Monday.com multiple file processing: aggregator not stopping iteration

[Tom2]

Hello community!

My goal:

1. Count the amount of files in a Monday.com file column immediately after upload and write that number to a number column
2. Extract the name of the uploading person and write it to a separate text column
3. rename the file(s) in the upload column using info from other columns plus an incrementing number in case of more than one file (in order to have individual file names.

The file column is in a subitem of a ‘normal’ item.

Steps tried so far:
Goal 1 and 2 I achieved using a webhook trigger (upon change, i.e. upload in file column), ‘Get a user’, ‘Get an item’, ‘Numeric aggregator’ and ‘Update Column values of a Specific item’ modules (see screenshot below).

Goal 3 I approached by adding a Router to the scenario, in order to account for the case of multiple files. The Router splits up the way to goal 1 and 2 vs. goal 3.
Since I did not have an idea how to actually rename existing files, I did a workaround, downloading the file and writing it to another file column, while renaming it at the same time.
The Iterator uses as input the Array of the file column of the ‘Get an item’ module.
The ‘Download a file’ module uses the Asset ID from the Iterator as input.
The aggregator is supposed to bundle the whole thing in order to have the last module update the second file column only once…

This screenshot illustrates an example where two files have been uploaded.

My problem now is that the scenario runs as many times as there are files, despite the aggregator that I put in place. This means I get 4 files in case of 2 uploaded ones, 9 in case of 3 and so on…

Also, I do not know as yet how to add an incrementing number to the file name, to achieve the goal of individual file names.

These are the aggregator settings:

And these settings of the final module (‘Add a File to a file column Value’):

Any help with this would be much appreciated!
Cheers!

Update:
adding blueprint of scenario
blueprint_Monday_file_processor.json (37.2 KB)

[samliew]

Welcome to the Make community!

This seems like a complex scenario you’re trying to make, perhaps exporting the blueprint might help others replicate the issue to be able to answer your question.

At the bottom of the scenario editor, you can click on the three dots to find the Export Blueprint menu item.

Uploading it here will look like this:

blueprint.json (119.3 KB)

[Msquare_Automation]

Hi @Tom2

I could see that you have used trigger with file column change. So whenever there is a modification in the file column, it will activate the scenario, which in turn applies the changes. Therefore, I suggest utilizing a button column as a trigger. After you’ve finished uploading the file, simply click on this button. This approach will prevent the scenario from triggering with each file upload.

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[Tom2]

Thank you for your feedback. I added the blueprint to my post.

[Tom2]

Thank you for your reply.

The files were uploaded all at once, so I thought this was not causing the problem.
But it still makes sense to think of a different trigger, since in production, not all users may upload their files in one go.
So, I tested this using as a trigger the change of a status column to a defined status (‘Uploaded’). (Button column not supported in subitems, which I am dealing with here.)
Et voilá, the scenario runs only once!

I even found a way to rename the files to have individual names, by using the aggregator to add the bundle order position to the bundles, so I could use them in the final module to add it to the name just before the file extension.
This also works just fine!
Make.com is a great tool, I am really enjoying this and it helps a lot in getting things done in our workflows. Best of all, I was able to achieve this all learning by doing, not being a developer or coder at all.

Thanks again for the hint!