval trigger as 10th of every month, folder path of files to be copied as /AccountingAndTax/SalesTax/State/*/, pattern for file names to contain as *.pdf and destination as %Y/Monthly-%m-%d.

Moves files from the selected folder path to the target folder path specified in the destination.

You can pick the wildcard pattern for file names to match from the selected source folder path. If the pattern matches, the automation will only fire on files matching the pattern. The pattern supports globbing (using wildcards to limit the matching files).

If the source path is on a remote server, then the source path does not support wildcards, and attempting to include all subfolders (with the ** pattern) or top-level subfolders (with the * pattern) will result in an error No folder paths matched.

You can optionally select to copy all files from the selected source path or copy only the newest 'n' number of files.

For example, you can create a Move File automation with the interval trigger as whenever a new file created in the selected source folder path as AccountingAndTax/** and destination as %Y/Year-ending-Archive/.

Deletes files from the selected folder path.

You can pick the wildcard pattern for file names to match from the selected folder path. If the pattern matches, the automation will only fire on files matching the pattern. The pattern supports globbing (using wildcards to limit the matching files).

If the source path is on a remote server, then the source path does not support wildcards, and attempting to include all subfolders (with the ** pattern) or top-level subfolders (with the * pattern) will result in an error No folder paths matched.

The Run Sync automation type is specifically designed to trigger synchronization with a remote server. This automation requires prior configuration of a Remote Server Sync.

The Run Sync automation provides the flexibility to schedule the Remote Server Syncs at various intervals such as daily, weekly, monthly, or even at a custom schedule, such as every Monday at 5PM. Additionally, it can also be triggered using an incoming webhook, allowing for even more versatility in initiating the synchronization process.

Within a single automation, you have the ability to trigger multiple Remote Server Syncs. This means that you can initiate synchronization with more than one remote server simultaneously, allowing for efficient management of multiple synchronization processes within a single automation workflow. When selecting multiple Remote Server Syncs to trigger in the same automation workflow, it is important to note that the order in which they will run cannot be predicted.

The automation process initiates the sync and will complete before the sync finishes. The outcome of the sync (whether it succeeds or fails) is independent of the automation, which only records the initiation of the sync. Even if the sync fails, the automation will still indicate success.