Tutorial: Set up a hot folder
Configure a watched folder for fully hands-free, lights-out batch processing.
In this tutorial you'll turn an ordinary folder on disk into a watched hot folder: drop documents in, and Scanix Desktop imports, reads, and files them on its own — no clicks per batch. By the end you'll have a lights-out pipeline where saving a scan or copying a PDF into a folder is the only step a person ever takes.
We'll go end to end: add the folder, assign a template, pick how files are processed and what happens to them afterwards, drop a test file, and collect the output.
Hot folders need a higher-tier plan
Hot-folder automation is a higher-tier feature (see Compare plans). On lower tiers the Hot Folders page shows an upgrade prompt instead of the configuration screen. Everything else in this tutorial assumes your plan includes it.
What you'll have at the end
A folder that runs itself. Whenever a file lands in it — saved by a scanner driver, dropped by a colleague, or written by another system — Scanix picks it up automatically, applies the template you chose, reads the pages, and (in Auto-process mode) files the finished output to the template's destination. The original is moved, deleted, or left alone exactly as you decide. You watch it happen in a live activity feed and otherwise leave it alone.
Before you start
You'll need two things ready:
- A template to assign. A hot folder reads every file through one template, so create or pick one first. A hot folder with No template assigned stays switched off until you give it one.
- A folder to watch. Any folder on disk works. It's cleanest to use a fresh, empty one so you can see your test file flow through.
Set up the hot folder
Open Hot Folders and start a new one
In the left navigation, open Hot Folders, then click Add Hot Folder at the top right. The Add Hot Folder dialog opens.
Screenshot
The Hot Folders page with the Add Hot Folder button highlighted at the top right, above the empty-state card reading "No hot folders configured." — shot tutorials-set-up-a-hot-folder-01
Choose the folder to watch
Click Browse folders and pick the folder you want Scanix to monitor. Once it's chosen, the dialog shows the full path and a Change folder button if you need to switch.
A Folder name field appears, pre-filled with the folder's name — this is just the label shown in the Hot Folders list, so rename it to something you'll recognise (for example, AP Inbox) or leave it as is.
Screenshot
The Add Hot Folder dialog after a folder is selected: the chosen path with Change folder, and the Folder name field below it. — shot tutorials-set-up-a-hot-folder-02
Assign a template and pick the mode
Two dropdowns appear side by side once a folder is set.
- Template — choose the template every incoming file is read with. Pick one from the list; None leaves the folder unconfigured and it won't run until a template is assigned. (A template already used by another hot folder won't appear here — each template drives one folder.)
- Mode — choose how far Scanix takes each file:
- Auto-process — the lights-out option. Files are imported, read, and filed to the template's destination automatically, with no human in the loop. This is the mode that makes the folder a hands-free pipeline.
- Queue for review — files are imported and read, then held for a person to check and process. Choose this when you want a review step before anything is filed.
For a fully hands-free pipeline, set Mode to Auto-process.
Screenshot
The Template and Mode dropdowns in the Add Hot Folder dialog, with Auto-process selected for Mode. — shot tutorials-set-up-a-hot-folder-03
Decide what happens to the original — After processing
Under After processing, choose what Scanix does with each source file once it's been imported. There are three tiles:
- Move to _processed — keeps an audit trail by relocating each handled file into a
_processedfolder. A safe default when you want proof of what was ingested. - Delete — removes the source file after processing. Use this when the imported document is the system of record and the original is just a drop-off.
- Leave in place — returns the file to the watch folder.
A note on how files are picked up
The moment a file is imported, Scanix cuts it out of the watch folder and stages it internally — so a file won't be picked up twice, and the watch folder won't fill up. After processing decides where the original ends up once it's done. If you drop a subfolder into the watch folder, all of its files are imported together as one batch, and the subfolder is removed once every file completes.
Screenshot
The After processing row with its three tiles — Move to _processed, Delete, and Leave in place — and Move to _processed selected. — shot tutorials-set-up-a-hot-folder-04
Add the hot folder
Click Add to save it. (To back out without saving, use Cancel or the ✕ — clicking outside the dialog won't close it.)
Your new folder now appears in the Hot Folders list, showing its name, the path it watches, and a badge for the assigned template. The folder is enabled and watching straight away.
A folder with no template stays off
A hot folder can only run once a template is assigned. If a row shows a No template badge, its enable toggle is greyed out with the hint Assign a template first until you give it one.
Screenshot
The Hot Folders list showing the new folder row: name, watched path, the assigned-template badge, and the enable toggle switched on. — shot tutorials-set-up-a-hot-folder-05
Drop a file and watch it flow through
Now test it. Copy or save one document — a PDF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, or BMP — into the watched folder.
Within a moment Scanix picks it up. The Recent Activity feed at the bottom of the Hot Folders page narrates each file as it's handled, with a tick when an import completes and small field-status pills summarising how the extracted fields scored. In Auto-process mode the finished document is filed to your template's destination; the original is moved, deleted, or left in place per your After processing choice.
Screenshot
The Recent Activity feed showing a just-dropped file with a green tick and field-status pills next to its name. — shot tutorials-set-up-a-hot-folder-06
Collect the output
Open your template's export destination and confirm the processed document landed there as expected. That's the whole loop: from here on, anything dropped into the watched folder is handled the same way, automatically.
Set an export destination on the template first
A hot folder files its output to the assigned template's output settings, not to anything in the Add Hot Folder dialog. If that template has no export destination configured, automatic export can't complete and the file is held aside rather than filed — so set the destination on the template before relying on the folder. See Export destinations.
To pause the folder at any time, flip its toggle off in the Hot Folders list; flip it back on to resume. To retire it, use the remove (trash) button on its row.
You now have a lights-out pipeline
That's it — a single drop folder that imports, reads, and files documents with no per-batch clicks. Saving a scan or copying a file into the folder is now the only action a person takes; Scanix does the rest and keeps a running record in the activity feed. Point your scanner's "save to folder" setting, a colleague, or another system at it and the work flows through on its own.
If you'd rather sort a mixed stack of document types — invoices, receipts, and IDs in one drop — through a single watched folder, build a job group first and feed it the same way.
Next steps
Hot folders
The full reference for watched folders — modes, after-processing options, the activity feed, and how files are staged.
Run a job group
Sort and read a mixed batch of several document types in one pass, then export with Process.