Import file automations lets you to use data from files in your actions
Unlike other kind of automations based on your users interactions, import file automations are designed to run manually or automatically on a specific date or on a recurring basis.
This automations are ideal to process several actions over a group of users to perform operations like:
Creating an import file automation
Access to your WordPress admin area and navigate to AutomatorWP -> Automations menu. At the top of this view you can find a button to Add new automation.
A dialog will appear to let you choose the automation type you want to create, choose Import File and click on Confirm.
You will notice that the automation is already started with a predefined trigger and the box Execution Options, that is exclusive for import file automations, will appear.
Trigger set up
Inside the trigger you will find several conditions to select the file type you want to use.
- CSV: You can set conditions to select the data source: Upload file, paste data or Google Sheets (only available with Google Sheets integration or AutomatorWP PRO). In CSV importer documentation you can find information about the trigger set up.
- JSON (Coming soon).
- XML (Coming soon).
Execution options
The Execution Options box lets you manage several options about the execution of this automation. The box is placed at right side of the screen and looks like this:
Lines per loop option lets you define how many lines to process in each loop of a run.
For example, if you have 1,000 lines and you set the lines per loop to 200, each run of this automation will have 5 loops (200×5=1,000). Keep in mind that all actions will be processed on line, so depending of your server capabilities you may need to adjust this setting to what your server is able to handle. Also you can configure how often each loop will run.
A tip here could be to run the automation manually to see how much time requires each loop, if you see that a loops requires more than 10 seconds, is recommended to reduce the lines per loop for that automation.
Schedule execution lets you schedule the execution of this automation on a specific date. Check this section for more details.
Recurring execution lets you schedule the execution of this automation recursively. Check this section for more details
Run automations manually
Inside the Execution Options box you will find a button named Run automation. Clicking this button you will start the automation manually and you will be able to see the information about the execution status:
Important: Wait on this screen until the automation execution ends. You can open other browser tabs to continue working in other tasks while the automation is running.
Schedule for a specific date
Inside the Execution Options box you have the setting Schedule execution. Checking this option will appear a new set of fields to let you schedule the execution of this automation in a specific date:
Note that is important to configure a future date to schedule correctly this automation.
Recurring schedule
Inside the Execution Options box you have the setting Recurring execution. Checking this option will appear a new set of fields to let you schedule the execution of this automation in a recurring basis:
You are able to configure a period of your choice for this schedule (every day, week, month and year), even more you are able to define the day (in some periods) and the time of the execution:
- Every day: The automation will run every day at time configured.
- Every week: The automation will run the day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, etc) at time configured.
- Every month: The automation will run the day of the month at time configured. Note that if day configuration exceeds the day of the month (eg: You configure 31 and the month has 30 days or 28 days like February) AutomatorWP will execute the automation the last day of that month.
- Every year: The automation will run the day of the year at time configured. If you configure the day at 365 and the year is leap, AutomatorWP will execute the automation the last day of that year.
Completion times
Through the Total times field located in the Save Changes box, you are able to limit the number of completion times allowed for this automation, specially when the automation is configured with a recurring schedule.
For example, if you configure the automation to run the 15th of every month and set a total times of 5, the automation will run only the first 5 months until its activation.
Tags
In import file automations you will find groups of tags to use in your actions:
- CSV: You will find tags to obtain information from the columns of the CSV file and to be able to use the information you need in your actions. You can see the configuration of the tags in the CSV importer documentation
- JSON (Coming soon).
- XML (Coming soon).