Most businesses need to move files between external SFTP servers and SharePoint regularly, whether that's vendor invoices, client data, reports, or other documents. Automating this process can increase reliability, decrease errors, and allow users to work on other tasks instead of manual file transfers, but connecting to SharePoint and SFTP servers and building the automation can be a challenge. 

One method to bridge this gap is by using Power Automate. There are several SFTP actions available through Power Automate, and with proper setup and a technical skillset you can set up advanced SFTP automation configurations. 

What is Power Automate? 

Microsoft Power Automate is a process automation service for business operations. It can automate tasks like data entry, email management, and HR processes, and integrates with other Microsoft tools like SharePoint. 

There are two main tiers of Power Automate. Power Automate Premium gives access for a single user to use the service. Power Automate Process allows you to license a bot for unattended desktop or cloud flows. Additional add-ons like automated process mining, AI builder capacity, and CoPilot Studio are also available. 

Power Automate opens up a lot of automation capabilities, but it also requires an investment to learn. As a Microsoft product, it's commonly used within the Microsoft ecosystem and has many built-in integrations and connectors to simplify automations within that ecosystem. However, some users have trouble when trying to expand to other products or when building out processes that include many steps.  

One possibility in Power Automate is automating SFTP actions. It involves some configuration within Power Automate, but can open up options to move files from SFTP to SharePoint that wouldn't otherwise be possible.

What you'll need to get started with Power Automate

Before you can start setting up an SFTP automation, you'll need a few things. First is a Power Automate license for each user. You'll also need admin permissions on the related SharePoint site involved with the transfer, including admin approval for Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policy updates. DLP Policies must permit both SFTP-SSH and SharePoint connectors for automations to function. 

Before getting started, make sure you have SFTP server information and details for the Power Automate account and the SharePoint site. 

SFTP server information

  • SFTP server hostname,
  • A valid user with permissions
  • User password, or SSH keys

SharePoint and Power Automate details

  • Power Automate license
  • Site URL and document library name for the target SharePoint site* 
  • SSH keys in PEM format (PKCS#1) if using key authentication

*Your IT team may need to allowlist the Power Automate IP addresses

Preparing connections for Power Automate

Before building automation flows, you'll need to connect your SFTP server and the SharePoint document library to Power Automate. 

Start creating your Power Automate flow

Log in to Power Automate and choose to create a new flow. Name it something easy to identify like "SFTP to SharePoint File Transfer" and set your preferred schedule.

Connect to your SFTP server

Many of Power Automate's flows and templates are designed for working within the Microsoft ecosystem, so there are limited functions for external processes. However, there is a way to connect to SFTP servers using the "SFTP-SSH," connector. 

To do this, you'll need to create a connection which will ask for SFTP details:

  • Connection Name: Internal name to describe this connection for your team 
  • Host server address: Your server hostname or IP
  • User name: The user who will be connecting via SFTP
  • Password or SSH private key: Choose the authentication method appropriate for your server connection
  • Port number: The port used to connect via SFTP. The default is 22. 
  • Root folder path: The path for the folder on the server used as the root for this connection
  • Any of the optional fields required for your connection

Specify the folder path you want to monitor and whether to include subfolders.

Add the SharePoint connection

Since SharePoint is a Microsoft product, creating the initial connection is simple. When choosing a SharePoint connection for the first time, you'll be prompted to sign in to your Microsoft 365 account. Once logged in your can add information to point towards the specific site, document library, and folder you need. 

The following SharePoint Paramaters are required for a Copy operation:

  • SharePoint Site address: In the this format https://domain.sharepoint.com/sites/sitename
  • File to Copy: Some kind of file identifier. There is a file browser that can browse the SharePoint site to find this. Dynamic values and expressions are also valid. 
  • Destination Site Address: Specify the site and document library to copy the folder to. 
  • Specify what to do if a file with the same name is there. 

Moving files from SFTP to SharePoint

Power Automate doesn't have a way to directly transfer files to or from an SFTP server. You can't SFTP into SharePoint with a direct connection, but there are still ways to help automate the process of getting files from an SFTP server into SharePoint. 

