diff --git a/plugins/action.go b/plugins/action.go
index 8de065d..31d0938 100644
--- a/plugins/action.go
+++ b/plugins/action.go
@@ -14,5 +14,6 @@ import (
 // The Process method takes a log message, a slice of match groups, and a
 // configuration map, and returns an error if any occurs during processing.
 type Action interface {
-	Process(logmessage parsesyslog.LogMsg, matchgroup []string, confmap map[string]any) error
+	Config(confmap map[string]any) error
+	Process(logmessage parsesyslog.LogMsg, matchgroup []string) error
 }
diff --git a/plugins/actions/file/file.go b/plugins/actions/file/file.go
index 32f1c60..7f8fae8 100644
--- a/plugins/actions/file/file.go
+++ b/plugins/actions/file/file.go
@@ -15,11 +15,26 @@ import (
 )
 
 // File represents a file action that can be performed on a log message.
-type File struct{}
+type File struct {
+	Enabled        bool
+	FilePath       string
+	OutputTemplate string
+	Overwrite      bool
+}
 
-// Process satisfies the plugins.Action interface for the File type
-// It takes in the log message (lm), match groups (mg), and configuration map (cm).
-func (f *File) Process(lm parsesyslog.LogMsg, mg []string, cm map[string]any) error {
+// Config satisfies the plugins.Action interface for the File type
+// It updates the configuration of the File action based on the provided
+// configuration map.
+//
+// It expects the configuration map to have a key "file" which contains a submap
+// with the following keys:
+//   - "output_filepath" (string): Specifies the file path where the output will be written.
+//   - "output_template" (string): Specifies the template to use for formatting the output.
+//   - "overwrite" (bool, optional): If true, the file will be overwritten instead of appended to.
+//
+// If any of the required configuration parameters are missing or invalid, an error
+// is returned.
+func (f *File) Config(cm map[string]any) error {
 	if cm["file"] == nil {
 		return nil
 	}
@@ -27,22 +42,40 @@ func (f *File) Process(lm parsesyslog.LogMsg, mg []string, cm map[string]any) er
 	if !ok {
 		return fmt.Errorf("missing configuration for file action")
 	}
+	f.Enabled = true
+
+	fp, ok := c["output_filepath"].(string)
+	if !ok || fp == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("no output_filename configured for file action")
+	}
+	f.FilePath = fp
+
 	ot, ok := c["output_template"].(string)
 	if !ok || ot == "" {
 		return fmt.Errorf("not output_template configured for file action")
 	}
+	f.OutputTemplate = ot
 
-	fn, ok := c["output_filepath"].(string)
-	if !ok || fn == "" {
-		return fmt.Errorf("no output_filename configured for file action")
+	if ow, ok := c["overwrite"].(bool); ok && ow {
+		f.Overwrite = true
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+// Process satisfies the plugins.Action interface for the File type
+// It takes in the log message (lm), match groups (mg), and configuration map (cm).
+func (f *File) Process(lm parsesyslog.LogMsg, mg []string) error {
+	if !f.Enabled {
+		return nil
 	}
 
 	of := os.O_APPEND | os.O_CREATE | os.O_WRONLY
-	if ow, ok := c["overwrite"].(bool); ok && ow {
-		of = os.O_WRONLY | os.O_CREATE
+	if f.Overwrite {
+		of = os.O_TRUNC | os.O_CREATE | os.O_WRONLY
 	}
 
-	fh, err := os.OpenFile(fn, of, 0o600)
+	fh, err := os.OpenFile(f.FilePath, of, 0o600)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to open file for writing in file action: %w", err)
 	}
@@ -50,16 +83,18 @@ func (f *File) Process(lm parsesyslog.LogMsg, mg []string, cm map[string]any) er
 		_ = fh.Close()
 	}()
 
-	t, err := template.Compile(lm, mg, ot)
+	t, err := template.Compile(lm, mg, f.OutputTemplate)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	_, err = fh.WriteString(t)
 	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write log message to file %q: %w", fn, err)
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to write log message to file %q: %w",
+			f.FilePath, err)
 	}
-	if err := fh.Sync(); err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("failed to sync memory to file %q: %w", fn, err)
+	if err = fh.Sync(); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to sync memory to file %q: %w",
+			f.FilePath, err)
 	}
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/server.go b/server.go
index b84ed4e..8c1d241 100644
--- a/server.go
+++ b/server.go
@@ -189,7 +189,11 @@ func (s *Server) processMessage(lm parsesyslog.LogMsg) error {
 			mg := r.Regexp.FindStringSubmatch(lm.Message.String())
 			for n, a := range actions.Actions {
 				s.log.Debug("trying to execute action", slog.String("action_name", n))
-				if err := a.Process(lm, mg, r.Actions); err != nil {
+				if err := a.Config(r.Actions); err != nil {
+					s.log.Error("failed to config action", LogErrKey, err,
+						slog.String("action", n), slog.String("rule_id", r.ID))
+				}
+				if err := a.Process(lm, mg); err != nil {
 					s.log.Error("failed to process action", LogErrKey, err,
 						slog.String("action", n), slog.String("rule_id", r.ID))
 				}