Shared Folder
The shared folder is a folder on your organization's own server that your colleagues put files into and take files out of. Workflows can work with the same folder: pick up an invoice that someone dropped there, read it, and file it away when it has been processed.
Two blocks do this:
| Block | Where to find it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Folder | Data category of the palette | Lists, reads, writes, moves, copies or deletes files in the shared folder |
| Shared Folder Trigger | Triggers section of the palette | Starts a run for each file that arrives in a folder of the shared folder |
When the blocks are available
The two blocks appear in the palette and in block search only when both of these are true:
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Your organization has a shared folder set up | The folder is set up on your organization's server by your IT team. Without it, both blocks are hidden |
| You have a permission for it | Shared folder: read or Shared folder: write. Without either, both blocks are hidden. Without the read permission, the trigger is hidden |
Which permission a step needs depends on what it does:
| Permission | Needed for |
|---|---|
| Shared folder: read | List files, Get info, Read file, the folder picker, and the Shared Folder Trigger |
| Shared folder: write | Write file, Move or rename, Copy, Delete, Create folder |
By default this is open to Admins. Your organization can also give it to other people through a custom role — see Roles & Permissions.
Whose permission counts
| When | Whose permission is checked |
|---|---|
| You save a workflow that contains one of these blocks | Yours. Without it the panel says "Saving and running this step needs the “Shared folder: write” permission. Your organisation’s administrator can grant it." |
| You start a run with Run in the editor | Yours |
| A published workflow runs on its own | The publisher's. The workflow runs with its publisher's permissions, so publishing is refused when you lack a permission one of its steps needs |
A Shared Folder step cannot be used in a workflow that is started by a form. Publishing names the step as one that "can't run from a form".
Folder status
Both blocks start with a Folder status panel. It tells you whether the step can work right now:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| "Folder connected · read and write" | Everything works |
| "Folder connected · read-only" | The folder was set up for reading only. A step that writes fails; your IT team can turn on writing |
| "Folder connected · writing is off" | Reading works, but writing steps fail for now. Tell your IT team |
| "No shared folder is set up on this server" | The step fails until your IT team sets up the folder |
| "The shared folder can’t be reached right now" | A step that runs now fails. If it keeps happening, tell your IT team |
| "The server’s file service is a different version" | The step fails until your IT team updates it |
| "The folder’s status couldn’t be checked" | Reload the page to try again |
When the folder is connected, the panel also shows:
- the badge Files: your organisation’s server — the files stay on your organization's own server;
- the path under which your colleagues see the same file or folder when they open the shared folder themselves;
- for a step that deletes or overwrites: where the removed file is kept and for how many days.
Paths and the folder picker
Every path is written relative to the shared folder:
| You type | It means |
|---|---|
| (empty) | The shared folder itself |
invoices/incoming | The folder incoming inside invoices |
reports/january.xlsx | The file january.xlsx inside reports |
A path can also be a reference to an earlier step, for example the trigger's file.path output.
Under each path field there is a Browse folders link:
- Click Browse folders. The picker opens at Shared folder and lists its subfolders.
- Click a folder to open it. The path at the top of the picker shows where you are; click any part of it to go back.
- Click Choose “…” to take the folder you are in, or Choose the shared folder at the top level. Cancel closes the picker.
The picker shows folders only. When the field names a file — as for Read file or Write file — the chosen folder is entered with a / at the end, and you type the file name after it.
If a folder has too many subfolders to show, the picker says "Not every folder fits here. If yours is missing, type the path."
The Shared Folder block
Choose what the step does under Operation. Left untouched, the step lists files.
| Operation | What it does | What you fill in |
|---|---|---|
| List files | Lists the files of a folder | Path, optionally Name filter |
| Get info | Tells you whether a path exists and what it is | Path |
| Read file | Reads a file so that a later step can use it | Path |
| Write file | Saves a file from an earlier step, or text you give | Path including the file name, then File or Text |
| Move or rename | Moves a file or folder, or gives it a new name | From, To |
| Copy | Copies a file | From, To |
| Delete | Deletes a file, or a folder that is empty | Path |
| Create folder | Creates a folder | Path |
A file can be at most 25 MB; your IT team may have set a lower limit for your server.
