Blober Concepts: Providers & Workflows

This section explains the core concepts behind Blober's design. Understanding these will help you use the app effectively.

A workflow is a saved configuration that defines:

1. Source - Where files come from (provider + path + credentials)
2. Destination - Where files go (provider + path + credentials)
3. Action - What to do (copy, move, sync, delete)

Workflows are templates that can be run multiple times. Each run creates a task.

See Workflows Guide for details.

A task is a single execution of a workflow. When you start a workflow, Blober creates a task that:

• Enumerates files matching the source criteria
• Processes each file according to the action
• Tracks progress (files, bytes, status)
• Logs operations and errors

Tasks have states: pending, running, paused, completed, failed, cancelled.

See Progress Guide for details.

An action defines what happens to source files:

Path templates let you organize destination files dynamically using placeholders:

{file_created_date}/{filename}

This creates a date-based folder structure automatically.

Available variables include:

• {filename}, {filename_no_ext}, {file_ext}
• {file_created_date}, {file_modified_date}
• {current_date}, {current_datetime}
• {file_size}, {file_size_mb}
• {file_dir}

See Workflows Guide for the full list, or the complete path-template guide for worked examples.

Filters control which files are included in a transfer:

• Include patterns: *.jpg, *.{png,gif}
• Exclude patterns: *.tmp, .DS_Store (entered in the dedicated Exclude Pattern field)
• Folder patterns: documents/**

Filters use glob syntax for flexible matching.

{file_dir} is the relative directory beneath a selected source folder. It is empty for directly selected files and for files at the selected folder's root. See how the file_dir variable works for detailed cases.

Deduplication is a destination setting that decides what happens when a file already exists at the destination: skip it, overwrite it, or keep both. Not every destination supports it, and it compares the destination path rather than file contents.

See Deduplication for the policies, where the control appears, and how it differs from resuming a task.

Each provider requires credentials to authenticate with the service:

• API Keys: AWS, Wasabi, Backblaze (key ID + secret)
• Connection Strings: Azure Blob
• OAuth: Google Drive, Google Photos (browser authorization)

Credentials are stored securely in your local database and never sent to Blober's servers.