file selection

Select Files With Glob Include and Exclude Filters in Blober

Jul 20, 2026

Selection Is the First Filter

Many cloud tools begin with a text rule and expect the user to know the exact path. Blober starts with a visual boundary.

In Source Configuration, click Browse Files and Folders. You can select:

A single file
Several files from different locations
One folder
Several folders
An entire storage root when supported

Use Add More Files and Folders to extend the selection. The selected items appear in the workflow and can be removed individually.

This boundary matters for both performance and clarity. If the problem exists only inside Client-Projects/2026, do not ask the workflow to inspect an unrelated ten-year archive.

Where Advanced Filters Appear

Advanced Filters (Optional) appears when the source selection contains a folder. Filters operate on files Blober finds as it scans that folder.

Directly selecting an individual file is already an exact instruction. Folder selection is what creates the need to decide which children qualify.

Available controls are:

File Types
Created Date Range
File Size
Include Subdirectories
Glob Filters: Include Pattern
Glob Filters: Exclude Pattern

All active criteria must allow the file. A .mov file can match the extension choice and still be rejected because it is older than the date range or sits inside an excluded proxy folder.

What Glob Syntax Means

A glob is a path pattern:

* matches characters within one path level.
** matches recursively across directory levels.
? matches one character.
{jpg,png,webp} matches one of the listed alternatives.

Blober matches glob rules case-insensitively against both the file's full decoded path and its filename.

Examples:

*.jpg

matches a JPEG filename.

**/*.jpg

matches JPEG files recursively at any depth.

**/*.{jpg,jpeg,png,webp}

matches several image extensions recursively.

**/proxies/**

matches everything beneath any folder named proxies.

Include and Exclude Are Separate Fields

The Include Pattern creates the candidate set. The Exclude Pattern removes unwanted matches from it.

For original video files without proxies:

Include Pattern: **/*.{mp4,mov,mxf}
Exclude Pattern: **/{proxy,proxies,cache,temp}/**

Exclusion is evaluated first. A file rejected by the exclude rule stays rejected even when it also matches the include rule.

Type the pattern in the dedicated Exclude field. You do not need a leading !.

Include Subdirectories

The Include Subdirectories checkbox controls whether the scan descends into nested folders.

Disable it when only the selected folder's immediate files matter. Enable it for project trees, archives, and buckets where matches may sit several levels deep.

This is separate from destination organization:

Source Include Subdirectories controls which nested files are found.
Destination {file_dir} controls whether their relative nested path appears in a custom destination template.

A workflow can search recursively but deliberately flatten the destination, or search recursively and preserve every level.

Concrete Recipes

Collect final media exports

Selected folder: Agency
Include: **/*.{mp4,mov,jpg,png}
Exclude: **/{draft,drafts,proxy,proxies,temp}/**

Back up documents but not generated copies

Selected folder: Business
Include: **/*.{pdf,doc,docx,xls,xlsx}
Exclude: **/{cache,temp,autosave}/**

Copy source code without dependencies

Selected folder: Projects
Include: **/*
Exclude: **/node_modules/**

One exclude field accepts one glob expression. Brace alternatives are useful when several folder names follow a consistent convention:

**/{node_modules,dist,build,coverage}/**

Find camera originals

Use the built-in Raw Photos extension choices or include:

**/*.{cr2,nef,arw,dng,raw}

Then pair the filter with:

raw/{file_created_date}/{file_dir}/{filename}

Why This Helps When Storage Has Weak Search

Glob filters are not a permanent search index. They are repeatable selection rules applied while a workflow scans a known scope.

That distinction is useful for object storage:

No separate catalog must stay synchronized.
No full-text or media-analysis service is required.
Rules work from names and paths already present.
The matching files can be copied into a destination layout that is easier to browse next time.

If folder and filename conventions contain useful signals such as Final, RAW, 2026, or Client-A, globs turn those signals into action.

Preview Is the Query Result

After source and destination are complete, Preview & Summary displays:

Active extension, date, size, and glob filters
Matching item count and known total size
Example source paths
Expected destination paths

Treat preview like the result page for your filter query. If expected files are missing, simplify the include rule. If unwanted files remain, refine the exclude rule or select a narrower folder.

Avoid One Giant Pattern

A visual selection plus a short pattern is easier to verify than a single glob encoding every client, year, extension, and exception.

Prefer:

Select: Clients/Acme/2026
Include: **/*.{pdf,xlsx}
Exclude: **/drafts/**

over a long expression that starts at the account root. The smallest understandable scope is usually the safest one.

Next, learn how matched files can be organized by date, type, or size.