Automatically delete files after downloading in Serv-U

5/6/2019 4:15 PM

7/25/2022 2:16 AM

You can use the "file download" event in Serv-U to run a batch file that automatically deletes files from certain folders after they are downloaded.

Serv-U Managed File Transfer & Serv-U FTP Server

1. If you do not already have them, create a local folder for Serv-U batch files and a local folder for Serv-U logs.
2. Create a batch file named deletefileafterdownload.bat in your Serv-U batch file folder. Copy/paste this text in:

time /t >> D:\local\ServU_One\Log\DeleteFileAfterDownload.log
echo Deleted %1 >> D:\local\ServU_One\Log\DeleteFileAfterDownload.log
del %1 >> D:\local\ServU_One\Log\DeleteFileAfterDownload.log

3. Before you save the batch file, change the log path ("D:\local\ServU_One\Log") to your Serv-U log path. Do not worry about creating the "DeleteFileAfterDownload.log" file. When Serv-U runs this batch file, it will be done automatically.
4. Create a new domain-level event called "Delete File After Download".

5. Flip to the "Event Filters" tab on your new event and add an Event Filter:

6. Test the process:
   1. Sign on as an end user.
   2. Download a file from a folder that should trigger the event.
   3. Check that the event firing was noted in the Serv-U domain log, and also check that a new "Deleted (filename)" entry appeared in the DeleteFileAfterDownload.log file. Also, refresh your directory listing in the client you used to perform the download to verify that the file is gone.
   4. Now download a file from a folder that should NOT trigger the event and check that the event did not fire.
7. Optimize.

• You may want to remove the statements that log to a separate file after you are sure the process works. In that case, the batch file will function with just a single command on a single line: "del %1".
• Experiment with different event filters to get the delete event to trigger on different combinations of file names and folder names.