Hot folders

A hot folder is a folder Scanix watches continuously. Anything you (or another system) drop into it is automatically imported, run through an assigned template, and exported — no one has to touch the app. This is the "lights-out" path for high-volume digitisation: point a hot folder at the place your documents arrive, walk away, and let Scanix process them as they land.

By the end of this page you'll have a watched folder that picks up new files on its own, runs OCR and field extraction against your template, and delivers the output to your chosen destination.

Before you start

You'll also need a template to assign to the folder. The template decides what happens to each file — OCR, field extraction, image cleanup — and, importantly, where the output goes. If you don't have one yet, build it first in Templates.

Add a hot folder

In the left sidebar, open Hot Folders, then follow these steps.

What happens when files land

Once a hot folder is enabled, Scanix handles dropped files automatically and safely. Here's the pipeline, end to end:

1. Watching — Scanix rescans every enabled hot folder on a fixed interval (see Scan rhythm below). Hidden and sidecar entries — anything whose name starts with . or _, plus the staging and _processed folders — are ignored.
2. Batching — files are grouped into batches before processing. Each subfolder you drop in becomes one batch containing all its files. All loose files at the top level are grouped into one batch per scan cycle — so dropping ten loose files at once makes a single ten-document batch, not ten separate ones.
3. Stability check — a drop is only imported once it looks finished: the file list, sizes, and modification times must stay unchanged across two consecutive scans, and each file must be structurally complete (a PDF needs its end marker, an image must decode its header). This stops Scanix importing a file that's still being copied or downloaded — mid-copy files simply wait for the next cycle.
4. Staging — when a drop is ready, each file is moved out of the watch folder into a hidden staging area before processing starts. This guarantees that a crash or restart can never re-import the same file twice.
5. Processing — each document is OCR'd and run through the template (field extraction, image enhancement, and so on), then exported.
6. Cleanup — each original is handled per your After processing rule. Files that fail are set aside in a hidden quarantine folder rather than lost, and when the last file of a dropped subfolder finishes, the now-empty subfolder is removed.

The "Finalizing — combining" step

If the assigned template's output is set to combine documents into a single file, Scanix runs one extra combine step after every document in the batch has finished. Instead of jumping to a finished state with an empty output folder, the batch is shown as Finalizing — combining… — or Finalizing — combining N/M… with a live page count — with a spinner and a progress bar that fills as pages are merged.

You'll see this on the Processing page (the status pill reads finalizing) and in the always-on queue panel. Each combine run produces a uniquely named output file, so re-dropping the same source folder never overwrites a previous run.

Where the output goes

The Add Hot Folder dialog has no destination field on purpose. A hot folder's export destination and filename pattern come from the assigned template's Output settings, not from the dialog. Set them up there:

• The default auto-export format is a Searchable PDF.
• Filename patterns support tokens such as the source file name (${filename}), the date (${date}), and captured index-field values. See Export overview for the full token list and format options.

Tune the watch rhythm

How quickly Scanix notices new files — and how strict the stability check is — is governed by a single setting. In the left sidebar open Settings, find the performance section, and adjust Scan rhythm:

A faster rhythm picks files up sooner but does more disk and network work; Relaxed and Battery saver are kinder to network shares. The defaults are tuned for typical use, so only change this if you have a reason to. For more, see Watch-folder settings.

Troubleshooting

"I can't turn the hot folder on." The enable toggle is disabled until the folder has a template, with the tooltip Assign a template first. Edit the folder and set its Template to one of your templates.

"My template isn't in the Template dropdown." A template can be linked to only one hot folder at a time. If it's already assigned elsewhere, it's hidden from the list. Unlink it from the other folder first, or pick a different template.

"Files I dropped aren't being picked up." Scanix waits until a drop is stable and structurally complete, so a still-copying or slowly downloading file may take an extra cycle or two. Also check the file type — hot folders accept PDF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and BMP. Finally, don't drop files into a folder whose name starts with . or _ (such as _processed); those are skipped by the watcher.

"Nothing was exported." Confirm the assigned template has an export destination set in its Output settings — without one, auto-export fails and the file is quarantined rather than delivered. Check the Recent Activity feed for a failure marker.

"The original file vanished from my folder." Files are moved into staging the instant they're imported. If you need the original to remain, set After processing to Leave in place (it returns after processing) or Move to _processed to keep an audit copy.

"The Hot Folders page shows an upgrade prompt." You're on a lower tier — hot-folder automation is a higher-tier feature. See Compare plans.

Next steps

Related

• Set up a hot folder (tutorial)
• Build a job group
• Watch-folder settings
• Export overview