Yes, monitored folders are specifically designed to work with automated news and weather systems. They automatically detect when files are added, updated, or deleted in a folder, making them perfect for dynamic content that changes throughout the day.

To set up monitored folders for news and weather automation, go to Manage > Monitored Folders and click Add New. Point the folder path to where your automated systems drop their files. This could be a local folder, network drive, or cloud storage folder like Dropbox that your external systems use.

When configuring your monitored folder, tick Add tracks to track group and select an appropriate group like "News" or "Weather". This automatically organises incoming content and makes it easy to schedule these items in your clocks or playout pattern. You can also enable Analyse cue points to automatically set appropriate intro and outro points for your bulletins.

For systems that regularly replace files with the same filename, make sure to untick Delete tracks in the monitored folder settings. This prevents PlayIt Live from removing tracks from your database when files are temporarily unavailable during updates. Instead, when a file is replaced, PlayIt Live will update the existing track reference with the new audio content.

You can monitor the status of file changes through Tools > Monitored Folders Status to track when new content arrives. This setup ensures your station automatically picks up the latest news and weather content without any manual intervention, perfect for maintaining fresh content around the clock.