## Overview

Folder monitoring allows Compresto to automatically compress files when they are added to specified folders. This is useful for automating compression workflows.

## Getting Started

1. Open the Settings window and choose the **Folder Monitoring** tab

2. Press **Add folder** to add the folder you want to monitor

3. Once the folder is added, press **Settings** to customise the compression settings for that folder

4. Configure your compression settings!

5. Whenever a new file is added to the folder, Compresto will automatically compress it!

## Configuration Options

### File Type

Choose which file types to monitor and compress:

| Option | Description |
| --- | --- |
| **Image** | Only compress image files |
| **Video** | Only compress video files |
| **Video and image** | Compress both video and image files |

### Video Settings

- **Video quality**: highest, high, good, medium, acceptable
- **Video resolution**: Keep same or resize
- **Video format**: same, mp4, webm
- **Remove audio**: Strip audio track from videos

### Image Settings

- **Image quality**: highest, high, good, medium, acceptable
- **Image format**: same, webp, jpg, png
- **Image size**: Keep same, percentage, or fixed pixel width

### Subfolder Processing

Control whether to monitor subfolders:

| Option | Description |
| --- | --- |
| **None** | Only monitor the selected folder |
| **All** | Monitor all subfolders recursively |
| **Custom** | Set a maximum folder depth to monitor |

### Output Settings

#### Remove Input File

Enable to automatically delete the original file after compression.

#### Output Folder

| Option | Description |
| --- | --- |
| **Same** | Save compressed files in the same folder as input |
| **Nested** | Save to a subfolder (default: “compressed”) |
| **Custom** | Choose a specific output folder |

#### Output File Name Format

Customize the output file name using these variables:

| Variable | Description |
| --- | --- |
| `{timestamp}` | Current unix timestamp |
| `{datetime}` | Date and time in “yyyy-MM-dd’T’HHmmss” format |
| `{date}` | Date in “yyyy-MM-dd” format |
| `{time}` | Time in “HHmmss” format |
| `{quality}` | Quality of the output file |
| `{resolution}` | Resolution of the output file |

Each monitored folder can have its own independent compression settings.