Q1 2024

We have added several new features and enhanced many of the current features in the first quarter of 2024. Here's a breakdown of what's new to Files.com in January through March 2024.

Improvements to the automatic features within Files.com that streamline your processes.

We've added a new site-wide setting to allow administrators to ignore subfolder locking. Locking the folder structure of a folder is a useful feature that prevents users from making changes that can break your automated processes. Disabling and re-enabling the subfolder locking each time a site administrator needs to add folders is a pain, however. The new setting gives you confidence that users aren't changing critical folders while still allowing site administrators the freedom they need to complete their work. By default, the new setting is not enabled; any site administrator can enable the setting.

Learn more about locking folder structure.

We've consolidated the "Append Timestamp" folder setting into the more powerful and more widely-used "Rename Uploaded Files" folder setting. All existing settings for Append Timestamp have been converted to the Rename Uploaded Files setting and behave exactly the same as prior to the conversion. No action is required on your part.

Learn more about the available folder settings.

Copy File Automations are designed to avoid wasteful transfers by not overwriting a file with another file of the exact same size. In some rare instances, this resulted in files not transferring. We've added a setting for this situation, so you can force the Copy File Automation to always overwrite files in the destination that have the same name and size as the source file. You should review your Copy File Automations to ensure that the setting reflects the behavior you want. If you do not intend to repeatedly files with the same name and size but different contents, we strongly recommend you leave the option disabled.

Learn more about the Overwrite Files settings for Automations.

We've increased the efficiency of Automations that work on extremely large folders. Copy Automations that previously took a very long time to run are much faster. No action is required to take advantage of this improvement.

Learn more about using Copy Automations.

The reliability of Automations that act on very slow Remote Server Mounts has been improved. Some remote SFTP Servers were taking a very long time to respond, and we've made the Automations more patient, making the process much more likely to succeed. No action is required to take advantage of this improvement.

Learn more about using Automations.

Features that provide Administrators with in-depth information about files, file transfers, as well as many other operations whether they are initiated by a human, automation or system. Improvements here help you track what is happening with your site and when.

We've improved the readability of error messages in your Inbound Emails Log. It's easier now to see exactly which files could not be stored, along with the reason they were rejected. You don't need to make any changes to apply this update. Newly logged messages will use the new formatting.

Learn more about receiving files via email.

We've improved how automations that move files to multiple folders are logged. All of the file transfers are captured in the action history logs; the last transfer of a file is recorded as a Move, while any other transfers are logged as Copies. There's nothing you need to do to enable the logging, but old automation runs will not be updated to reflect this change.

Learn about Automation Run Logs.

Changes made to your AS2 setup are now included in the Settings Changes Logs. This simplifies troubleshooting AS2 issues. You don't need to make any changes to take advantage of the new logging, but AS2 settings changes made before this update was released are not included in the logs.

Learn more about Settings Changes Logs.

Improvements to our connections with external services.

We've updated our Wasabi Remote Server integration to match changes made by Wasabi. There's no action needed to take advantage of the updated connection. Any existing connections are automatically upgraded.

Learn more about our Wasabi integration.

We've improved how Regional Data Routing settings interact with Zapier integrations. Zapier servers can connect even if your Files.com site is using regional data routing. The update has been applied to existing Zapier connections, and will automatically take effect for new Zapier connections.

Learn more about using Zapier with Files.com.

Files.com achieves its best-in-class security by a platform that is tuned for maximum security out of the box. We also realize that every organization has unique security requirements, so we frequently provide new security features, allowing you to fine-tune your site settings to meet your needs.

We've heard your feedback, and when a GPG Decryption operation would overwrite a file, the timestamp will be appended to the file's base name rather than the full name. For example, when file.txt.pgp is decrypted but file.txt already exists, the new file will be named file_20240208192850.txt rather than file.txt_20240208192850. This makes it much more convenient to edit or preview your decrypted files within Files.com. No action is needed to enable this behavior.

Learn more about configuring GPG Decryption and Encryption.

Changes to provisioning or deprovisioning users, groups or their permissions.

We've added the ability to "fence off" a folder from its parent so that recursive permissions do not apply to the fenced folder. You're most likely to find this feature useful if you're trying to make access permissions match a previous storage solution without reorganizing your folder structure. Permission fences are available now for all sites. You can create a new permission fence folder behavior using any SDK, or use the Permissions display within the web interface.

Learn more about Permission Fences

Changes to the methods you use for moving files, including FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, and AS2.

Our AS2 feature now supports MDNs signed with binary (DER) format rather than Base64 (PEM) format. No action is required to enable this behavior. By supporting binary format, our AS2 processing is compatible with a wider range of AS2 Partners.

Learn more about using AS2.

Enhancements to web-based file sharing features, such as Share Links, Inboxes, and Public Hosting.

When you enable Public Hosting on a folder, the page that visitors see will now include the date the file was last modified. This should reduce confusion for visitors who need to look through a long list of files with very similar names. No action is required to enable the updated view.

Learn more about Public Hosting.

Share Links which allow visitors to only upload can automatically organize those uploaded files into subfolders, using a dynamic template to generate the subfolder names. You can now use this feature with a folder that has had subfolder creation locked. This gives you the best of both worlds - your users can't create unexpected folders, and your Share Link uploads can be automatically organized. If you're using upload-only Share Links, you might consider whether also locking subfolders would make sense, too.

