Some kinds of folders are reindexed automatically and immediately upon receipt of an external event. For example, a multi-branch project will recheck its SCM repository for new or removed or modified branches when it receives an SCM change notification. (Push notification may be configured as per the SCM plugin used for each respective branch source.) Such notifications can occasionally be unreliable, however, or Jenkins might not even be running to receive them. In some cases no immediate notification is even possible, for example because Jenkins is behind a firewall and can only poll an external system.

This trigger allows for a periodic fallback, but when necessary. If no indexing has been performed in the specified interval, then an indexing will be scheduled. For example, in the case of a multi-branch project, if the source control system is not configured for push notification, set a short interval (most people will pick between 15 minutes and 1 hour). If the source control system is configured for push notification, set an interval that corresponds to the maximum acceptable delay in the event of a lost push notification as the last commit of the day. (Subsequent commits should trigger indexing anyway and result in the commit being picked up, so most people will pick between 4 hours and 1 day.)