Your IoT Sensor Data Export Jobs on Tools.Valarm.net will automatically send your measurements to your favorite web storage services, like Dropbox (covered in this tutorial below), Amazon S3, Google Drive, FTP servers, and Microsoft OneDrive.

In this tutorial you’ll learn step-by-step how to set up an export job to automagically upload your sensor information to your Dropbox folder. You can choose to do your exports manually or at regular time intervals.

We’ll go over the key steps for this Dropbox export job software feature. If you want more details about the whole software feature, or would like to use Google Drive, have a gander at this HowTo guide for exporting to Google Drive.

Let’s get started. First off you’ll login to your Tools.Valarm.net and go to your IoT Device Manager.

You can see in the screenshot the sample data for the IoT sensor device that we’ll be using in this demo.

Your Export Jobs software feature is on your Device Manager page.

In the screenshot you can see a red arrow pointing to the blue button that you’ll click to go to your Export Jobs page.

On your Export Jobs page, you’ll see your list of export jobs you’ve got currently set up. In the demo screenshot you’ll see we already have an Export Job for exporting to a Google Drive folder.

Let’s make an export job for exporting your Industrial IoT sensor information to your Dropbox folder.

Click the Authorize Dropbox button.

You’ll be taken to a Dropbox login screen.

Follow the steps to sign in to your Dropbox and link your Dropbox account to your Tools.Valarm.net account.

After you’ve successfully linked your Tools.Valarm.net and Dropbox accounts, click the green button on your Export Jobs page in order to Create a New Export Job.

You’ll see your new export job window with various options and fields that you’ll configure to set up your export job just the way you want it.

At the top under Basics, you’ll write a name and description for your export job. Add a name and notes that make it easy for you, your teams, or anyone else at your organization to remember just why you made this Dropbox Export Job.

Under Data Generation, you’ll pick a Schedule. I recommend that you use Manual jobs at first, until you get familiar with the Export Job software features. Then once you’re confident with how to use this tool to export your IoT sensor measurements, explore and configure scheduled exports.

Choose the Time Zone you’d like your data output to use.

For Manual Export Jobs you can select a from and to date using the calendars. If you’re using the scheduled alerts then you won’t use the calendars since Valarm Tools Cloud will automatically include only your latest, newest sensor readings that have happened since your previous export.

Next up, you’ll choose your Source Type. You’ll be able to select whether you’d like to export a single device, device group, or other options that you and our customers suggest to us.

For your Output Format you can choose between file data formats like CSV, SHEF, or JSON.

Under Output Columns, pick your custom field names you’d like to be used for your export files. If you haven’t already set these up, then follow these step-by-step instructions in our sensor field / column renaming, aliasing, and nicknaming guide.

With Threshold Filtering, you can set up constraint configurations that limit which data will be written to your output file. You can set up a filter that restricts which of your sensor measurements will be saved with your export job. For example, you may only want to include IoT sensor reports that have a relative humidity sensor value above 40%.

You can click the checkbox if you’d like to enable Threshold Filtering. And have a look at our example screenshot to see just how we set up a filter for only exporting sensor readings that have a humidity measurement above 40%. You’ll find these threshold filters useful for monitoring water, air, hydro, equipment, or anything else you’re monitoring.

Last up under Data Generation is your Sort Order. You can choose whether you’d like your sensor information written to your export file in ascending or descending order based on each time stamp.

Let’s finish up configuring this IoT sensor export to save a file Dropbox. In the Output / Destination section you’ll pick Dropbox from the dropdown menu.

You can choose if you’d like your file to use Compression with a technology like Zip or Gz. Remember to include what you choose in your file name below if you choose a static / fixed file name.

Type in your Folder / Directory where you’d like to save your export job file.

Choose a File Naming Format. You can use automatically generated file names that use variables like export times or device names. You can also use a custom static, fixed file name that you can type in like we’ve done in the example screenshot. If you’re using a custom file name remember to include any file name extensions based on your output format and compression. You’ll see that we chose to use the CSV file format and Zip compression in this example. That’s why we’ve added .csv.zip to the end of the file name.

You’re done. Save your configuration and go back to your Export Jobs page.

You’ll see your new Dropbox export job is available in your list.

Click the green Run Now button to fire up your newly made export job.

After your export job runs, you can refresh your Export Jobs page to see the status of your export.

You’ll see your IoT sensor export file on your Dropbox if your export ran successfully.

You can download your file, unzip it, and open it in your favorite program in order to verify it worked correctly.

We’ve opened the sensor export in Microsoft Excel to check that all is good in the world. And yes, our export operation was a wonderful success. Our CSV file only included sensor reports that had a humidity sensor reading above 40%, just like we wanted since we set up the constraints with threshold filtering up above.

Now you can use your Export Jobs for offsite backups or any other application like integrating your Industrial IoT sensors with other business intelligence and analytics software.

That’s your overview of how to configure Tools.Valarm.net Export Jobs for automatically exporting your IoT sensor data to your Dropbox account folders.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at Info@Valarm.net if you’ve got any questions, need other export destinations, formats, or anything else to help your organization save your time and your money with Industrial IoT sensor solutions.