How to set up scheduled file transfers between Egnyte and SFTP/FTP

Egnyte provides secure cloud storage for business files, but exchanging those files with external partners often requires setting up SFTP access. While Egnyte offers native SFTP connectivity, it requires partners to have Egnyte accounts and lacks automation capabilities for scheduled transfers.

Couchdrop solves this by acting as a bridge between Egnyte and external systems. You can schedule automated file transfers between Egnyte and partner SFTP servers without granting partners direct access to your Egnyte environment. This approach maintains security while enabling the B2B file exchange workflows your business requires.

In this tutorial, you will connect your Egnyte storage to Couchdrop and configure a scheduled automation that polls an external SFTP server for files and transfers them into Egnyte. When you finish, files will automatically move from your partner's SFTP server into your Egnyte storage on the schedule you define, without manual intervention.

Prerequisites

To complete this tutorial, you will need:

• A Couchdrop account with Admin permissions. You can sign up for a free trial at Couchdrop.
• An Egnyte account with access to create OAuth connections. Learn more about Egnyte's requirements in their documentation.
• Access credentials for an external SFTP server (hostname, port, username, and password or SSH key). If you don't have an external SFTP server to test with, you can create one in Couchdrop by following How to create an SFTP user in Couchdrop.

Step 1 — Connecting Egnyte Storage to Couchdrop

Before you can schedule file transfers, you must connect your Egnyte storage to Couchdrop. This connection allows Couchdrop to read and write files in your Egnyte environment.

Log in to your Couchdrop account and navigate to the main dashboard. Click + Create and select Connect to Storage from the dropdown menu.

In the storage connection list, locate and select Egnyte. You will see the Egnyte connection configuration screen.

Configure the following fields:

• Connection Name: Enter a descriptive name for this connection, such as Egnyte Production. This name will appear in Couchdrop's interface when you reference this storage.
• Virtual Folder Name: Enter how this storage will appear in Couchdrop's virtual filesystem, such as egnyte-files. This is the folder name you will use when configuring automations and user access.
• Egnyte Domain: Enter your Egnyte subdomain without the .egnyte.com suffix. For example, if your Egnyte URL is yourcompany.egnyte.com, enter only yourcompany.

Click Authorize Now. A popup window will open prompting you to log in to Egnyte and grant Couchdrop access to your files. Log in with your Egnyte credentials and click Allow Access to complete the OAuth authorization flow.

After authorization completes, click Test Connection in the Couchdrop interface. Couchdrop will verify it can communicate with your Egnyte account. You should see a success message confirming the connection works.

Optionally, click Choose a folder to select a specific folder or user directory in Egnyte as the root location. This restricts Couchdrop's access to only that folder and its subfolders. If you skip this step, Couchdrop will have access to all folders your Egnyte account can access.

Click Save Settings to complete the connection.

You have now connected Egnyte to Couchdrop. The storage will appear as a virtual folder in Couchdrop's filesystem, allowing you to reference it in automations and grant users access to it via SFTP.

Step 2 — Connecting to the External SFTP Server

To transfer files from an external partner's SFTP server into Egnyte, you must first connect that SFTP server to Couchdrop as well. This creates another virtual folder representing the external server.

From the Couchdrop dashboard, click + Create and select Connect to Partners/Providers.

Select SFTP Server from the connection list. You will see the SFTP connection configuration screen.

Configure the following fields:

• Connection Name: Enter a name to identify this SFTP server, such as Partner SFTP Server.
• Virtual Folder Name: Enter the folder name that will represent this SFTP server in Couchdrop, such as partner-sftp.
• Hostname or IP Address: Enter the SFTP server's hostname or IP address provided by your partner.
• Port: Enter the port number for SFTP connections. Most SFTP servers use port 22.
• Username: Enter the username for authenticating to the SFTP server.
• Password: If using password authentication, enter the password. If using key-based authentication, leave this blank and upload the private key instead.

If your partner provided an SSH private key for authentication, click Upload Private Key and select the key file from your computer. Couchdrop supports RSA, DSA, and ECDSA key types.

