---
title: "Recipe: email a daily file from an SFTP server"
description: "Every morning, save a file from your SFTP server into Files and email it to your team as an attachment. Secrets for the login, a variable for the address."
canonical: "https://docs.workflow-suite.app/recipe-email-daily-file-from-sftp"
---

# Recipe: email a daily file from SFTP

**Goal:** every morning, fetch `/outbound/report.csv` from your SFTP server and email it to your team as an attachment. For files up to 10 MB.

**Template:** Email a daily file from your SFTP server (category Files and SFTP). **Steps:** 2. **Needs:** the login of your server and an email sender. No store permission at all.

## Create it

1. Open **Secrets** and create `SFTP_HOST`, `SFTP_USER` and `SFTP_PASSWORD`. See [Secrets](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/secrets.md).
2. Set up a sender under **Email senders**. See [Send email and email senders](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/send-email.md).
3. In **Browse templates**, search for `daily file` and select **Use template** on **Email a daily file from your SFTP server**.

## How it is built

| Part | Setting |
| --- | --- |
| Trigger | **On a schedule**, cron `0 6 * * *` |
| Variable | `notify_email`, the address that gets the email |
| Save the file into Files (**File transfer**) | **Protocol** SFTP, **Host** `{{ secrets.SFTP_HOST }}`, **Username** `{{ secrets.SFTP_USER }}`, **Password** `{{ secrets.SFTP_PASSWORD }}`, **What to do** Download a file, **File on the server** `/outbound/report.csv`, **Where the file goes** Into Files, **File key** `reports/daily-report.csv` |
| Email the file (**Send email**) | **To** `{{ vars.notify_email }}`, one attachment of the kind **File from Files** |

The attachment's **file key** is read from the first step, so the two always agree:

```liquid
{{ steps.download.output.key }}
```

Its **File name** carries the date:

```liquid
report-{{ 'now' | date: '%Y-%m-%d' }}.csv
```

Subject and text use the date and the file's size:

```liquid
Daily report of {{ 'now' | date: '%Y-%m-%d' }}

The daily report is attached ({{ steps.download.output.bytes }} bytes).
```

## Make it yours

1. Select **Variables** in the toolbar and set `notify_email`. Several addresses are separated by commas.
2. Select the trigger and set the time and your **Time zone**. See [Schedules](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/schedules.md).
3. Select the first step and change **File on the server** to your file. For FTP or FTPS, change the **Protocol**. If you log in with a key, save the PEM key as a secret and reference it under **Private key**.
4. **Test** as a preview. The download runs for real, so a wrong login or path shows at once. The file is not kept and no email is sent.
5. **Save** and **Turn on**.

## A file name that changes every day

If the server writes `report-2026-09-20.csv`, build the path with Liquid:

```liquid
/outbound/report-{{ 'now' | date: '%Y-%m-%d' }}.csv
```

If you do not know the name, list the folder first: **File transfer** with **List a folder** and a **File name pattern** such as `report-*.csv`, then a **Repeat for each** over the list, with the download and the email inside and `{{ loop.item.path }}` as the file. The template **Collect new files from your SFTP server and archive them there** shows the listing and the move to an archive folder, so a file is not handled twice.

## When the file is not there

A missing file fails the step at once, the run ends as Failed and you get the failure alert: a useful sign that the other side did not deliver. A server that cannot be reached is tried again automatically first. See [Automatic retries](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/automatic-retries.md).

## Limits

- All attachments of one email together: 10 MB.
- The largest file in Files depends on your plan, from 5 MB to 50 MB.
- The server must be reachable from the internet. If it only allows certain IP addresses, contact [Support](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/help/support.md).

## The same pattern, other sources

A file that was built by a **Files** step, for example a CSV of today's orders, or downloaded from an https link with **Download file**, is attached the same way: by its file key. See [Files, SFTP and downloads](https://docs.workflow-suite.app/files-sftp-and-downloads.md).