Local File Read

Let the person running the workflow pick a file from their computer and read it in.

What it does

When the node runs, it opens your computer’s file picker. You choose one file (or several, if allowed), and the node reads it as text, a data URL or base64.

You always choose the file yourself. A workflow can never name or open a file on its own, so the node needs no special permission. It is the reading counterpart of Download as file.

When to use it

• Feed a CSV, JSON or text file from your disk into a workflow.
• Hand an image or PDF to a workflow without uploading it anywhere first.
• Not for unattended runs: a scheduled or background workflow cannot open a picker. Use an Http Request to fetch files from a URL instead.

Inputs and settings

Setting	Type	What it does
Read as	Choice	How to read the content of the selected file(s). Options: Text, Data URL, Base64. Default: Text
Allow multiple files	Toggle	Allow selecting more than one file in the picker. Default: Off
Accepted file types	Text	Comma-separated list of extensions and/or MIME types to filter the picker, e.g. ".csv,.txt".

• Read as: pick Text for CSV, JSON, XML and plain text. Pick Data URL for images and PDFs, so later nodes keep the file type. Base64 gives the raw bytes as base64 with no type prefix.
• Accepted file types: list extensions with a leading dot, for example .csv,.json. Extensions are the reliable choice here.

Outputs

• Output

With one file, the output is a single object:

Field	Description
name	The file name, for example report.csv.
size	The size in bytes.
type	The file’s type, for example text/csv. Can be empty for unknown types.
content	The file content, read as chosen in Read as.

With Allow multiple files on, the output is a list of these objects, so the next node runs once per file. Use {{ $input.content }} to pass the content on.

Dependencies and credentials

None. This node needs no connection and has no slots for other nodes.

Example workflow

1. Start with a When Started trigger and run the workflow yourself.
2. Local File Read with Read as Text and Accepted file types .csv.
3. Extract From File on Auto-detect turns the CSV into one item per row.
4. Limit with Max Items 20 keeps the first 20 rows for the next steps.

Common issues

• “Local File Read needs an interactive run in a Chromium-based browser (File System Access API unavailable).” The file picker only exists in Chromium-based browsers such as Chrome or Edge. Run the workflow there.
• “File selection cancelled.” The picker was closed without choosing a file. Run again and pick one.
• The picker does not open on a scheduled run. The browser only opens a picker after you click or press a key. Start the workflow yourself.
• The picker fails when Accepted file types contains a type like text/csv. Use extensions with a leading dot instead, for example .csv.

Related nodes

• Extract From File: turn the picked file into items.
• Download as file: save data to a file.
• PDF Parser: read text from a picked PDF.