How to import files into a Workspace using SFTP

SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) is a technology that enables secure file transfers from one internet-connected computer to another. It's also really easy to automate and schedule SFTP transfers using a number of pre-existing tools and solutions.

Flatfile offers the ability to accept incoming files over a SFTP server that is hosted by Flatfile and connected to a Flatfile Workspace. Files uploaded to the SFTP endpoint will appear in the related Workspace, and must be reviewed manually to load the imported data into a Workspace Sheet.

Current limitations:

• All files uploaded over SFTP will require a manual review including sheet selection, header row selection, and matching.
• We are exploring offering "file uploaded" webhooks that can alert your system(s) when a file has been imported into a workspace over SFTP, please contact us if you're interested in using this feature.
• Flatfile does not offer any "connectors" to pull from sources like S3 out of the box. If you would like to transfer data from S3 to Flatfile using SFTP, the necessary triggers will need to be set up outside of Flatfile and then our generated credentials will need to be used to push the data into Flatfile.

How to setup

1. Reach out to your Flatfile representative to enable this feature on your account. There is no charge for using SFTP import.
2. Navigate to the Workspace for which you would like to enable SFTP import, select "Settings" from the sidebar, and navigate to the SFTP settings tab
   
3. Switch the "Enable SFTP Support" > "Active" toggle to "YES"
   
4. This will reveal "SERVER URL", "USERNAME", and "PASSWORD", these are credentials that need to be input into a SFTP client
5. Open an SFTP client, in this guide we'll be using https://cyberduck.io/
6. Enter the values displayed from Workspace Settings into the SFTP client
   
7. Connect to the SFTP server with the client, you should see an empty directory listing if you have not previously uploaded files using SFTP
   
8. Upload a file (drag and drop from a Finder or Explorer window) and wait for the transfer to complete
   
9. After a few moments, navigate to the Workspace files list. The newly uploaded file will be marked as SFTP under the "Uploaded By" column and is now available for processing
   
10. Click "Select datasource" to begin the import process. This will take you through sheet and template selection, header row selection, and matching
    
11. Submit the match selection and the data will be imported into the selected Workspace Sheet