Download a file via HTTP from any URL. This action forms part of ThinkAutomation’s broader workflow automation software, enabling automated workflows to download files from websites, APIs and other online resources for processing, storage or use by subsequent workflow actions.

Automate File Downloads Within Business Workflows

ThinkAutomation can automatically download documents, reports, data files and other resources from HTTP or HTTPS URLs as part of a wider business process. Download URLs can be generated dynamically using variables, while query parameters, custom headers and authentication can be included when accessing protected resources.

Once downloaded, the local file path is assigned to a ThinkAutomation variable, allowing the file to be processed automatically by subsequent actions without manual intervention.

For example, a workflow could receive an API response containing a link to a PDF invoice, automatically download the document, rename and organise the file, extract information from it and then archive it or attach it to an outgoing email.

Once a file has been downloaded, the File Operation action can be used to automatically rename, copy, move or organise the file as the workflow continues.

Enter the URL To Download. This can be any HTTP or HTTPS URL that points to a downloadable file.

If the web resource requires authentication then specify the Authentication method and optionally a User Name/Password or an OAuth Auth Token retrieved from a previous OAuth SignIn action.

Optionally specify any Query String Parameters and Custom Headers to add to the request.

You can specify the Connection Timeout (in seconds). This is the number of seconds to wait for the initial connection. The Response Timeout is the number of seconds to wait for the file to be downloaded after the connection has been made.

Enter or select the Save To Folder. This is the folder on your file system that you want the downloaded file to be saved in.

Optionally enter a Use Filename. If no filename is specified then the filename will be extracted from the URL.

Enable the Make Filename Unique option to append a unique number to the filename if a file already exists in the selected folder with the same name.

Once the file is downloaded the resulting full path/filename will be assigned to the variable selected from the Assign Returned File Path To list.

You can then use this variable to perform other actions such as adding the file as an attachment to outgoing emails.

The Automation will raise an error if the download fails for any reason.