> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://cortex-docs.paloaltonetworks.com/xsoar-6-administrator-guide/6.15/customize-cortex-xsoar/customize-and-configure-cortex-xsoar/incidents/pre-process-rules.md).

# Pre-Process Rules

Create Cortex XSOAR 6.15 pre-process rules to automate actions on incoming incidents.

Pre-Process rules enable you to perform certain actions on incidents as soon as they are ingested into Cortex XSOAR directly from the user interface. Through these rules, you can select incoming events on which to perform actions, for example, link the incoming incident to an existing incident, or under pre-configured conditions, drop the incoming incident altogether.

You can de-duplicate incidents by selecting the **Link and Close** action in the **Pre-Process Rules** tab. To create a pre-process rule, see [Create Pre-Process Rules for Incidents](/xsoar-6-administrator-guide/6.14/customize-cortex-xsoar/customize-and-configure-cortex-xsoar/incidents/pre-process-rules/create-pre-process-rules-for-incidents.md). After you create a pre-process rule, in the **Pre-Process Rules** tab, you can do the following:

* View, edit, copy, or delete the Pre-Process Rule.
* Enable/disable the Pre-Process Rule.

The **Link and Close** action creates an entry in the Linked Incidents table of the existing incident to which you link, and closes the incoming incident. If an existing incident matching the defining criteria is not found, an incident is created for the incoming event.

For troubleshooting, you might need to identify which pre-process rule was triggered. To store pre-process logs in a separate file, go to Settings → About → Troubleshooting → **Add Server Configuration** and add **`preprocess.logs.file`** with the value **`true`**.


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