Automatically Organize Files With an Automator Folder Action Shell Script 

You are not alone! Thankfully, there’s this channel!

It really depends on your past experience with coding. Look for a book titled Wicked Cool Shell Scripts by Dave Taylor and see if that would be a good fit for you.

Or a way to make ordinary ones get more power, aka learning;)

Exactly, far too simple, and limited. Not Gary’s fault but Cook has ruined Mac. Nothing works anymore. Thanks Mr Diversity and Inclusion anti-“huuhuhuraaaaaaaysitsts have no business on Apple platforms!!”Captain “EndAllRacismNOW!” Zioglobalistlunatik, St. Cook! Glad you’ve had your priorities right! Hows that ending r-ism going? We need a prog rep, asap! Don’t worry about anything else. Ijit.

Dave Taylor’s Wicked Cool She’ll scripts may be a good place to learn.

Not sure what you mean. I am showing this with Automator.

Just take your time and learn little-by-little. I don't know of a single source, just search for what you need.

I don't think Automator works with core ml files at all.

Yes, you can add that complexity if you put more work in.

Automatic means using shell scripts with a CRON, or using a third-party app to launch the automator task (or Shortcut) on a schedule.

Reverse? Not sure what you mean by that.

macmostvideo most of the scanners scan one side of the page at the time. So for odd pages you get them in order 1,3,5 ... but then you flip the pages you get the last page first say ... 6,4,2. So to combine them we need to reverse the order to 2,4,6, ... before combining them into one using Automator. It is easy to combine pages in Automator but cannot find a way to reverse the even pages first (will need to do manually via print-page handling first) thank you

@@TM-vg4mx Oh, reverse the ORDER of the pages. You may be able to do it with Automator, but it will take a lot of experimentation and work. Perhaps easier to do it in Preview yourself, manually, depending on how much of this you need to do.

Maybe. But using shell scripting would be the way to go for that.

I don't know how Automator would help you in that situation. Have you established file sharing with your raspberry pi? You'd need to do that first. Then Im not sure what you'd want Automator to do that you wouldn't do in just the Finder to transfer the files.

You'd have to look at the man (manual) page for mv and see if there is a way. It would be the mv command that would need to understand that this is case insensitive. Might be easier to just have two lines, one for each though.

Only Automator has Folder Actions.

Do you mean it continues to add something to the filename over and over? I suppose for something like that you'd need to check to see if the filename already fits your naming desires and only change it if you doesn't.

What sort of change?

@@macmost i copied the script 1:1 with on my imac with big sur und cannot reproduce the result. So i was wondering wether with the new osx new shell commands etc. (that i have no idea of) might have been implimented. Thx

@@ulfleisner232 Did you try some of the suggestions from others in the comments? (not here, at my site)

Hard for me to tell from afar, sorry.

Did you find a solution? Im having same issue

I probably could be done, but it would be a lot easier to do it by hand. Just sort the folder with the photos by date, then select a range of photos, then File, New Folder With Selection (or use the keyboard shortcut shown) and repeat. It will take some time, but likely not as long as it will take to figure out the Automator script.

@@macmost Thanks for your quick response, still bad weather here in the Netherlands so started sorting right away.... Have a nice day

@Mindful Chase yeah i tried it .. it is working with automator just want to make few more nested jobs.. like different type of file to the different folder

You could probably do that, but it would take some work to create the script. How hard that would be would depend on your programming experience. I'm not planning on doing a tutorial on something that does that specifically. If I knew what the actual problem was that you were trying to solve, maybe I could suggest something better than creating folders. Why do you need to do that at all?

@@macmost I'm creating folders with essential 2-3 files inside each (...think of parent with children parts). The organization I am doing this for uses this method to sequentially organize part information. The parent file and folder are the same name. I've learned to use terminal commands to create multiple folders from a text file so when I saw your script example with "mv $f" the wheels starting turning to maybe use a "mkdir" inside the script "then" move (mv) the file. Getting the folder named to the parent and then adding the parent file into the parent folder would take a huge chunk of the (sorting) work leaving only adding the children (part) files moves to the parent folder later. Currently working on a list of 1800 part (files). This is probably an odd scenario and doesn't come up often. Also, thanks for replying.

