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A Rule is the customer-facing intake gate. It describes what a customer is allowed to upload for a given product, drop-zone, or API endpoint, and decides — synchronously, while the customer waits — whether each file is accepted, accepted with warnings, or rejected. A Rule covers exactly four things: cardinality (how many files), acceptance (which file types), preflight (the check to run per type), and onFail (what to do when a check fails). It does not describe what happens after acceptance — fixing, optimizing, merging, exporting all belong to the Workflow. Rules live in Library → Upload Rules.
Upload Rules list in the Library with file types and clone-template actions

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Create one

1

Open the Library

Go to Library → Upload Rules. Clone a template that’s close to your product, or click New Upload Rule.
2

Name it and add instructions

Give the rule a clear title. The optional upload instructions are shown to customers in the upload area.
3

Set cardinality

Choose how many files the customer must provide (below).
4

Accept file types

Add each file type you accept, with an optional max size and an optional check (below).
5

Save

Click Save. The rule can now be assigned to a Workflow.
Edit Upload Rule form showing count range, file type, preflight profile selection, and on-fail policy

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Cardinality: how many files

Cardinality is how many files the rule requires and allows. Two modes:

Count range

A MIN and MAX — for example 1–1 for a single artwork, or 1–4 to allow up to four. The customer must provide at least MIN before the job can proceed.

Named slots

A defined role per file — for example Front and Back for a double-sided card. Each slot is its own labelled drop target.

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Accepted file types

Click Add File Type for each type you accept (PDF, PNG, JPG…), and optionally set a max file size. For each type you can decide whether — and how — to check the file.

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Preflight or validation

Toggle Run a preflight or a validation check against uploaded file, then pick what runs. This is the only check performed while the customer waits, so it stays fast; heavier transforms happen later in the Workflow.

Preflight against a Profile

Choose a Preflight Profile — a PDF type lists PDF profiles, a raster type lists Raster profiles. The file is checked against that profile’s checks.

Validation against a standard

Choose a conformance standard instead — PDF/A (1a–4f) or PDF/UA (accessibility). The file is validated for conformance rather than checked against your custom profile.
Preflight and validation are mutually exclusive per file type — you pick one. Only PDF and raster types can be checked; other types (vector, office) are converted to PDF at intake and processed downstream.

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If the check fails

Set the onFail policy per file type:
PolicyResult
RejectThe file is blocked; the customer can’t proceed until it passes.
Accept with warningsThe file proceeds, flagged with warnings.
Manual reviewThe file is held for an admin to review before it proceeds.
This policy is what Filecheck collapses into the canProceed flag your store reads. See Jobs.

Next: add this Rule to a Workflow

Assign the rule at a workflow’s intake stage and define the processing that follows.