Because Power Automate has so many actions, there are multiple potential methods that could work together to accomplish this goal. We'll go over the method recommended by Copilot within a Power Automate flow here. 

Getting SFTP files in a SharePoint site

One option for getting files from an SFTP server into SharePoint is by recreating the files from the server in SharePoint. 

To do this, you'll need to designate a folder in your SFTP server using the SSH connection you configured previously. From there, if you intend to move all files, you'll need to use a "For each" loop to apply the action to every file. 

Within the "For each" loop, you can perform any number of actions you want to apply to every file such as renaming, updating contents, or getting metadata. One essential part is the Get file content command. This is the data within the file itself, which will be required for this process to work. 

When the Power Automate flow has the file content, you can use that content to recreate the file in SharePoint. Using the Create file command for SharePoint, specify the path to the target folder. Choose a name for your file (you can extract the existing name using dynamic content variables) and for the File content field, map the file content extracted from the Get file content step. 

What this does is recreate a copy of the file on the SFTP server onto the SharePoint site. However, keep in mind that the file contents needed to be mapped, so are stored in a flow variable as part of the process. This can make this method less unsuitable for files that require a higher level of security or compliance.  

Clean up source files (optional)

If you want to move rather than copy files, add a "Delete file" action using the SFTP connector. This removes files from SFTP after a successful SharePoint upload. 

Other SFTP actions

Power Automate can do many more SFTP actions, and you can set up filter arrays to isolate specific data that flows apply to. While versatile, it's also complex and not suitable for everyday users, and instead designed for larger or more technical teams. 

Why businesses often choose Couchdrop instead

Power Automate works to some extent, but the setup complexity and maintenance overhead make many organizations look elsewhere. It was designed to automate many different kinds of automation, so provides flexibility at the cost of being more complicated.

Couchdrop was built for transferring files between storage platforms, with features like direct SFTP to SharePoint integration that can be setup in minutes. 

Using Couchdrop is incredibly simple. Instead of having to build out complex flows filled with arrays, dynamic variables, and mapping file contents, the visual automation builder is designed around transferring files. 

For example, to do the same process as in Power Automate in Couchdrop, all you have to do is add a storage integration and choose SharePoint. Give the connection a name for identification and give a name for the how the SharePoint folder will appear in Couchdrop. Then simply hit the Authorize SharePoint button and then Accept in the OAuth window. 

From there, create an automation, decide what trigger method you want, and choose the SFTP folder (which you can create in Couchdrop directly). Then use the "Move File" action and select the SharePoint folder. 

And that's it. Setup takes minutes, not hours, without the need to have to create custom flows for simple tasks, no need to map file contents, and you don't have to delete files from the source with a cleanup task. 

Built-in automation features let you decrypt PGP files, rename, move, copy, or compress files without building complex flows. Schedule transfers on any timeframe between platforms without technical configuration. Because Couchdrop is designed for secure transfers, there isn't an easier or more comprehensive alternative for this use case. 

Couchdrop also never stores data at any point, making it ideal for b2b file exchange or when transferring highly compliant files. When bringing your own storage, files never sit on Couchdrop's servers and instead move directly between your storage platforms, avoiding the problematic security concerns of Power Automate.

Choosing the right solution

While both Power Automate and Couchdrop can get file data from an SFTP server into SharePoint, they are designed with different use cases in mind. This makes them more suitable for different purposes. 

Go with Power Automate if you already have Power Automate expertise in-house, need deep integration with other Microsoft services, handle simple, low-volume transfers, and have dedicated IT resources for setup and maintenance.

Consider Couchdrop for SFTP to SharePoint if you need something that works immediately, deal with large files or high volumes, require transferring files to or from external parties, want to avoid ongoing flow maintenance, or need reliable transfers without IT department involvement.

If you want to try a simpler approach that just works, give a Couchdrop a try. All new sign ups get a 14 day free trial with no credit card required. See how easy configuring SFTP to SharePoint can be for yourself and try Couchdrop now.