Click Test Connection to verify Couchdrop can connect to the SFTP server. You should see a success message.

Click Choose a subfolder if you want to restrict Couchdrop to a specific directory on the SFTP server. This is useful when your partner provides access to multiple folders but you only need files from one location.

Click Save Settings to complete the connection.

You now have two virtual folders in Couchdrop: one representing Egnyte storage and one representing the external SFTP server. You will reference both when building the automation.

Step 3 — Creating a Scheduled Transfer Automation

With both storage systems connected, you can now create an automation that moves files between them on a schedule.

From the Couchdrop dashboard, click + Create and select Transfer Automation.

You will see the automation builder interface with a Configure Trigger box. Click this box to configure when the automation runs.

In the How do you want this automation to trigger? dropdown, select Scheduled. This enables time-based execution.

In the When would you like this to run? section, select your schedule type. For this tutorial, select Daily and set the time to 12:00 AM to run the automation once per day at midnight. All times are evaluated in UTC.

Click Save to set the trigger.

Below the trigger, you will see a Configure Location box. Click this box to specify what files the automation should process.

In the What would you like to transfer? section, select All Files in Folder. This tells Couchdrop to process all files in a specific directory each time the automation runs.

Click Continue, then click Select a location. In the folder browser, navigate to the virtual folder representing your partner's SFTP server (for example, /partner-sftp). Select the folder containing files you want to transfer.

Click Continue to save the location configuration.

You have now configured the automation to check the external SFTP server daily at midnight. Next, you will add an action that copies files to Egnyte.

Step 4 — Adding the Transfer Action

Below the location configuration, you will see a circular + button. Click this button to add a new action.

In the Create New Node dialog, select Actions as the type, then click Continue.

The actions list appears. Under the Transfer section, select Transfer/Copy File. This action copies files from the source location (the external SFTP server) to a destination you specify.

Click Continue to configure the action.

In the Please enter the destination to copy to field, click Select a location. Navigate to your Egnyte virtual folder (for example, /egnyte-files) and select the destination folder where files should arrive.

Click Save to add the action to your automation.

Your automation now consists of three components:

• A daily trigger at midnight UTC
• A source location on the external SFTP server
• A copy action that transfers files to Egnyte storage

The automation will run daily, check the external SFTP server for files, and copy any files it finds into the specified Egnyte folder.

Step 5 — Enabling and Testing the Automation

Before the automation can run on schedule, you must enable it.

At the top right of the automation builder, locate the Transfer Automation Disabled toggle. Click this toggle to enable the automation. The status will change to Transfer Automation Enabled.

Click Save at the bottom right to save all changes.

To verify the automation works before waiting for the scheduled time, click Run/Trigger Workflow at the top of the screen. This executes the automation immediately.

Couchdrop will connect to the external SFTP server, list files in the source folder, and copy them to Egnyte. You can monitor the progress in real-time in the automation builder.

When the execution completes, click View Executions to see detailed logs. The logs show each file processed, any errors encountered, and the final status. A green indicator means the execution succeeded.

Navigate to your Egnyte storage (either in the Egnyte web interface or through Couchdrop's file browser) to confirm the files arrived in the destination folder.

Your automation is now active and will run daily at midnight UTC. Files will automatically transfer from the external SFTP server to Egnyte without manual intervention.

Next Steps

In this tutorial, you configured automated file transfers between an external SFTP server and Egnyte storage using Couchdrop. You connected both systems to Couchdrop, created a scheduled automation, and tested the transfer workflow.

You can now receive files from partners via SFTP and have them automatically deposited into Egnyte storage on a schedule. This eliminates manual file transfers and ensures files arrive consistently at the times your business requires.

To expand this workflow, you might want to:

• Add conditional filtering to process only specific file types or patterns
• Configure notifications to alert you when transfers succeed or fail
• Set up bi-directional transfers that also send files from Egnyte to the external SFTP server
• Add PGP encryption or decryption steps for sensitive data

For more information on these capabilities, explore the Couchdrop docs and our tutorials on Conditional Filtering, Automation Notifications, and Securing SFTP transfers using PGP encryption and decryption.