Applying a folder action to thousands of folders?

I am pulling my hair out with this; I need to know the best way to do this. My client said he had "a thousand or so" eps files that he wanted bundled into specific groups, then duplicated as pdf, jpg, png and tif files, each group in its own subfolder with an excel file that lists each of the file names for each bundle. So, essentially, the structure would look something like this:
Archive of Files (all of them)Bundles (ie., singles or multiples)Type of Bundles (ie, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200)Groups and excel file (ie, "62697200376 - 62697200380")Filename Folder (ie, "62697200376", "62697200377", "62697200378", etc)
filename.eps
filename.tif
filename.pdf
filename.jpg
filename.png
Insane.
Anyway, what he actually sent me was 99,997 files - not "a thousand or so". So now, thanks to applescripts and automator, I have managed to:
- separate the archive of files into bundles
- set up the types of bundles
- Group the files (no excel file just yet, that'll be last)
- run applescript to create a folder for each eps file and move that eps file into it's folder
- have a working (and tested) workflow that will duplicate and convert each eps file to a pdf and save that pdf to the same folder.
I also have folder actions that will duplicate the pdf files as tif, jpg, and png once the pdf file is saved.
How can I attach these folder actions to these folders? Specifically the filename folders? I know that you're supposed to select each folder one at a time and then click on "Folder Actions Setup" to choose the actions, but there are nearly 100,000 folders that I need to get these three actions attached to before I can run the workflow. I don't think I will survive the eminent implosion that I will suffer if I have to attach these folder actions to each of the 99,997 folders one at a time (and I definitely wouldn't meet my deadline of having all this done).

Thank you all for the replies.
So, I know I'm doing something wrong, but I just can't seem to see it. In applescript editor, I have this (based on Camelot's script above):
tell application "Finder"
    set theFolders to every folder of (choose folder) as alias list
end tell
tell application "System Events"
    repeat with eachFolder in theFolders
        try
            attach action to eachFolder using "/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/Image - Duplicate as PNG.scpt"
        end try
        try
            attach action to eachFolder using "/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/Image - Duplicate as JPG.scpt"
        end try
        try
            attach action to eachFolder using "/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/Image - Duplicate as TIFF.scpt"
        end try
    end repeat
end tell
First, I tried it without the try / end try but it kept telling me that it didn't understand the attach action message. After I added the try / end try, it goes through but the actions do not get attached and I get an error number -1708 like this:
tell application "System Events"
    attach action to alias "[removed]:Bundles:5:first copy:62697200376 - 62697200380:UPC (A).62697200376:" using "/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/Image - Duplicate as PNG.scpt"
        --> error number -1708
    attach action to alias "[removed]:Bundles:5:first copy:62697200376 - 62697200380:UPC (A).62697200376:" using "/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/Image - Duplicate as JPG.scpt"
        --> error number -1708
    attach action to alias "[removed]:Bundles:5:first copy:62697200376 - 62697200380:UPC (A).62697200376:" using "/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/Image - Duplicate as TIFF.scpt"
        --> error number -1708
The folder "First Copy" is a backup I made of some of the files; there are 200 folders in there, each containing 5 subfolders, and in the subfolder is the actual eps file. I figure if I can make something work on this small backup I can make it work on the actual folders / subfolders.

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Apple Script to automatically apply automator folder action workflows

Hello
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Any help would be appreciated...

Here is the code that I needed to happen... Maybe I just missed something in automator... but this applescript properly applies itself to subfolders, which then allows me to apply specific scripts based on folder names and locations. Also if the subfolders already exist.. the scirpt also is applied to those.
on adding folder items to this_folder
createlist(this_folder)
end adding folder items to
on createlist(item_list)
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How to set up Automator Folder Actions?

I have set up and sucessfully tested a workflow which sends any file found in a particular folder to the "paperless" app, then moves all files to a different folder called "Archived attachments".
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To create a folder action I opened "new folder action" in Automator, then dragged and dropped the working workflow file into the workspace, then set "Folder Action recieves files and folders added to" the appropriate folder, let's call it "Attachments".
Just to complicate things, the files are placed into the "Attachments" folder using an applescript that captures all pdf mail attachments. This applescript works succesfully.
So, where could I be going wrong?
The working workflow "Attachments.workflow" consists of:
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"PDF Attachments" folder is ticked
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I'm confused. You showed two Automator actions with the same name, one was a folder action one wasn't.
Are you sure the correct Automator action (the one that is a folder action) is attached to the folder?
If when the Folders Action setup window is opened and you select Articles_Folder.workflow and then edit script are you getting the right workflow?
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Failed to attach workflow to "Downloads" as a folder action

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a rough draft of the script that answered my own question:
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How to monitor contents of sub-folders in a Folder Action?