Learn more about subfolder locking.

Creating or managing Clickwraps is restricted to site administrators because they represent legally enforceable agreements, but this didn't provide enough flexibility for all our customers. We've updated the "Availability" settings for Clickwraps, adding an option to make the Clickwrap available to non-site administrators for use with Inboxes or Share Links. Site administrators can edit their clickwraps to change the availability settings to make a Clickwrap selectable by other users.

Learn more about Clickwraps.

Improvements to working with file contents within your site.

Previews of image files will use available EXIF information embedded in the image file to automatically orient the preview. This reduces frustration for workflows that make use of the preview thumbnail grid. Because previews are generated only when files are first uploaded, you may need to re-upload an image to re-calculate the preview image.

Learn more about previewing images in our web interface.

We've optimized how image previews and thumbnails are generated behind-the-scenes. Viewing thumbnails and previews in the web interface should be faster and more performant, particularly in folders with many image files. No action is required to enable this.

We've made the document editing workflow more resilient; if another user or automatic process deletes a file that you are currently editing, your change will be saved when you close the editor. This prevents someone changing the file while you're working in it. No action is required to enable this new behavior.

Learn more about editing Office documents with the Files.com Editor or Microsoft Office.

Webhooks, email notifications, SNS integrations and slack integrations help you stay informed about events so you can respond and keep your processes on track.

As a security enhancement, we've tightened the permissions required to create Email Notifications. Users without admin rights need to have the History permission on a path to create notifications on that path. Existing notifications are unchanged; the only thing changed is the ability for users without admin permissions to create new notifications. Site administrators and folder admins can still create notifications on a path for any user.

Learn more about Email notifications.

Webhooks can send a x-files-signature header with each webhook request that can be used to verify the sender. This provides extra protection for your webhook listener. To enable the signature header, update your webhook to add a verification token, which is used to generate the header.

Learn more about verifying webhook authenticity.

Files.com offers numerous, secure methods for your users to authenticate, and we're constantly improving them with your feedback.

Files.com now supports Email Verification as a two-factor authentication method. This new method is disabled for your site by default, so an administrator must enable the method for your site before it can be assigned to any user.

Learn more about 2FA methods.

We've added New Zealand and Finland to the list of countries that are compatible with SMS 2FA messages. If you were previously unable to assign the SMS method of 2FA to a Kiwi, now you can. If there are other countries that you'd like to see us support sending SMS two-factor messages, please let us know.

Learn more about 2FA.

Updates to official Files.com client applications, including our Desktop App, Mobile app and CLI App.

New updates to the desktop app address issues relinking a file while using InDesign. For the best experience working with InDesign, upgrade to the most recent version of the Files.com Desktop app.

Learn more about the Desktop app.

We've added an option to the Files.com Desktop Application's preferences menu to easily turn debug logging on and off. This simplifies troubleshooting issues with the Desktop Application with our Support Team. Upgrade to the latest version of the Desktop Application to use this new feature.

Learn more about troubleshooting with the Files.com Desktop Application.

The Command Line Interface (CLI) Application has been updated with new flags for creating Automations. You can now specify a custom schedule when creating an Automation using CLI. Update to the most recent version of the CLI to take advantage of this feature.

Learn more about CLI.

The Files.com web interface receives a lot of attention to make it accessible, attractive and efficient.

Did you know that the Users page includes a button to export a listing of all user logins within a certain date range? We don't blame you if this is new information; the button to run this report was tucked away at the very bottom of the users page. We've given that button its own tab on the Users page to make it more visible.

When configuring auto-encryption for a folder or auto-decryption for a folder, the web interface gives you to create a new key and instantly store it within the GPG Key Manager without interrupting your workflow. This reduces the time and friction in configuring encryption settings for your site. There's nothing you need to to to take advantage of this feature.

Learn more about automatically encrypting or decrypting files.

By popular demand, the web interface can now include the SHA256 Fingerprint in the list of SSH Keys. You can toggle the visibility of this column whenever you like.

Learn more about configuring SFTP/SSH Keys.

We've added a new page to the web interface just for your WebDAV-related settings. While we recommend the use of the Desktop app rather than WebDAV whenever possible, our goal is always to make settings and information available where you already want to look for them. No action is needed to enable this update, and no settings were changed.

Learn more about using WebDAV for your site, or possibly using our Desktop app instead.

We've updated the Usage dashboard in the web interface to make it clear that the user counts displayed represent Billable Users. There's nothing you need to do to enable this update.

Learn more about how Usage is calculated.

While editing a user in the web interface, the form for a user's allowed protocols will no longer allow you to grant a user access to a protocol (FTP, SFTP, WebDAV) that has been disabled for your site. This reduces confusion - the disabled protocol isn't valid, and granting it to a user does not actually allow that user to connect. The web interface now correctly reflects the site-wide limitation that is enforced.

Learn more about enabling and disabling FTP, SFTP, or WebDAV for your site.

Improvements to our official developer documentation and SDKs.

We've clarified that the restapi_permission for users grants access through the API, the web interface and the desktop application. We know this property name has raised some confusion in the past as developers learn about our API, and we're always working to improve the developer experience.

See our developer documentation.

We work to keep our SDKs up-to-date, secure and ready-to-use. Because of that, we do not support frameworks or dependencies that have reached end-of-life status. Our READMEs have been updated to better reflect which versions of frameworks are supported.

Check out our SDKs on Github.