The Use Case
You have a Windows folder — maybe a shared network drive, a scan-to-folder output, or a drop zone from a vendor — and you need something to happen in another system the moment a file arrives. You want to call a URL. No polling. No manual triggers. Just: file lands → webhook fires.
This is exactly what event-driven file monitoring is for.
Why Not Just Use Task Scheduler?
Task Scheduler runs on a fixed interval — every minute, every 5 minutes. Between runs, files pile up silently. You also get no file context passed to the script: no filename, no path, no event type. You have to write the polling logic yourself, track which files you've already seen, and handle edge cases like files that arrive mid-scan.
A native FileSystemWatcher approach fires once per event, passes full file context, and has no minimum latency floor.
What a Webhook Trigger Looks Like
When a file lands, you want to POST something like this to your endpoint:
{
"event": "add",
"fileName": "invoice_2026_0482.pdf",
"filePath": "C:\\Incoming\\Invoices\\invoice_2026_0482.pdf",
"folder": "Invoices",
"rule": "New Invoice",
"ts": 1748000000000
}
Your receiving system — whether it's a Zapier webhook, an n8n trigger, a Make scenario, or your own Express/Flask API — can then parse that payload and do whatever comes next.
Setting It Up With ForgeDrop
ForgeDrop makes this a 2-minute setup:
Step 1: Add the folder you want to watch.
Step 2: Add a rule — set the trigger event to "File added", set a file pattern like *.pdf or * for any file.
Step 3: Add a Webhook action. Enter your endpoint URL, choose POST, and optionally customise the body using template variables:
{
"file": "{{fileName}}",
"path": "{{filePath}}",
"event": "{{eventType}}",
"time": "{{ts}}"
}
Leave the body blank and ForgeDrop will send all event fields automatically.
Step 4: Hit Start. That's it.
Template Variables Available
ForgeDrop supports these variables in webhook URLs, bodies, and headers:
| Variable | Value |
|---|---|
{{fileName}} | The file's name, e.g. report.pdf |
{{filePath}} | Full path to the file |
{{folderPath}} | The watched folder path |
{{eventType}} | add, change, or remove |
{{ts}} | Unix timestamp in milliseconds |
{{rule}} | The name of the rule that fired |
Authentication Support
If your endpoint requires authentication, ForgeDrop handles:
Works With
Try It Free
ForgeDrop's free tier includes webhooks and all action types on up to two folders.