OS X :: Copying New Files To Another Folder With Folder Action?
Nov 19, 2009
Is there a way to create a folder-action that accomplishes what I'm about to describe?
I have iTunes-library (like most of us do). What I would like to accomplish is to copy my library to a server on my network. Of course I can do the initial copying manually, but what I would like to do is that whenever I add content to my library, a folder action kicks in, and copies that new content to the server.
Now, I created a folder action with Automator, and it kinda works. What it does is that it looks at certain folder, gets folder-contents (subfolders included, since iTunes-library resides in subfolders), and copies them to another folder. It works, but what happens is that it copies the subfolders and their contents AND the individual files separately. I mean that if I copy a folder called XXXX which contains subfolders called ZZZZ and YYYY, which in turn contain files ABCD and 1234, it doesn't copy the folder XXXX, but it does copy the subfolders ZZZZ and YYYY and their contents. All well? Well, no, since it also copies the individual files (ABCD and 1234) to the root of the destination-folder. What I would like to copy the folders in similar way they are in the original folder.
Also, what happens when I reboot my computer? When I log back in, would the folder copy the entire folder-structure all over again? I mean, I log in, the folder-actions runs, and copies the contents of the folder. What I would like it to do is to only copy files over when new files/folders are added.
I've downloaded shows from itunes, they are on a hard drive. Before, when I chose to play the file on itunes, it used to simply link (or source) the file from the hard drive, but recently it started copying the file to the iTunes folder (on my computer). This is very frustrating because I simply don't have enough space in my computer to have contain all these HD videos. Is there any way to have it linking to my files rather than having it copy over?
I cannot get Folder Actions Script working on Leopard 10.5.8.
I have put a simple script in ~/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/ and attached it to a folder on the Desktop, but no way to make it act.
I suspect it may be a permission issue, but I do not know how to repair it. I tried repairing permissions with Disk Utility and with Onyx, but no success.
Does any one know of a bug or a log for folder scripts that do not run? I am trying to get a basic folder script (to replace %20 in the file name) of the Downloads folder.
When downloading multiple files (two or more) it runs only on the first file, successfully without error, and then never runs on the second file. If I move both of the files out of the Downloads folder and move it back it, the one file that does not get the folder action now does and everything is peachy.So it is not that the folder action is not scripted properly. It is just that the folder does not catch the second file download - guess maybe too fast? Has any one seen this or have this bug?
I am running OS 10.6.8, using Automator to create a Folder Action. The input is a single folder containing 2 or more PDF files. I drop this folder onto the folder with the action attached. All of the PDFs are combined and the resulting PDF is copied to a new location.
It works very well with one problem. The name of the combined PDF is an automatically generated system name. I would like this PDF file name to change to the name of the original folder that contained the original PDFs.
To summarize: "Folder A" has the action attached. "Folder B" contains 2 or more PDFs. I drop Folder B onto Folder A. Automator creates a new combined PDF. I would like this to be named "Folder B.pdf"
I want to create a Folder Action to run the following shell script on all files with extension .vcs:
sed '1d' >reminder.ics
The job of the Folder Action is to take any Calendar item files downloaded from TVGuide.co.uk, remove the first line and then save them as .ics files. The reason for this is that the files are automatically generated with a carriage return on the first line, which BusyCal (being strict about these things) doesn't like. It then rejects the whole file.
I have tried doing this with Automator but the result didn't work.
If it's possible to have the Folder Action retain the original file name (ie. everything pre-extension) that'd be a bonus.
I removed MailPilot that I was trying and somewhere the Folder MailPilot still exists. I tried to trash it, remove it, rename it and nothing can be done with it...it says that folder does not exist.
Is there any way to clean that out of my IMAP directory. It doesn't show up on iClould or Mail but does show up on Postbox. Yet the error is clear that my IMAP account still thinks it is there.
Using Mavericks. The Apple Mail program does NOT show this directory but is still must exist somewhere.
I created a folder action in Automator and can't find it to edit it or delete it. I've looked everywhere I could think of and ran a spotlight search but I can't find the .workflow document. All I want to do is delete the workflow.
Please accept my apologies if I'm posting in the wrong section . I've been using the fantastic Create Booklet PDF Service (workflow) by Christoph Vogelbusch (his page is on .mac, so it just went bye-bye). I'd like to turn this worklfow into a folder action so that when a file is added to the folder, a pdf booklet is created automatically. In particular, I'm interested in doing this in Microsoft Word. Can anyone tell me if this is even possible, and if so, either point me in the right direction (or, at least, to the best Automator community where I might repost this request)?
Info: 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.3)
(1) How can i have get-info on a folder display the number of files *in* the folder?I do not like having to count them by hand.
(2), how can i get new folders (and other files) to be placed at the bottom of a drive's window rather than off to the right at the top of the window..?
I have hundreds of files on this drive, arranged essentially in a tall column 3 or 4 files wide. I DON'T want new folders (or files that i copy or save to the drive) being placed all the way up at the top, out of view to the right because then i have to drag them all the way down to the bottom. Follow? Yet, this is what OSX is doing (usually).
