---
title: "Files, SFTP and downloads - Workflow Suite"
description: "Exchange files with SFTP, FTP and FTPS servers, download files from https links, and read, write and attach files from the app's Files store."
canonical: "https://docs.workflow-suite.app/files-sftp-and-downloads"
---

# Files, SFTP and downloads

Many systems still talk in files: a supplier's price list, a warehouse's stock file, an accountant's export. Three steps and one page handle them.

| Step | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **File transfer (SFTP / FTP)** | Reaches a server over SFTP, FTP or FTPS: list a folder, download, upload, delete or move a file |
| **Download file** | Downloads a file from an https link into Files |
| **Files** | Your store's files in this app: read a text file, write one, delete or list |

**Files** is also a page in the app menu. It lists what your workflows stored, lets you upload and download files by hand, and shows your usage against the plan.

## File keys

A file in Files is named by a **file key**, a path of your choice such as `imports/stock.csv`. Letters, digits, spaces and `. _ - /` are allowed, without `..` and without a leading `/`. A file with the same key is replaced.

Steps hand files to each other by key: a download stores `imports/prices.csv`, the next step reads it, an email attaches it.

## File transfer (SFTP / FTP)

1. Choose the **Protocol**: SFTP, FTP (not encrypted) or FTPS (FTP over TLS).
2. Enter **Host**, **Port** (empty means 22 for SFTP and 21 for FTP and FTPS; port 990 uses implicit TLS) and **Username**.
3. **Password**: never type it here. Save it under Secrets and write `{{ secrets.SFTP_PASSWORD }}`. For SFTP you can use a **Private key** (a secret that holds the PEM key) with an optional **Passphrase of the key**, instead of or as well as a password.
4. Optional for SFTP: **Host key fingerprint**, the server's SHA-256 fingerprint as `ssh-keygen -lf` prints it. When set, a server with another key is refused.
5. Choose **What to do**:

| Choice | Fields |
| --- | --- |
| List a folder | **Folder**, optional **File name pattern** such as `*.csv`. Up to 1,000 entries |
| Download a file | **File on the server**, and **Where the file goes**: **Into Files** under a **File key**, or **As text into this step's result (up to 256 KB)** |
| Upload a file | **Path on the server**, and **What to upload**: **A file from Files** or **Text written here**. A file that is already there is replaced. The folder must exist |
| Delete a file | **File on the server** |
| Move or rename a file | **File on the server** and **New path** |

A workflow whose login is written into the step as plain text cannot be turned on. It must read a secret. See [Secrets](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/secrets.md).

To handle every file of a folder, list it, then use the list in a **Repeat for each** and read each file as `loop.item.path`. The template **Collect new files from your SFTP server and archive them there** does that.

## Download file

1. **Link**: https only, and a public address. Up to 3 redirects are followed.
2. **File key**: where the file goes in Files.
3. Optional **Headers**, for example an `Authorization` header from a secret. Headers are sent to the host of the link only, never to a host it redirects to.

A file larger than your plan allows fails the step. It is never cut.

## Files step

| Choice | Notes |
| --- | --- |
| Read a text file | Text files up to 256 KB. The text is in the step's result |
| Write a file | **Content** is text. One variable that holds an object or a list is stored as JSON. **Content type** is optional: empty means by the key's ending (.csv, .json, .xml, .txt), else text/plain |
| Delete a file | |
| List files | **File keys that start with** narrows the list. Up to 1,000 files: keys, sizes and types |

## Working with a file's content

Text up to 256 KB can be read into a step's result and worked on: a **Liquid script** step splits a CSV into lines, a **Run function** step parses it in JavaScript (it receives the text through `input.steps`). Larger files move between a server, a link and Files without passing through a step's result.

> [!WARNING]
> **Limits to plan around**
> - **Code steps cannot reach Files or SFTP.** Only these steps can. Hand text to code through the step results.
> - **Uploads through the Files page and the Developer API are capped at 3.5 MB per file.** Larger files arrive through the Download file and File transfer steps, which are limited only by your plan.
> - **Servers must be public.** Addresses inside a private network cannot be reached.
> - Files holds up to 10,000 files per store.

## Limits by plan

| Plan | Files in total | Largest file |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free | 100 MB | 5 MB |
| Starter | 1 GB | 10 MB |
| Grow | 5 GB | 25 MB |
| Unlimited | 50 GB | 50 MB |

## In tests

In a preview, listing and downloading from a server run for real. An upload, a delete, a move and a write to Files are only previewed. **Download file** downloads and checks the file, but does not store it.

## When it fails

A server that cannot be reached, a timeout or a broken connection is tried again automatically. Listing, downloading and uploading can safely run twice; a delete or a move is only repeated when the server was never reached. A wrong login or a missing file fails the step at once. See [Automatic retries](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/automatic-retries.md).

## Send a file by email

The **Send email** step attaches a file from Files by its key, up to 10 MB per email. See [Send email and email senders](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/send-email.md) and [Recipe: email a daily file from SFTP](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/recipe-email-daily-file-from-sftp.md).

## Templates

The category **Files and SFTP** has complete workflows: drop every paid order as a CSV file on your SFTP server, set stock from a daily CSV file, update prices from a supplier's price list behind a link, copy a file from a link to your SFTP server.