# Alert IT when the scanner or hot folder goes quiet

If no new documents of a type have arrived within a set time, email IT — a Content Delay trigger and a Send E-mail action — so a stopped scanner, a stuck hot folder, or a dead mailbox is noticed in an hour instead of a week.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.8+ · Audience: system-administrator · Time: 15 minutes · Last verified: 2026-09-05

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/alert-when-the-scanner-or-hot-folder-goes-quiet

**When you're done, Content Central emails IT whenever a document type that normally receives documents every day has received nothing within the window you set — turning a silent capture failure into a loud one.**

```plan
scope: document-type
trigger: Content Delay › Lack of Content Added in this Document Type | No Content Added Within: 1 Days · Process Interval: Every Hour · Reprocess Matching Records After: 1 Days
action: Send E-mail | Message Template: "No documents received" (Email, Workflow Access)
rule: "Nothing captured in 24 hours → email IT", enabled
```

Every other alarm in the library watches for documents that *did* arrive. This one watches for the absence — the failure mode of a jammed scanner, a hot folder blocked by one bad file, or a capture mailbox whose password changed.

## Build the trigger

1. Go to **Administration** > **Catalogs & Document Types**, pick the **Catalog** and the **Document Type** that should always be receiving (daily invoices, for example), click the **Workflow** tile, then **Triggers** > **New Trigger**.

2. **Type:** `Content Delay` and `Lack of Content Added in this Document Type`. **Trigger Name:** `No invoices captured in 24 hours`.

3. **No Content Added Within:** `1` `Days`. Choose a window longer than your longest normal gap — a weekend, if nobody scans on Saturday, means `3` `Days` for a Monday-to-Friday office (or see Variations for a weekday-only schedule).

4. **Process Interval:** `Every Hour`. **Process Start:** `On First Interval`. **Reprocess Matching Records After:** `1` `Days`, so IT hears once a day, not hourly, while the outage continues.

5. Click **Save**.

## Build the action

1. Click **Actions** > **New Action**. **Type:** `Send E-mail`. **Action Name:** `Email IT — nothing received`.

2. Pick the template under **Message Template:**. Its **To** is the IT address; its body should say which document type went quiet and point at the first things to check. **Save**.

## Wire the rule

1. Click **Rules** > **New Rule**. **Rule Name:** `Nothing captured in 24 hours → email IT`.

2. **Add Trigger:** `No invoices captured in 24 hours`. **Add Action:** `Email IT — nothing received`. **Apply**.

## Test it

1. On a test document type that receives nothing, set **No Content Added Within:** to `5` `Minutes` and **Process Interval** to `Every 5 Minutes`.

2. Wait for the interval.

**What you should see:** the alert email. Capture one document into the type and confirm the next run stays silent. Then set the real values, or delete the test rule.

## Variations

| Want this instead | Change this |
| --- | --- |
| Watch the whole system rather than one type | Global scope: **Administration** > **Workflow**, sub-type **Lack of All Content Added in the System** |
| Watch a whole catalog | Sub-type **Lack of Content Added in a Catalog** |
| Don't alarm on weekends | Keep **No Content Added Within:** at `3` `Days`, or run the check **Every Day** on a weekday-morning hour and accept a Monday alert |
| Also watch the capture service's backlog | Global trigger **System Query** › **Items Queued in the Capture Service** with **Minimum Items in the Capture Queue:** |
| Page someone instead of emailing | Point the template's **To** at your paging or ticketing address |

## What's next

- [Hot-folder documents aren't processing](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/capture/hot-folder-documents-arent-processing)
- [DirectScan can't see the scanner or the server](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/capture/directscan-cant-see-scanner-or-server)
- [Alert the AP manager when invoices sit in the Coding Queue too long](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/workflow/alert-when-invoices-sit-in-the-coding-queue)