What a trail is
A trail watches a folder. When it is switched on, every file that lands there is cleaned and checked automatically, then pushed to your CRM or held for your approval.
By Operelio team · Updated September 2026
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What a trail does
A trail takes the files that land in its folder. Each one is cleaned and checked, then pushed to HubSpot, Salesforce or Pipedrive, or held for your approval.
Each file gets its own run. The trail keeps a record of every run: what each stage did, what reached your CRM, and anything that stopped it.
You build a trail in a sandbox and test it on a real file before it goes live. New trails start switched off.
What a run goes through
Each run goes through these stages in order. The formatter and the push are on every trail that goes live. The others are optional.
| Stage | What it does | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cleaning steps | Up to 8 steps from Clean Headers, Deduplicate, Find & Replace, Filter & Extract, Column Manager and Remove suppressed contacts. | One job for all of them |
| Company Active Check | Scores each company's website and drops rows below the score you set. | One job |
| Verify emails | Checks every address. Quick clean uses no verify credits. A full check does. | One job |
| CRM Formatter | Maps your columns onto the CRM's fields with a saved mapping. | One job |
| Safety checks | Hold the push when something looks wrong, like most of the rows dropping out before the push, or values your CRM would refuse. | Free |
| Bridgeant review | Reads a summary of the run against rules you write, and can hold the push. It never pushes anything itself. | One Bridgeant message |
| Push | Creates and updates records in your CRM, or waits for your approval first. | Free |
A run uses up to four jobs, one for each job stage on the trail. They count toward your monthly jobs, the same as running the tools yourself.
Sandbox and live
The canvas has two tabs. You make changes on Sandbox. Live is the version that runs, and it stays as it is until you put the sandbox live.
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Dry run | Free. Shows what the cleaning steps would do to a file. Nothing is checked or pushed. |
| Test run | Runs the trail for real on a test file. It uses jobs, holds verify credits when the trail has a full email check, and never pushes to your CRM. |
| Put it live | Makes the sandbox the live trail, as a new version. Every run records the version it used. |
| Switch on | Starts the live trail on the files that arrive. |
| Pause | Stops the trail from picking up new files. A push already waiting for you stays waiting. |
Who can build and run trails
Only an admin can create a trail, change it, switch it on or pause it.
Anyone in the workspace can approve or discard a push that is waiting. By default, only admins can start a test run, change a stopped run or put its fix on the trail. On Pro and above, to let everyone do these, set Who can change a stopped run's settings to Everyone in the workspace, under Team in Settings.
Plans
Every plan can build and test trails. Switching one on starts at Starter.
| Free | Starter | Pro | Agency | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trails you can build | 1 | 5 | 20 | 50 shared across your workspaces |
| Trails switched on | No | 2 at a time | 10 at a time | 25 at a time, shared across your workspaces |
| Watched folders (per workspace) | No | 25 | 75 | 200 |
Frequently asked questions
Does anything reach my CRM without me?
It depends on the trail. A trail you start from scratch waits for your approval before every push, unless your workspace's trail settings default to pushing clean runs. Three templates push clean runs automatically. On any trail, a run the safety checks or Bridgeant flag waits for you.
Where can the files come from?
From the folder the trail watches. You can add a file from your computer, send one from your Library, email one to the folder's address, or upload one through the API. A trail does not watch Google Drive, Dropbox or an FTP server.
Can I change a trail after it is live?
Yes. Change it on Sandbox, test it, then put it live as the next version. Runs already recorded keep the version they ran.
Ready to get started?
Upload a file and run your first transformation. Free, no credit card required.