List files
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Path | The folder to list. Leave empty for the shared folder itself |
| Name filter | A pattern for file names, for example *.pdf |
Click Show additional fields for more:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Subfolder depth | How many levels of subfolders to include, from 0 (the folder itself only) to 5 |
| Include hidden files | Also lists hidden files |
| Also show files still uploading | Also lists files whose upload has not finished yet. Off, they are left out for now |
| Also list folders | Off, the list holds files only — so a For Each over the list can read every item |
| Sort by | Name (the default) or Last modified |
| Entries per page | From 1 to 1000; 100 when empty |
| Continue from | The nextCursor of an earlier listing with the same folder and the same settings, to read its next page |
Each item of the list has a name, path, type (file or folder), size, modifiedAt and extension.
Write file
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Path | Where to save, including the file name — for example reports/january.csv |
| File | A file from an earlier step, for example <Read.file>. Leave empty to write the text below |
| Text | The text to write when File is empty |
| If it already exists | See If it already exists |
Under Show additional fields:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Text encoding | UTF-8 (the default), Windows-1254 (Turkish) or UTF-16LE. Applies to Text |
| Byte-order mark (for Excel CSV) | Switch it on for a CSV file that Excel should open with the right characters |
| Stop if the target folder is missing | Off, missing folders in the path are created. On, the step stops instead |
Some kinds of file — programs, and Office files with macros — may be refused on your server. Your IT team can allow them.
If it already exists
Write file, Move or rename and Copy ask what to do when something with the same name is already there:
| Option | What happens |
|---|---|
| Stop with an error | The step fails and nothing is changed. This is the default |
| Overwrite (the old file goes to the silinenler folder) | The new file replaces the old one. The old file is kept for a while in a separate folder for removed files |
| Keep both | The new file is saved under a different name. The step's path output tells you which |
:::info Deleted and overwritten files are kept for a while A file that a workflow deletes or overwrites is not lost at once. It is moved to a separate folder for removed files and kept there for the number of days shown in the Folder status panel. Workflows cannot see that folder. :::
What the block hands to the next step
| Operation | Outputs |
|---|---|
| List files | items (the entries of this page), count (entries on this page), total (entries that match, across all pages), nextCursor (empty on the last page), truncated, skipped, unsettled (files still being uploaded, left out for now) |
| Get info | exists, type (file or folder), size, modifiedAt |
| Read file | file (the file itself, for the next step), name, size, modifiedAt |
| Write file | path, name, size, created (whether it was new) |
| Move or rename | from, to |
| Copy | path, name, size, created |
| Delete | deleted (whether something was there) |
| Create folder | path, created |
Read them as <blockname.output> — see Variables. The file output of Read file is what you pass to a step that works with files, such as a step that parses a document, saves it or sends it by email.
The Shared Folder Trigger
The trigger watches one folder and starts a run for each file that arrives in it.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Folder | The folder to watch, relative to the shared folder — for example invoices/incoming. Leave empty for the top folder. Subfolders are not watched |
| Name filter | Only files whose name matches start a run, for example *.pdf |
| Start a run for | New files (the default) or New or changed files |
| Watching | A panel that shows whether the folder is being watched — see below |
With New or changed files, a file that is replaced or changed under the same name starts a run again.
How it works
- The folder is checked every minute. Each file starts one run, 1–2 minutes after its upload has finished.
- Files that are already there do not start runs. When the trigger first starts, the files in the folder at that moment are skipped.
- Files that arrive while the workflow is switched off are not lost. When you switch it on again, they are processed.
- Changing the folder or the settings starts over. Watching begins again, and the files in the folder at that moment start no run.
- Processed files stay in the folder. If the folder grows past 10,000 items, watching stops. Add a Move or rename step at the end of the workflow to move processed files out.
Like every automatic trigger, the folder is watched only while the workflow is Active and the trigger is in the published version — see Publishing changes.
