There are several issues that can cause automations to fail. When these issues occur, you may see effects such as some files successfully being transferred while others fail or some operations may fail completely.

Accessing Automation Logs

The Files.com platform saves detailed logging information for every automation workflow operation. We track the Status, Creation and Completion timestamps, Operation type, Path, Destination and also error details in case of any failure.

You can check the Automations Run Logs by visiting the Run Logs for the automation.

Use a process of elimination to determine the exact cause of the failure. Typical failures reasons are listed below:

Race Conditions

If you have multiple automations that act on the same source files, it's not possible to predict which automation will act first. You should avoid creating multiple automations that use the same sources. As an example, rather than creating one automation which copies files from a folder and a second automation that deletes the files from that folder, make a single automation that moves the files from the folder.

Throttling

If your automation workflow is configured to exchange files with a remote server based on some triggers, the remote server can have their own limits on incoming or outgoing connection volumes or even bandwidth. These limits are applied by the external systems and not by the Files.com platform. For example, if the automation is to copy files from an Microsoft Azure mount to Files.com, you may run into a throttling limit set by Azure. Azure would send back a throttling error which will be shown as a Failed Automation. In this case, please check the remote server's throttling or activity or connection limits.

Same Size Files with Copy Automation

By default, the Copy File automation skips copying files if an identical-sized file already exists in the destination. This is done to prevent wasteful data transfer and overages. You can modify this default behavior in your automation by selecting the appropriate option under Overwrite the existing files with new ones in the destination selection screen while creating a new automation or modifying an existing automation. We recommend keeping this option disabled to avoid accidental wasted data transfer usage.

Folders With Large Number of Files

If your automations workflow is configured on folders with a large number of files, the automation will be at risk of being disabled. Please refer to Folder Limitations for more information.

Consider using automatic file organization by file extension, creation date, modification date, or regular expression to move files from large folders into subfolders, creating smaller, more manageable collections.

Source Not Found

If your automation workflow is configured to do some action based on a source folder or a file and if that source folder or file is not found, automation will result as failure and logged. In this case, check the Automation workflow and make sure the triggers and actions are configured properly.

Destination Exists

If your automation workflow is configured to move or copy the files and the file or folder already exists on the target when automation runs, automation may fail and logged as failure. This happens typically when multiple workflows are configured to target the same folder paths. In this case, check your folders paths in all automation workflows.

Using Wildcards

If you are using wildcards in the folder paths, make sure that the matching patterns are properly applied. For example, if you want to copy all files and folders under the folder Partners/Invoices/ to some remote folder and if the Folder path set as Partners/Invoices/ in workflow, then the automation will copy any files under sub folders of Invoices folder but it won't copy files which are directly under the Invoices folder. In this case, check the wildcard patterns and use * or ** accordingly. If the Folder path is on a remote server, then the Folderpath 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."

Open Files

When using a Remote Server Mount with an Automation, open files and 3rd party locks can cause partial or corrupt files.

As a best practice, open files (those that are in the process of being updated or modified) should never be included as the source or destination of an Automation.

Zero Byte Size Files

If your workflow is configured to be triggered based on the file creation and modification and the corresponding file size is zero bytes, automation may fail particularly when you are exchanging files with 3rd party services (example, Azure storage) and error may not be logged in Files.com platform. In this case, check with the remote server's configuration on zero byte size files.

Timeout Errors or Network Issues

Automation workflow triggers or actions may fail due to various network related issues. If Files.com platform detects any timeout or network related issues, corresponding information will be logged as failure in the logs. But, if the automation is not running as expected and there are no errors in Files.com logs, it is possible that there might be a network issues connecting to remote servers. This can usually happens when multiple network layers are involved in workflow. In this case, please make sure that the remote server sync or mount connections are active in Files.com.