Info: PowerMac, Mac OS X (10.4.11), G4; G5; Dual-Core iMac.
I'm a new mac user coming from Windows. I was copying a folder called Projects from my external drive to my MBP over the existing Projects folder thinking contents will be added to the existing content. However it seems that the old contents were deleted and new ones added. Is this how Mac OS operates? Is there a possibility to recover all this lost data? It's really annoying and it seems like a bug.
My iTunes folder files keep on copying to the desktop. These files are iTunes library, Album artwork, etc.
I have tried to change the file location in iTunes preferences, but it still doesn't work. I had the folders in the correct place before in the music folder on my hardrive, but I tried to play another library that was on the desktop but now it keeps saving the itunes library files there. I have also tried to delete everything on the desktop and when I open itunes it automatically creates the same files on my desktop again.
I have automator running a weekly task of making a copy of a 10gb folder (database) and into copying 2 (120 seconds) minutes of the 10 minutes it is going to take automator comes back with an error "Finder got an error" Connection is invalid. I know its the size of the folder as i ran it on a different folder and ran successfully. How can i extent the "timeout" period of when it is copying a folder? it needs at least 10 minutes to copy 10gb.
I have an itunes music folder with songs and movies. I want to create a new library using those files. How do i add them without copying them to the new library? When i do the"add to library" it starts copying the flies causing an error because there's not enough disk space.
I had a simple folder action created in Automator that scaled images to 800 pixels whenever i added files to a specific folder. It does not work anymore. I have tried recreating the action in a new folder and all i get is a warning: "The action “Scale Images” was not supplied with the required data."
Hi. How do I copy or move backups.backupdb folder from my ext. hdd (WD My Book 1 Tb) to Mac hdd (Machintosh HDD). I use Time Machine for backing up directli on my ext. hdd with one partition. Now I want to make two parttions on My Book, one reserved and limited only for backups. For that reason I need to restore and wipe ext. hdd, and I don't want to lose existing backup, I want them temporaly save in Mac hdd and after reformating ext. hdd put back on it. Any sugestions how to do it on the easyest possible way???
When i want to delete hide folder from usb, it says "The folder “trashes” can’t be moved into one of its subfolders".. What does it mean and how can i delete it??
I've come across a strange behaviour of Finder when copying a folder over another with the same name. I'm using 10.4.11.
Say I have a folder named "Test" and it contains "File1" and "File2" and I copy it over another folder named "Test", which contains "File3" and "File4". After copying I would expect folder "Test" to contain all four files, but it doesn't! It will only contain the two that I copied over, the original two will be deleted.
Is there any way to have finder replace files of the same name when copying and retain all other files in the destination folder?
After installing Lion, I can no longer move program icons from my applications folder to a sub folder. When I do, it makes a copy and leave the original in the applications folder. When I then try to delete the icon in the applications folder it tells me it's required by the OS and won't let me delete. I'm forced to keep certan applications such as Time Machine and Stickies in the application folder.
I have a hard drive on my 2008 MacPro that's problematic and so I bought a new drive and installed Mavericks on it and am booting just fine on the new drive. There is however, one folder in the Library/Preferences folder that I need to copy over to the new drive. All the tricks for accessing the Library folder work great on the start up drive, but I can't seem to access the Library folder on the old drive (both drives in the MacPro as it has 4 drive bays), even though the drive will mount. How can I see that Library folder on the old drive? Note while I can mount the old drive, I can't boot to it.
How can I permanently remove the Photoshop Updater folder from the Documents folder, and then re-locate it to a more appropriate folder, like the Library folder?
I would like to create a Smart folder that only has applications & utilities in a sub-folder.
This will be similar to the default applications folder that shows in the dock, but without all the extra files & folders - just a list of applications.
I can do this by esily by just having a smart folder of applications showing only type=application.
However, I would still like to have utilities in a sub-folder.
If thats not possible, then it would be OK to have 2 seperate smart folders, 1 for apps excluding utilities & 1 for utilities only.
Is there some way in the smart folder options i can exclude a sub directory?
I must have done something to my installation of OS X. When I go to create a new folder, it automatically creates the folder with the name "untitled folder". The problem is, the name isn't selected. Normally, when you create a new folder, you can just type the name immediately. For me, I have to create the new folder, then click on the name to select the text and then type it. Also, when I do go to type in the new name, the text "untitled folder" doesn't disappear. I just type over it.
I would like to create an archive of important application installers and I will sync the contents between two systems MacPro and Macbook Pro.
I need to pull the names of the application/developers from somewhere so I figured I would use the Application Support directory.
So I need a way to copy this directories folder structure without any of the file contents. Is there an easy way to do this. I found a post with an Automator script but the link is dead [URL]
I also found this post that refers to doing it in terminal but since it is the app support directory I am wary to do this as I am not familiar with terminal at all and I am not clear on what exactly to write in the old_dir / new_dir section. I figure it would be something like this /Library/Application Support but I dont want to make a mistake.
Here is the Terminal command:
cd old_dir find . -type d -depth -print | cpio -pd new_dir