This is a detailed article on all the file related operations and information provided by CloudFiles. The list covers topics such as metadata of files available in CloudFiles, operations that can be done on various files, how to access these files, how these work with mirror storage etc...

Here is a section by section breakdown of this article -

CloudFiles provides two ways to access your files. You can either connect your own storage, or use our CloudFiles library.

Irrespective of what you choose, the CloudFiles interface looks and feels exactly the same way and exposes the same functions all over. In the sub-sections below, we talk a little more about these storage options and basic file operations such as upload, navigation and listing.

CloudFiles' mirror drive feature establishes a live sync of your cloud storage with CloudFiles features and interface. As soon as you connect your storage, your files & folders will show up instantly and you can use CloudFiles' automations, security, sharing, analytics etc... features on top of these.

Mirror storage is supported with Microsoft SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, HubSpot File Storage, Amazon AWS S3, Azure Blob Storage, R2 and other options as well.

To connect a mirror drive, simply access the Library tab on the app, locate the cloud storage on the left sidebar and Login into it. The steps are shown in the GIF below with an example of Google Drive.

If you decide to use the CloudFiles native storage instead of a mirror storage, this implies you are using our own multi-tenant Amazon AWS S3 to store the files. This type of usage might have some limits on the storage and transfer of files. You can also connect your own AWS S3 storage if you have one to do away with these limits.

You can navigate to your library (native or mirrored) and upload a file into it using the CloudFiles interface. You can either drag and drop your files into the dialog or click on the upload area to select files using the file explorer. Depending on whether you are using CloudFiles Native Storage or Mirror Storage, these files will go into the respective storage.

Once you select a file from your local storage, it will take a few moments to upload it to CloudFiles. When the upload is finished, CloudFiles will automatically open the file screen where you can start creating secure & trackable links.

If you are using CloudFiles Native Storage above, you can also import individual files from another cloud storage into the CloudFiles Storage (i.e. AWS S3). Note that doing so implies that you are not using the mirror storage feature above. Thus your shared links or uploaded files will not reflect the changes you make in the other cloud storage. If instead you are looking for a 2-way sync between CloudFiles and your cloud storage, check the mirror storage section above.

In order to import files from another cloud storage, such as Dropbox, SharePoint, Google Drive etc..., you must first go to the CloudFiles library in the Libraries tab > Left sidebar and then click on Upload File button. In the upload modal, select the Cloud Storage option. You will be presented with a list of cloud storages that CloudFiles can import the file from. 

In the GIF below, we show a sample import from Dropbox.

CloudFiles offers a file details screen that can be easily navigated to, using the Content Library. This file details screen shows a a lot of useful information about the file. Here is a quick breakdown of how to access this screen and what all information is available.

Whenever you are on a folder details screen or on the root of your storage, you will see the listing of files in this location. The listing of files is shown as list items in the form of tiles. These list items can show various columns such as name, owner, analytics of the files. There are also file related actions that you can perform using the dropdown from the three dots at the end of the file list item as shown below.

The File details screen can be accessed by clicking on a file that points to a file. The file details screen shows various information about the file such as it's name, size, owner, API metadata etc... The file information screen also the list of links associated to the file (if any links for this specific file have been created).

The following graphic shows the file details screen -

On the bottom right of the file details screen, you can see the API metadata. This is usually helpful when setting automations anchored on this particular file. There is a lot of useful information on HubSpot & Salesforce automations that can be setup using the app.

Preview the file to ensure that the correct file has been uploaded. Note that sometimes it may take a while for the file to get processed, especially if you replaced the file. Refresh the preview screen if you see a similar message while previewing the file.

CloudFiles offers a special preview mode using which you can view any type of rendered files online and shows the file exactly as it would look to an external customer if shared as a CloudFiles Link. Previewing is not available for non-rendered files.

The download feature will download the file into your browser's default download location on your local storage. Simply go to the ellipsis button on the right. Here choose “Download”, your file will get downloaded in your browser’s default download location.

Move function in the CloudFiles Content Library allows you to move your file across different existing folders or into the home directory of the content library. To move a file, select the move option in the ellipsis button on the right and select the folder where you want the file to be moved.

You can also move the file across storages. Simply select a location in a different storage in the move dialog.

Deleting a File in the CloudFiles content library removes the file from the CloudFiles database. Also any links shared will become defunct and show a “file not found error.” To delete a file, select the delete option in the ellipsis button on the right and choose OK.

You can replace files such as PDFs, images, PPTs & docs while preserving the same link. Many a times, there are last minute changes or new updates to be incorporated into your content, However the content links have already been shared with a number of recipients. In such cases it is recommended to use the CloudFiles Replace File feature to replace your files while retaining the functionality of the shared CloudFiles links. This feature just updates the content on all the existing links of that content.

Locate the file you want to replace. Click on the file name to open the file information screen. Click on Replace File button from the top right dropdown. Then upload a new file that you want to replace this file with. 

Note that replacing files does not change the existing files name. For that, do a file rename.

You can also rename the files after uploading them as shown in the image below. Simply click on the 3 dots icon and choose rename. A dialog box opens up where you can type the new name of the file.

You can easily organize all your uploaded files & folders online, using the CloudFiles' content library. CloudFiles allows deep folder hierarchy. This combined with the ability to easily move files across the library makes it easy to organize large number of digital files. You can read more about folder management in CloudFiles in the adjoining article.

CloudFiles content library exposes these actions both as individual and as bulk actions. While some actions may not be available for bulk operations right now, we are always striving to improve this and add more stuff.

You can check whether the operation is available in bulk or not by checking the 2 screens below. The file information screen dropdown on top right are for individual actions. The file listing screen dropdown on the file list items are for bulk actions.

CloudFiles allows its users to upload any type of file. This means literally any format in the digital world can be uploaded into the content library and viewed online through a secure and trackable CloudFiles links. You will receive valuable insights on engagement of your content which can help you in pivoting your digital strategy. This even includes converting URLs to CloudFiles Links by uploading them through our dialog.

We categorize the files in two types, rendered and non-rendered, which makes it easy to see what type of functionality may be available where.

These are files that can be rendered and viewed in the browser. E.g. consider a word document. If you upload a. ".doc" file into the content library, CloudFiles will generate a link to that file. On opening that link, you will be able to view the word file online, inside the browser itself and can scroll and read through.

Renderable files are supported for images, videos, readable files (docs, PDFs, PPTx), etc...  Viewing File Links in Browser can be used to view these files. 

If you find a file format that should be rendered in the browser but is not supported by CloudFiles, reach out to us on [email protected] and we will add support soon.

These are non human readable files for which "viewing online in a browser" does not make much sense. This can include an exe or a zip file. CloudFiles directly downloads this file onto the viewer's system and tracks the file download. Thus, you can still upload these types of files into the content library and track analytics.

A sample non-rendered ZIP file is shown below -

CloudFiles is primarily meant for sharing business files externally with security protections. It also provides support for videos since many marketing and sales teams rely on those. There are two possible ways of viewing videos on the CloudFiles viewer:

CloudFiles allows you to track URLs & link clicks on your blogs / articles along with your shared documents, so now you can track your entire digital real estate from one place.

Select the Upload file option in the New Button, click on the URL tab. Here, you have to enter the url of the your webpage and give any custom name to it. Next click on Upload button. Thus, you can create one or multiple CloudFiles URLs for your webpage. You can track clicks and website visits on each of these links, thus making all your digital assets trackable.

CloudFiles does not put any restrictions on the file size. However, the backend storage you use might put a restriction on the maximum file size that you can upload / download / work with. Here are the choices that are offered by other storages -