Onboarding · Files
How counties send files
SentraDeed works from the exports your Recorder and Assessor offices already produce. Each business day, the county sends a Recorder index and an Assessor extract, plus document images if the index has no APN. Here is how the files get in, what happens to them, and what they should look like.
1. Secure file transfer (SFTP)
Each county gets one SFTP account of its own, with key-based login, that can write only to that county's folders:
| Folder | What goes there | Example file name |
|---|---|---|
/inbound/recorder/ | The daily Recorder index | recorder_index_20260915.csv |
/inbound/assessor/ | The Assessor extract (full roll or change file) | assessor_extract_20260915.csv |
/inbound/images/ | Document images, only if the index has no APN | 202609150030.tif |
- Upload under a temporary name ending in
.part, for examplerecorder_index_20260915.csv.part. - Rename the file when the upload is complete by removing
.part. Partial files are never imported. - SentraDeed checks the folders every minute and picks up each completed file automatically.
2. Upload in the staff console
Staff can also upload a file by hand in Files & runs in the staff console, choosing whether it is a Recorder index or an Assessor extract. This is useful during onboarding or to resend a corrected file.
3. What happens next
- Duplicate check. A file with the same content as one already received is recognized and ignored, so resending is safe.
- Validation. The file is checked against the county's mapping profile: required columns, dates, document types and APN format.
- Load. Valid rows are loaded and processed. Rejected rows are listed with the reason, so the county can fix them at the source.
- Intake log. Staff see every file found and what happened to it: loaded, ignored as a duplicate, or rejected.
- Missing-file alert. A daily cutoff raises a "file missing" alert if the Recorder file hasn't arrived, so a late export is noticed while the 30-day clock is still running.
4. File formats
Files can be CSV or other delimited text, or fixed-width. The county does not change its exports to match SentraDeed: its own column names, date formats, document-type codes and APN layout are mapped to SentraDeed's fields once, at onboarding, in a mapping profile. Other export types can be discussed during onboarding.
If a county is designing new exports, these layouts are the simplest: UTF-8, comma-delimited with a header row, dates as YYYY-MM-DD, one file per source per day, and every document recorded that day (covered or not).
Recorder index: one row per recorded document
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
doc_number | Yes | Unique document number (or book and page) |
recording_date | Yes | Starts the 30-day notice clock |
doc_type | Yes | The county's own name or code; mapped to deed, quitclaim deed, mortgage, deed of trust or "not covered" |
grantor_names | Yes | The parties who signed; several names separated by | |
grantee_names | Yes | Used for the government-grantee exemption |
apn_as_recorded | Optional | If the index has no APN, it is read from the document image |
page_count, image_ref | Optional | Page count; image file name if it differs from the document number |
Assessor extract: one row per parcel
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
apn | Yes | With or without dashes |
owner_name | Yes | Owner of record as on the tax bill |
mail_address_1, mail_city, mail_state, mail_zip | Yes | Tax-bill mailing address (mail_address_2 and mail_country optional) |
mail_address_effective_date | Recommended | When the mailing address took effect. The notice must go to the address established before recording |
situs_address | Optional | Property location; used for resident alert sign-up |
parcel_status, successor_apns | Optional | Retired parcels and their successors after a split or merge |
extract_as_of_date | Yes (or in the file name) | The date the extract reflects |
5. Document images
Images are needed only when the Recorder index has no APN. Send one multi-page TIFF per document, named <document number>.tif (for example 202609150030.tif), with or before the index that lists it. SentraDeed reads page one first, then later pages up to 10. Uncertain readings go to staff with the page shown and the APN outlined; they never produce a notice on their own.
6. Data handling
- Encryption in transit. Files travel over SFTP (AWS Transfer Family) or HTTPS.
- Image retention. Document images are purged 30 days after receipt by default; the period is configurable per county.
- No data sold. County data is used only to run the county's program.
- Hosting. SentraDeed runs on AWS in us-west-2 with U.S. data residency, HTTPS only, and encryption at rest. See Security.
See it run on your files
We'll walk your Recorder and Assessor teams through a full cycle on a few days of your own exports: intake, matching, exceptions, a print-ready batch and the resident portal.