@@tonybickerdike5470 Using shell scripts would be a good way to do it. What I was really asking was WHY? Why create "

Yes, because the Filter Finder Items can be a folder instead of a file. "Kind is Folder"

Offhand I don't know if that is accessible to you in a script.

@@macmost Unfortunate, but thanks. I guess I'll have to find some extension that changes the filename on download first.

Technically possible, but it will; take a lot of work to do it. You'll need to analyze what is in the folder to determine which action to take. It will be complex. Not sure of your programming skill, but I would only attempt if you have some experience with this.

@@macmost So this is a challenge! I like challenges! Would you like me to post the script (if I manage to make it work)?

@@Theodor1st You should, sure.

@@macmost I would love to know what you think of my script. If you're not too busy...

Just a matter of checking your code and finding the bug. Start from scratch again if you like.

@@macmost So I eventually figured it out, I had to right click in folder actions setup and attach it to the folder manually for some reason. Still can't get the full architecture of what I want correct though. I just ended up dishing out for Hazel to get the job done.

Start with my exact example and get that working. Then modify to fit your needs.

You will have to use a brute force utility for unlocking password protected files. There is no simple solution to forgotten passwords.

You'll need to carefully check everything to make sure you didn't miss something. Or, maybe use a newer technique since this video is old: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-c_6R-Bm8JSk.html

Yes, you can do both. The tricky part would be figuring out what to name the file -- some logic would need to be applied depending on your needs. The mv command actually does both a move and rename as long as you supply a new name at the end of the second path.

@@macmost Aaahhhh, thanks, Gary! That was what I was missing. Much appreciated!

Not sure why you aren't seeing the Shell script option. Are you using a much older version of macOS? Have you searched when "All" is selected?

@@macmost I seemed to have found it now! thank you :)

No, there is no way to trigger folder actions. Not sure what you are doing, but triggering it with drag and drop is a good idea.

I'll need more info about what you are trying to do. Ask at macmost.com/ask and be sure to fill out each part of the form.

@@macmost I've just answered!. Thanks!

@@heydeleao care to share?

Did you copy and paste my code? Did you then change the paths to match your paths?

Probably not. Apps are usually developed in Xcode or similar tools with complete user interfaces and then sold in the App Stores. Something as simple as a shell script is usually just shared freely online.

Sure it does. But Shortcuts is the future, so best to use that if possible. Not sure what you are doing to "share" an Automator workflow. It is just a file. Share it like any other file.

@@macmost that’s what I mean, it can be easily downloaded, whilst shortcuts needing iCloud, makes it impossible, because our work computers are not logged in iCloud. We are getting new ones sometimes soon but I don’t imagine that will change

@@unleashthedog You can save a Shortcut and share it as a file just like you can save an Automator workflow. File, Export. Saves as a .shortcut file.

You can also save it online with iCloud. The recipients don't need to have iCloud. You an just give them a link.

The script starts by setting it to blank. Then it does three tests to set it to something specific. If none of those three tests fits the situation, DEST is still blank. Then, before proceeding to the next part, it checks to see if DEST is not blank and only moves the file if it is not blank -- in other words if one of the three situations matches.

The general idea should work with any file.

Are these two location perhaps on different drives?

@macmost i am trying it on default download folder to a folder made on desktop

@@prodigaldoctor Not sure what the problem could be. Maybe experiment other folders to figure out what could be going on.

@macmost ok I will give try & thanks for the help 😇

If you want a good estimate on how long the battery may last, calibration is the way. On the other hand, the Mac software learns it by itself, if you allow to discharge and charge it fully for a few times ... while using it, as you normally would.

Just use it normally. No need to calibrate.

Never mind found it....

RAMÓN PRECIADO you need a basic understanding of programming. A better way is to get an app called Hazel. It’s awesome.

I think you can find load os Apple Scripts online and on Gary's site, so I don't really think buying Hazel is necessary. I found Hazel complicated in comparison to Automater, but that's just me.