What this does
A Watched Folder is a folder on this computer that TRESSO keeps an eye on. When a new MP4 or MOV file appears in it, TRESSO adds the video to your Queue as a draft. It is set up separately from the From computer, Google Drive and OneDrive buttons in New Post and Bulk Schedule.
Watched videos are imported only. They are never scheduled or posted automatically. Each new video becomes a draft that has the accounts and starting text (title, caption and hashtags) of the folder's Publishing Profile, plus any campaign, category or hashtag set you chose for the folder. It has no publish time. Nothing is sent to any platform until you open the draft, review it and choose a date and time, or choose Post Now.
How to use it
- Go to Settings > Content Sources.
- Click Add Folder (or Canva Drop Folder to set up a folder named for Canva exports).
- Click Browse Folder and pick the folder your editing tool saves finished videos to.
- Optionally give it a Display name. It defaults to the folder name.
- Choose the folder's Publishing profile. Its accounts and starting text are what each new draft gets. Without one, new drafts are marked as needing a publishing profile before they can be scheduled.
- Under Watched Folder Defaults, keep Use my posting defaults, or choose Customize this folder to set a Campaign, Category and Hashtag Set for this folder.
- Leave Automatically import new videos on. Leave Notify me when videos are imported on if you want a message in TRESSO each time.
- Click Start Watching Folder.
- Export a finished video into the folder. When it appears in the Queue with a Watched Folder badge, open it, review the caption and accounts, and choose when to publish it.
What you'll see
The folder's card shows its status, its Publishing profile and defaults, and the buttons Edit, Pause (or Resume) and Remove. When videos come in, TRESSO says how many were imported as drafts and offers View imported videos.
Good to know
What must stay running. TRESSO must be running for new videos to be picked up. Closing the window keeps TRESSO running in the system tray; quitting TRESSO stops it. The computer must be on and awake. The Scheduler does not need to be on to import, but it does need to be on, with TRESSO running and the computer awake, for a post you later schedule to publish. Videos that arrived while TRESSO was closed are picked up the next time it starts.
Checks before a video is added. TRESSO waits until the file has finished being written, so a half-exported video is not picked up. Only MP4 and MOV files are added, and only files directly in that folder, not in folders inside it. A video TRESSO has already imported is not added twice, even if it was renamed. If there is not enough free disk space, the video is not added and the folder's card says why.
If the folder is in a sync app. A folder kept by Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud or Google Drive for desktop works only for videos that are fully downloaded to this computer. If one is not, TRESSO says: This video is not fully downloaded to your computer. Download it in your sync app, then try again.
If the folder cannot be reached. If the folder is moved, renamed or on a drive that is disconnected, the card says so and offers Select New Folder. TRESSO keeps trying every minute and tells you when watching stops and when it resumes.
Your files. TRESSO saves its own copy of each imported video and works from that copy. The original stays in your folder, unchanged: TRESSO never moves, renames or deletes it.
Pause and stop. Pause stops new imports and keeps the folder's settings; Resume starts again. Remove stops watching the folder. Videos already imported stay in your Queue, and the files in the folder are not touched.