May 2024

In May 2024, we added access to detailed logging for FTP and SFTP activity, giving you better information for troubleshooting.

FTP Logs and SFTP Logs

With the addition of detailed FTP and SFTP activity logs for site administrators, you can rest assured that you can track down any activity and issues related to transmission. These logs are intended to help with troubleshooting issues your users encounter when connecting via FTP/S or SFTP. There are several ways to filter the logs, allowing you to look at very targeted activities. The logs are available to all sites, and you don't need to take any action to enable this feature.

Learn more about FTP Logs and SFTP Logs.

Minor Updates

In addition to the new logging for FTP and SFTP, we've also added many other platform improvements this month.

Use Wildcards to Search File and Folder Paths in History

Activity History and File History logs support the * and ? wildcards in the Folder Path and File Path filters. For example, you can search for *Invoice*.txt to filter any .txt file names containing the key word 'Invoice'. No action is required to enable this feature.

Learn more about File History and Activity History.

The Access Logs for Share Links list all types of share link visitor activity, including: registration, download, upload, delete, move, and copy. No action is needed to enable this detailed logging.

Learn more about Share Links access logs.

Sync Log Improvements

When a Remote Server Sync runs but does not copy a file because it’s already copied to the destination, the sync will no longer log a message that the file matches the destination. This change reduces the noise of logs and makes it easier to spot actionable information within a sync’s run log. This is already applied to all syncs.

Learn more about Sync run logs.

Automatically Create Missing Parent Folders via FTP or SFTP

Some very old FTP/SFTP clients do not attempt to create a parent folder before uploading a file. We’ve added a new setting for FTP and SFTP that enables Files.com to automatically create the missing folder when the client is uploading. Site administrators can change this setting on the FTP or SFTP pages.

Learn more about the settings available for FTP and SFTP.

S3 Remote Server Configuration Form

The form for adding an S3 Bucket Remote Server to your site has been updated to clarify your options when setting up access to a subfolder of a bucket. There’s no action needed for existing S3 integrations; you’ll see the updated form when you add a new integration.

Learn more about setting up an AWS S3 Remote Server.

Downloading Files That Have Failed To Automatically Decrypt

Files that could not be automatically decrypted can be now downloaded via any of the Files.com interfaces. Previously, files that could not decrypt would not be visible for download, and required contacting Custom Support for assistance. The downloaded file will be encrypted, so to access the contents you will need to decrypt the file on your own device after downloading. No action is needed to enable this improvement.

Learn more about automatically encrypting or decrypting files.

Limit the Length of Filenames

We’ve added a new setting that folder admins and site administrators can enable on a folder to limit the total length of a file name uploaded to that folder. This is intended to prevent problems exchanging files with remote systems that have short filename requirements. If filename lengths are a concern for your data flows, we encourage you to check out this setting.

Learn more more about this setting.

When a user invites recipients to a share link or an inbox, the reply-to address of the email will contain that user’s email address, rather than the global reply-to address of the account. This allows recipients to reply directly to the person they are already communicating with during a file exchange, making the process more intuitive and streamlined. No action is needed to enable this change, but you may need to make users aware that they should monitor their email for responses from recipients.

Learn more about Share Link invitations and Inbox invitations.

Inboxes Display Per-Folder Logo

If an Inbox folder has a custom logo assigned, that logo will be displayed to web visitors. This is useful if you've assigned different brands to folders in your site; inboxes created in those branded areas will reflect the most relevant branding. If you're currently handling multiple brands in your site and using Inboxes, we encourage you to review the logo settings for your folders.

Learn more about Per-Folder Logos.

New Options for Previewing Files

Site administrators can define custom extensions for text-based files that can be previewed directly within the web interface. This allows you to avoid converting office-like files, such as CSV. To configure this feature, visit the Viewer & Editor page within your site.

Learn more about previews.

New Authentication Method: Password + SSH Key

At the request of some customers with specific security requirements, you can now configure users to require both their password and an SSH key when connecting via SFTP. To enable this for users, edit the desired users and change their authentication method.

Learn more about the available user authentication methods.

Okta SCIM Deprovisioning Users With “Delete” Method

The Okta SCIM settings’ method for deprovisioning users will now delete users when that is the method you have selected. Previously, users were always disabled when deprovisioned with this type of integration. Site administrators using Okta SCIM provisioning should verify the deprovisioning settings match your expected behavior.

Increased Stability When Running Multiple CLI Instances

Some customers require several independent processes running the Files.com Command Line Interface (CLI or files-cli) on the same machine. We’ve improved the performance of multiple files-cli instances running at the same time. To take advantage of this improvement, update to the latest version of files-cli.

Learn more about files-cli.

Improved Error Messages in files-cli

The Files.com Command Line Interface (CLI or files-cli) reports a more useful error message when you’re attempting to upload to a path you don’t have permissions for. This will streamline troubleshooting for users of the CLI. Be sure to update your files-cli to the latest version to take advantage of this improvement.

Learn more about files-cli.

Web Interface Polish

Much work has been done throughout the web interface to make the color and placement of confirmation buttons consistent throughout all of the forms.

PHP SDK Version 2.0 Released

The official Files.com PHP SDK has been updated to new major revision 2.0. The SDK was updated to comply with both the PSR-12 coding standard and the PSR-4 autoloading standard. As a result, some classes were moved to different namespaces. If you are using the PHP SDK, you may need to update client code that references the moved classes.

See the README on Github for more details about the changes.

Python SDK More Efficient

The official Files.com Python SDK has been updated to re-use the same session object provided by the requests library. This prevents a problem caused by the source system sending requests from multiple IP addresses. Be sure to update to the most recent version of the Python SDK to get this improvement.

Check out the updated Python SDK on Github.

Developers Site Code Examples Improved

Some of the code examples at https://developers.files.com used confusing logic for two-step examples (such as finding a record by ID and then deleting it). These have been updated to make more sense.

See the code examples in our Developer Site.

SDKs Type-Hinting Improved

In all of the official Files.com SDKs, the data types of array properties of responses have been updated. When you update to the latest version of your SDK, you should verify that your client code is handling responses the way you expect.

Learn more about our SDKs.

Sync Retry Improvements

Our sync processes now use more intelligent retry logic to reduce the number of failed syncs. No action is needed for this performance boost.

Improved Performance for ExaVault Host Key

Customers who upgraded from the ExaVault platform and who use a storage region outside the US will now see better performance via SFTP when using the ExaVault Host Key for their site. No action is needed; the improvement is already applied to all appropriate sites.

Learn more about the Regional Storage options available to you.

May 2024

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