The Watching panel
| The panel says | Meaning |
|---|---|
| "Save the workflow. The folder is watched once the workflow is published and switched on." | The block is new |
| "This trigger isn’t published yet. Publish your changes to start watching the folder." | Click Publish changes |
| "The workflow is switched off, so the folder isn’t watched." | Activate the workflow |
| "This step is turned off in the published version, so the folder isn’t watched." | Enable the block and publish |
| "The folder will be watched within a minute." | Watching is about to start |
| Watching the folder · last checked … | Everything works. The panel also says since when the folder has been watched |
| "3 files are waiting for their upload to finish or for their turn." | Files have arrived and will start their runs shortly |
| "This trigger is paused; the folder isn’t watched." | Click Resume the trigger |
| The folder can’t be checked | Something is wrong. The reason is written underneath — see the next table |
When the folder cannot be checked:
| Reason | What to do |
|---|---|
| "This folder doesn’t exist in the shared folder." / "This path isn’t a folder." / "The folder path isn’t valid." | Choose an existing folder with Browse folders, then publish |
| "The name filter isn’t valid: it can only be a file-name pattern (no “/”, at most 255 characters)." | Fix the filter, then publish |
| "The folder holds more than 10,000 items; a folder this large can’t be watched." | Move processed files to another folder, or watch a smaller subfolder |
| "Checking the folder took too long…" | The folder may be very large. Move processed files out, or watch a smaller subfolder |
| "The person who published the workflow can’t read the folder…" | An administrator grants the permission, or someone who has it clicks Publish again |
| "The person who published the workflow can no longer run it." | Someone who can edit the workflow clicks Publish again |
| "The file service on your organisation’s server isn’t answering." | Nothing is lost: new files wait, and their runs start once the server answers again |
| "No shared folder is set up on this server." | Ask your IT team |
Publish again makes you the publisher: from then on the folder is watched in your name.
On the canvas, a trigger that cannot check its folder carries a warning mark: "This trigger isn’t working right now; open the step to see why."
What the trigger hands to the workflow
| Output | What it holds |
|---|---|
file.path | The file's path relative to the shared folder, for example invoices/incoming/a.pdf |
file.name | The file name, for example a.pdf |
file.size | The size in bytes |
file.modifiedAt | When the file was last changed |
file.extension | For example pdf |
folder | The watched folder |
kind | new or new_or_changed |
:::tip The trigger does not read the file
The trigger only tells you which file arrived. To work with its content, add a Shared Folder step with the operation Read file and use the trigger's file.path output as the Path.
:::
A typical flow
- Shared Folder Trigger — watches
invoices/incomingwith the filter*.pdf. - Shared Folder — Read file — Path is the trigger's
file.path. - The steps that do the work: parse the file, ask an AI agent, write a row to a table.
- Shared Folder — Move or rename — From is the trigger's
file.path; To isinvoices/processed/followed by the trigger'sfile.name. The watched folder stays small.
In the Logs tab, runs started this way carry the Folder trigger pill. See Logs.
When publishing is refused or warns
| The message says | What to do |
|---|---|
| a step needs the “Shared folder: read” (or write) permission, which you don't have | The workflow runs with its publisher's permissions. Ask an administrator for the permission, or have someone who has it publish |
| the name filter of trigger "…" isn't valid | Use a file-name pattern such as *.pdf — no /, at most 255 characters |
| Published. Please check: the path of a step comes from a trigger people outside your organisation can send | The workflow was published. Because whoever sends the event can choose which file the step touches, check the value first or use a fixed path. The same warning stays in the step's panel |
Troubleshooting
A failed Shared Folder step explains itself in the run's detail. The most common messages:
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| "The file or folder doesn’t exist." | Check the path. In a flow that moves files to a "processed" folder, another run may have taken the file first |
| "Something with that name is already there." | Under If it already exists, choose Overwrite or Keep both |
| "The path points to a folder, but a file was expected." | Fix the path, or leave Also list folders off in the listing |
| "Only an empty folder can be deleted." | Delete or move the folder's content first |
| "The path isn’t valid." | Write it relative to the shared folder; when writing, include the file name |
| "There is nothing to write." | Give a File from an earlier step, or Text |
| "The text has a character Windows-1254 can’t store (such as ₺)." | Set Text encoding to UTF-8 |
| "The file is larger than this server allows." | Use a smaller file, or ask your IT team about the limit |
| "The shared folder on this server is read-only." | Your IT team can turn on writing |
| "The person this workflow runs as lacks the Shared Folder permission it needs (read or write)." | An administrator grants the permission, or someone who has it publishes the workflow |
| "The file is in use, or changed while it was being read." | Try again in a moment |
| "The shared folder is out of space." | Tell your IT team |
Other things to check:
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| The blocks are not in the palette | No shared folder is set up for your organization, or your role has neither folder permission |
| A file in the folder started no run | It was already there when watching started, it does not match the Name filter, or it sits in a subfolder |
| The same file started a second run | Start a run for is set to New or changed files and the file was changed |
| Runs stopped starting | Open the trigger and read the Watching panel |
Related pages
- Blocks — what each trigger and step does
- Running Workflows — activating, publishing, and every other way a workflow can start
- Variables — reading a step's outputs in later steps
- Logs — review every run, step by step
- Roles & Permissions — who may read or write the shared folder