Etlworks supports a small but powerful set of file-management operations that run as standalone flows — no source-to-destination transformation needed.
Supported file operations
- Copy, move, rename, delete, zip, and unzip files; create folders
- Transform XML files using XSLT
- Split files
- Merge files
Process a file and then delete it
- Create a source connection.
- Create a flow that reads the source file and transforms it into a destination.
- On the transformation, click MAPPING and open the Parameters tab.
- Enable Delete loaded source files. Optionally also enable Delete source files on error to remove files when the load fails.
Merge or split files
- Merge files — combine multiple CSV or XML files into one.
- Split files — break a large file into smaller chunks for downstream parallel processing.
Archive files before copying to cloud storage
On the S3 or Google Cloud Storage connection, set Archive file before copying to Zip or GZip. Every file written to the bucket gets compressed automatically.
Automatically decompress and archive ZIP / GZIP files
Etlworks reads and writes compressed files transparently — no pre/post-processing step needed.
Automatic decompression when reading
Set Expected Compression on a file-based or API connector:
| Value | What it does |
|---|---|
| No Compression (default) | Resources are read as-is. |
| ZIP | Each resource is treated as a single-entry ZIP and decompressed. |
| GZIP | Each resource is treated as GZIP-compressed and decompressed. |
Where it works: ETL flows, file-based flows (Copy, Move), file-based connections, HTTP API connections returning compressed responses.
Important notes:
- Each compressed resource must contain exactly one file. Multi-file ZIPs aren't supported in this path.
- The selected compression type is applied unconditionally — file extension is not checked. Mixing compressed and uncompressed sources under the same connection will fail on the uncompressed ones.
Automatic archiving when writing or copying
Set Archive output files on any file-based or cloud storage connector (added in 8.7.1):
| Value | What it does |
|---|---|
| No Archive (default) | Output files are written as-is. |
| ZIP | Each output file is archived as a ZIP. |
| GZIP | Each output file is archived as a GZIP. |
Where it works: ETL flows that create files; Copy and Move file-based flows. Supported connectors: Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Storage, Server Storage, FTP, FTPS, SFTP, Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint, WebDAV, SMB Share.
Use decompression and archiving together
The two settings are independent. Common combinations:
- Read GZIP-compressed input, write uncompressed output.
- Read compressed input, write compressed output in a different format.
- Convert between ZIP and GZIP while copying files.
- Archive files automatically during a copy-to-cloud workflow.
When to use these features
Use Expected Compression when consuming compressed files from external systems, compressed API responses, or compressed logs / CSV / JSON / XML feeds.
Use Archive output files when downstream systems expect ZIP or GZIP, you're copying to cloud or remote storage for long-term retention, or you want to reduce storage / transfer size.