Workflow Files

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Overview

Each plan includes a number of workflow files a month. A workflow file is one file a workflow processes. When a workspace has used them all, workflows stop taking new files until the allowance resets or more are added. The number for each plan is on Plans & Pricing. On team plans it’s per seat, pooled across the workspace: everyone’s workflows draw from the same total, so one member is never stopped while a colleague has room. Every seat the workspace pays for counts, including empty ones.

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What counts

Every file a workflow processes counts once, for example:

• an upload it files
• an email attachment it saves
• a Google Drive file it renames
• each file a scheduled workflow goes through

What doesn’t cost extra:

• A run that fails gives its file back. If you then retry it and it succeeds, the file counts once.
• A file that waits for an approval and then carries on counts once, not twice.
• A file goes through a workflow once however many steps it has.

What to watch:

• A schedule set to Every file, every run counts every file it goes through, every time it runs. Narrow it to a folder and put Check File Details first. See On a Schedule.
• Work the agent does on its own, like a live table that keeps itself up to date as files change, also counts as workflow files.

Assistant tasks and organizing a folder on demand with ⌘K are counted separately. See Usage and limits.

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When the count resets

The allowance resets each month on your billing date, not on the 1st. The reset date shows in Settings > Usage and in every banner about the limit. Files you’ve bought apply to the current period only and don’t roll over.

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See your usage

Open Settings > Usage and find Workflow files this period. It shows how many files have been used of the total, and underneath:

• how many files weren’t processed this period, if any
• how many of the total were bought, if any
• when it resets
• on team plans, Shared by every seat

Owners, admins and members can see it. The Workflows page stays quiet about the allowance until it matters. Once a workspace has used three quarters of it, a line above the tabs says so, for example 1,520 of 2,000 files used this month, with the reset date.

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When the limit is reached

When all the files are used, a banner appears on the Workflows page, in Settings > Workflows, and on a workflow’s Activity tab in the editor:

• Monthly file limit reached, or N files not processed this month once files have been turned away.
• It says new files are being left where they are, and when filing resumes.

What happens to those files:

• They’re left exactly where they are. Nothing is moved, renamed or deleted.
• They show under Activity as skipped, with “Not filed — this workspace reached its monthly file limit.” Up to the first 20 files each period are listed, and the count shows “20+ files” beyond that.
• They don’t count against the allowance.
• They aren’t processed later on their own when the allowance comes back. Uploads, attachments and shared files that arrived while the limit was reached stay as they are. A scheduled workflow may pick files up on a later run, depending on how it’s set up.

When there’s room again, after the reset or after buying more, the banner changes to N files not processed earlier this month and says your workflows are running again. If the workspace’s plan isn’t active, for example billing is paused, the banner says Workflows are paused on this workspace instead. Filing starts again when the plan does. Buying files doesn’t help in that case: click View plan.

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Get more files

You can add files for the current period, or move to a plan with a bigger allowance.

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Buy a file pack

Before you start:

• You must be the workspace owner. In a personal workspace, that’s you.
• The workspace must be on a paid plan with a workflow file limit, and its plan must be active.
• Packs can’t be bought for a subscription managed through the App Store or Google Play.

Packs apply to the current period and don’t roll over. Buy another if you need more.

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Change the plan

On the Workflows page’s banner, owners and admins see Get more files, which opens the plans page. See Plans & Pricing to upgrade or add seats.

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Tips

• Narrow sources. Watch the folder where new files land, not the whole account. A new File Uploaded source on The Drive AI starts on Root only for this reason.
• Skip duplicates. Skip duplicate files on a source stops exact copies from being processed.
• Filter early. On a schedule, use New and changed files only unless the rule is about age.

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What’s next?