Watch Options are only available in Watch Mode and the options belong to the watch folder properties. Double click on a folder at the Watch Tab to see the options.

Trigger is a condition or event that stops directory monitoring and starts the image conversion. There are two different triggers available in ELAN Converter™:

How do you decide which more is good for you? If you want an automatic trigger, you really have to choose the No activity trigger, because only time can tell your intentions. The amount of time you choose depends on the way you put files in the watch folder. If you use Windows Explorer to copy files there, you can set up an extremely short amount, such as 5 seconds, because you can be sure that Windows does not halt the copy operation for a long time. The disadvantage is that you do not give yourself a margin to change your mind and make corrections. If you plan to copy files to a watch folder from many different places, give yourself enough time to complete the job before ELAN Converter™ starts the conversion.

If you use a 3rd party application to create files in the watch folder, you know how much time you usually need between two files being created in the watch folder. Make yourself enough time, so ELAN Converter™ does not start converting your folder before all the necessary files are there.

Sometimes you can not estimate the amount of time you need between two files, because time can not make a difference between two files arriving and two independent jobs arriving to the watch folder. Sometimes you know a safe time margin would cause too much of a delay. For example, files are coming to the watch folder 1-40 minutes apart, you don't know, you can not predict, but you know you don't want to wait 40 minutes for the conversion to start. You want to start the conversion manually. In this case, you have to reserve a special file name, such as "ready.txt", that you manually create or copy to the watch folder when you are ready. The contents of the file is irrelevant, it can even be empty, but it must show up in the watch folder. In this case ELAN Converter™ can detect that file within 1 second and start the conversion immediately. This is a good example for the File trigger.

You also want the File trigger if you are using a 3rd party package to create images, but you do not actually want to start the conversion until the job is released by the 3rd party program. If that program can create a certain file when the job is released, you can make ELAN Converter™ monitor that file and start the conversion when that file is ready. This is another typical example for the File trigger.