Before you configure this connector, you have to whitelist the Less IP address. This enables Less to connect to your Azure Files environment.

You can configure whitelisting rule on your Storage Account by navigating to “Security + networking” and click “Networking”. You either need to enable traffic on all networks or whitelist the Less IP.

Feel free to contact us if you need assistance whitelisting.

1

Azure Files Connection String

Navigate to the Storage Account. Go the “Security + networking” and click “Access keys”. Copy one of the Connection strings and input it here.

2

File Name

Input the name of the File Share you want to extract data from. You can see your files shares by navigating to “Data storage” and “File shares” from the Storage Account overview.

3

Directory

Input the name or path of the directory in the relevant File share from which you want to extract data.

4

Match Files Using Patterns

File patterns help you find specific files using simple rules. Think of them as search filters that use wildcards (*) to represent “anything can go here.” Here’s how they work:

  • The * wildcard is like a blank space that matches any text:

    • “*.csv” finds: “sales.csv”, “report.csv”, “data.csv”
    • “2024*.xlsx” finds: “2024_Q1.xlsx”, “2024_Sales.xlsx”, “2024report.xlsx”

  • You can use multiple wildcards:

    • ”*_report_*.csv” finds: “sales_report_2024.csv”, “daily_report_01.csv”
    • “LOG_*_*.parquet” finds: “LOG_2024_01.parquet”, “LOG_ERROR_tuesday.parquet”

This is especially useful when you’re dealing with files that follow a naming pattern but vary in specific parts, like dates or categories.

You can also just input the full file name of a single file if you only want to extract that specific file.

5

Select File Format

Select the file format that matches your pattern matching. In other words, it a good idea to add a .xlsx in Step #4 to ensure you only get Excel files - if you’re looking to get Excel files.

This selection does not control that you get all - e.g. - Excel files. It only controls how Less parses all the files that match your pattern in Step #4.

You can choose between CSV files, Excel files and Parquet parsing.

6

Optional: Delimiter

This is optional and only relevant if you’re extracting CSV files.

Input the delimiter by which Less should split your CSV files. Default to comma.

7

Optional: Encoding

This is optional and only relevant if you’re extracting CSV files.

Input the CSV file encoding. Defaults to UTF-8.