diff --git a/storage/tail/28-tail.html b/storage/tail/28-tail.html
index 08a5014c..80c50fb0 100644
--- a/storage/tail/28-tail.html
+++ b/storage/tail/28-tail.html
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@
 <script type="text/x-red" data-help-name="tail">
     <p>Tails (watches for things to be added) to the configured file.</p>
     <p>Note: On Windows you may need to close the file between writes for any updates to be registered.</p>
+    <h3>Input</h3>
+    <dl class="message-properties">
+        <dt class="optional">filename <span class="property-type">string</span></dt>
+        <dd>If not configured in the node, this optional property sets the name of the file to be tailed.
+        If an empty string <code>""</code> is received, the tailing will stop.</dd>
+    </dl>
     <h3>Outputs</h3>
     <ul>
         <li>Text (UTF-8) files will be returned as strings.</li>
@@ -41,10 +47,11 @@
             name: {value:""},
             filetype: {value:"text"},
             split: {value:"[\\r]{0,1}\\n"},
-            filename: {value:"",required:true}
+            filename: {value:""},
+            inputs: {value:1}
         },
         color:"BurlyWood",
-        inputs:0,
+        inputs:1,
         outputs:1,
         icon: "file.png",
         label: function() {
@@ -58,6 +65,14 @@
                 if (this.value === "text") { $("#node-tail-split").show(); }
                 else { $("#node-tail-split").hide(); }
             });
-        }
+        },
+        oneditsave: function() {
+            var that = this;
+            if($("#node-input-filename").val()===""){
+                that.inputs = 1;
+            } else {
+               that.inputs = 0;
+           }
+       }
     });
 </script>
diff --git a/storage/tail/28-tail.js b/storage/tail/28-tail.js
index 959b9457..d1c4ba7d 100644
--- a/storage/tail/28-tail.js
+++ b/storage/tail/28-tail.js
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
     function TailNode(n) {
         RED.nodes.createNode(this,n);
 
-        this.filename = n.filename;
+        this.filename = n.filename || "";
         this.filetype = n.filetype || "text";
         this.split = new RegExp(n.split.replace(/\\r/g,'\r').replace(/\\n/g,'\n').replace(/\\t/g,'\t') || "[\r]{0,1}\n");
         var node = this;
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
                 });
 
                 node.tail.on("error", function(err) {
+                    node.status({ fill: "red",shape:"ring", text: "node-red:common.status.error" });
                     node.error(err.toString());
                 });
             }
@@ -46,7 +47,29 @@ module.exports = function(RED) {
             }
         }
 
-        fileTail();
+        if (node.filename !== "") {
+            node.status({});
+            fileTail();
+        } else {
+            node.status({ fill: "grey", text: "tail.state.stopped" });
+            node.on('input', function (msg) {
+                if (!msg.hasOwnProperty("filename")) {
+                    node.error(RED._("tail.state.nofilename"));
+                }else if (msg.filename === node.filename) {
+                    node.warn(RED._("tail.state.nofilechange"));
+                } else if (msg.filename === "") {
+                    node.filename = "";
+                    if (node.tail) { node.tail.unwatch(); }
+                    if (node.tout) { clearTimeout(node.tout); }
+                    node.status({ fill: "grey", text: "tail.state.stopped" });
+                } else {
+                    node.filename = msg.filename;
+                    if (node.tail) { node.tail.unwatch(); }
+                    if (!node.tout) { fileTail(); }
+                    node.status({ fill: "green", text: node.filename });
+                } 
+            });
+        }
 
         node.on("close", function() {
             /* istanbul ignore else */
diff --git a/storage/tail/locales/en-US/28-tail.json b/storage/tail/locales/en-US/28-tail.json
index dd2da852..6146a650 100644
--- a/storage/tail/locales/en-US/28-tail.json
+++ b/storage/tail/locales/en-US/28-tail.json
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@
         "errors": {
             "windowsnotsupport": "Not currently supported on Windows.",
             "filenotfound": "File not found"
+        },
+        "state":{
+            "stopped": "stopped",
+            "nofilename":"Missing filename on input",
+            "nofilechange":"No change of filename input"
         }
     }
 }