The Filemail Desktop app includes an Automatic Downloads feature that can save you time by downloading incoming files to your computer or server as soon as they are received. This is especially useful if your team receives a high volume of files, or if you want all received transfers organized locally without having to manually download each one.
This guide explains how automatic downloads work, how to configure them, and how to organize downloaded files using folder templates.
What Automatic Downloads can do
With the Autodownloader, you can choose to:
Automatically download files received by your account
Automatically download files received by all team members (Business / Enterprise) (requires admin access)
Automatically download files submitted through specific Portals
Only download transfers received within a certain time period (for example, last 24 hours)
Organize downloaded transfers using custom folder names and fields
Once activated, Filemail Desktop checks for new transfers at regular intervals and saves them to your chosen location.
Choosing the Scope of Automatic Downloads
You can tailor automatic downloads to suit your workflow:
1. Download received files from all users in the account
When enabled, Filemail Desktop will automatically download transfers received by any user in your company account. This requires that you have admin access to your company account.
2. Only download transfers from the last X hours/days
Useful if you only want to collect recent files rather than your full history.
3. Only download transfers received through selected Portals
If your organization uses multiple Portals (e.g., HR, Support, Sales), you can choose exactly which ones the Auto-downloader should monitor.
Selecting the save location
Choose the folder on your computer where you want incoming files to be saved.
You’ll see the chosen path displayed clearly in the settings.
Example:
/Users/yourname/Downloads/Filemail/
You can change this at any time.
Organizing downloaded transfers
You can customize the folder structure for downloaded transfers using predefined tags. This helps you automatically group transfers by sender, date, Portal, or even custom fields.
Example folder format
<datesent> - <emailfrom>
With this format, each downloaded transfer will be placed into a folder named:
2025-05-30 - [email protected]
Available tags
You can insert tags that represent information about the transfer, including:
<domain><emailfrom><mailto><datesent><subject><id><From Portal>Any custom field name created in your Portal (e.g.,
<customerid>,<PartyTime>,<Your name / surname>)
Simply click the tags displayed below the field to insert them. This makes it easy to create folder names that fit the way your team organizes files.
Example: Organizing downloads using custom field IDs
In addition to standard fields like sender or date, you can also build your folder structure using custom field values collected through Filemail Portals.
This allows Filemail Desktop to automatically sort incoming files into folders based on information provided by the uploader — without any manual action required.
Example folder structure
<datesent> - <emailfrom>/<customerid>
In this example:
<datesent>creates a top-level folder based on the upload date<emailfrom>groups transfers by sender<customerid>is a custom field defined in your Portal
If a user uploads files and enters ACME-123 as the customerid, Filemail Desktop will automatically save the files into a folder like:
2025-05-30 - [email protected]/ACME-123
Why this is useful
Using custom fields in folder paths allows you to:
Automatically create folder hierarchies based on business logic;
Sort files by case number, customer ID, project name, or department;
Eliminate manual renaming or moving of downloaded files;
Keep downloads consistently structured across teams.
Important notes
The custom field must exist in the Portal used for the upload;
The field must contain a value — otherwise the folder name may be empty or skipped;
This setup is especially powerful when combined with required custom fields in Portals, ensuring every upload is organized automatically from the moment it’s received.
Activating Automatic Downloads
Once your preferences are set:
Review the summary of your selections
Click Activate
Filemail Desktop will now automatically download new incoming files that match your criteria.
You can turn the feature off at any time by toggling the switch back off.
Tips for best results
Choose a save location that is backed up or monitored by your organization’s internal systems.
Keep folder names simple and consistent so they’re easy for your team to navigate.
If using Portals heavily, consider including custom fields in your folder structure to improve sorting and identification.