Scheduled tasks let you automate the entire audit workflow: scan directories on a schedule, export the results, and email them to stakeholders — all without manual intervention. Tasks are a Pro feature.
Task List
The Tasks view shows all configured scheduled tasks. Each task displays:
Name and associated profile
State — The current Windows Task Scheduler status (Ready, Running, Disabled, Error)
Last run — When the task last executed
Next run — When it’s scheduled to run next
You can create, edit, clone, and delete tasks from this view. The task list refreshes periodically to show updated state information.
Creating a Task
Click to create a new task. The task editor has four tabs:
Tab 1 — Task
Name — A descriptive name for the task (e.g., “Finance Server Weekly Audit”). The name is read-only after the task is first saved.
Profile — Select which audit profile to use. The task inherits all the profile’s directories, options, exclusions, and authentication settings.
Mode — Choose the task operation:
Export mode — Runs the audit and exports the results to a file
Change Detection mode — Runs the audit, compares it to the most recent saved audit for the same profile, and exports the change report. If no previous audit exists, it exports the current audit instead.
Enable debug logging — Turns on detailed logging for this task. Recommended only when troubleshooting problems, as debug logs can grow large.
Tab 2 — Export
Report View — Choose the export perspective:
Folder View — Permissions organized by folder hierarchy
Account View — Permissions organized by user/group
Format — Select the export file format: Excel (XLSX), CSV, HTML, XML, or PDF
Path — The directory where export files are saved. Each export gets a unique filename with a timestamp (e.g., FolderPermissionReport_20260330143022.xlsx). For change reports, the prefix is ChangeReport_.
Tab 3 — Email (optional)
Configure email delivery of the exported results:
Send to root directory owner — If enabled, the application looks up the email address of the root folder’s NTFS owner and sends the report to that address. If no email is found, it falls back to the “Email to” address below.
Email to — The recipient email address. For multiple recipients, separate addresses with a semicolon (;).
Email CC — Optional CC recipients, also semicolon-separated.
Email only if changes found — When using Change Detection mode, skips sending the email if no differences were detected. This prevents alert fatigue from “no changes” notifications.
Custom email body text — Override the default email body with your own text. Supports %DATE% and %DATETIME% variables that are replaced with the current date or date/time.
Email requires SMTP to be configured in Settings. The export file is included as an email attachment.
Tab 4 — Schedule
Start date and time — When the task first runs
Daily interval — How often to repeat (every 1 day = daily, every 7 days = weekly, etc.)
Task User Mode
Run whether user is logged on or not — The task runs even if nobody is logged into the machine. Requires entering credentials (username and password) for the account that will run the task.
Run only when user is logged on — The task only runs when the specified user is actively logged in.
For unattended automation, use “Run whether user is logged on or not” with a service account that has access to the target file servers.
How Tasks Execute
When a scheduled task fires:
Windows Task Scheduler launches NTFSPermissionsAuditorCmd.exe with the task ID as a parameter
The command-line tool loads the task configuration and profile from the database
The audit runs against the profile’s directories
Export mode: The results are exported to the configured path and format, then emailed if configured
Change Detection mode: The new audit is compared to the most recent saved audit. If changes are found, the change report is exported and emailed. If no changes and “email only if changes found” is enabled, no email is sent. If no changes and the option is disabled, a “no differences found” email is sent.
Task history is recorded: start/end times, machine name, user, errors, email recipients, export path
If the task fails (profile not found, export error, etc.), an error email is sent to the configured recipients with details about the failure, including the application version and error message.
Task History
Each task maintains a history of executions. The history shows:
Start time and end time
Machine name and username
Errors encountered (if any)
Email sent to (if any)
Export file path
This history helps you verify that tasks are running as expected and troubleshoot any failures.
Cloning and Deleting Tasks
Clone — Creates a copy of a task with all its settings (profile, mode, export options, email, schedule), named with a “ - clone” suffix. Useful for creating similar tasks with minor variations.
Delete — Removes the task from both the application database and Windows Task Scheduler.
Tips
Use descriptive names — “Finance Server - Weekly Change Detection” is more useful than “Task 1”
Set export paths to a shared location — So the exports are accessible even if the machine running the task is remote
Monitor task history — Check periodically that tasks are completing successfully
Use Change Detection mode for security monitoring — You’ll be alerted only when something changes, rather than receiving a full report every time
Combine with NIS2 — Use a NIS2-flagged profile with change detection for automated compliance monitoring