Hello. I am wondering how I might read a folder's contentModDate within Terminal, i.e. from the command line and/or within a Folder Action.
This is the situation: I am running Periscope Pro (PP) for motion-detected videos, which by default, places them within the user's ~/Movies/com.zipzapmac.Periscope-Pro folder. Within that folder, PP creates a folder with it's name based upon (a) machine name and (b) primary MAC address. For example, we'll pretend this folder is called MacPro(001122334455). Then within that folder, as PP is running in motion-detection mode, it creates a new folder based on the current date and then, within that, places videos when motion is detected. Very straight-forward and it works just fine.
What I would like to do is have a folder action that (a) detects when any new folder or file is created within MacPro(001122334455) and (b) sends me a text-message via Apple Mail.
If the MacPro(001122334455) folder is empty, I can create a Folder Action that will detect the creation of a sub-folder when the first motion-detected video is created and that successfully sends me a text-message, BUT if a second video is created later within the same date-named folder, I will not get a message. I would get a text-message on the following day as a new folder is created within MacPro(001122334455) that signals the first motion-detected video of the day, but again not subsequent videos on the same day.
The text-message via Apple Mail I have easily scripted via Applescript and it works flawlessly.
Since Folder Actions only work upon a single pre-defined folder and not on sub-folders, I can never get automatically notified via text-message of second/third/fourth/etc. motion-detected videos as they're created... only the first one of each day.
So, I'm wondering whether there's a different way, perhaps through launchd that I might script this process. I'm thinking that if the contentModDate value of the MacPro(001122334455) folder could be read, compared with the last known value, and then---if different---execute the Applescript. OR PERHAPS I'm going about this all wrong and you might have another, better idea?
I'm open to suggestions.
-- David (da2357)

Well, I found a solution that does not use a Folder Action. Since Folder Actions will only work upon the specified folder and not upon the contents of any sub-folders, I needed a different solution.
First, I launched Terminal and created a new file called monitorPeriscope. I set executable permissions (chmod 700 monitorPeriscope). The contents of the file:
#!/bin/bash
# monitor the size of a specified folder and
# when the size increases, run an applescript
# copyright 2013, david dot allie at me dot com
# you are welcome to use this script, but please attribute authorship.
# CONSTANTS
WATCHFOLDER="/users/xadmin/movies/com.zipzapmac.Periscope-Pro"
SIZEFILEONE="/users/xadmin/.bin/foldersizeone"
SIZEFILETWO="/users/xadmin/.bin/foldersizetwo"
MYAPPLESCRIPT="/users/xadmin/documents/dropbox/programming/applescript/motion_de tected_text.scpt"
# START
# calculates current size of watchfolder, saves to sizefiletwo, then
# performs a diff operation, result which is evaluated in if statement,
# and if different, runs applescript, and copy sizefiletwo to sizefileone
du -h -k -d3 -c $WATCHFOLDER | awk 'END{print}' | awk '{print $1}' > $SIZEFILETWO
diff --brief $SIZEFILEONE $SIZEFILETWO
if [ $? -eq 1 ]
then
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fi
exit 0
Next, I created the following Applescript, replacing Some User, [email protected] and the text address of [email protected] below with my real values.
using terms from application "Mail"
tell application "Mail"
set theName to "Some User"
set theAddress to "[email protected]"
set theContent to "Motion detected in OFFICE."
set newMessage to make new outgoing message
tell newMessage
make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {name:theName, address:theAddress}
set visible to true
set sender to "[email protected]"
set subject to "ALERT "
set content to theContent
send newMessage
end tell
end tell
end using terms from
Next, using the touch command, I created /users/xadmin/.bin/foldersizetwo and /users/xadmin/.bin/foldersizetwo as needed for the bash shell script (touch /users/xadmin/.bin/foldersizeone and touch /users/xadmin/.bin/foldersizetwo).
Next, still in Terminal, I navigated to ~/Library/LaunchAgents and created the following plist using nano, which I named com.xadmin.monitorPeriscope.plist:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
          <key>Disabled</key>
          <false/>
          <key>Label</key>
          <string>com.xadmin.monitorPeriscope</string>
          <key>ProgramArguments</key>
          <array>
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          <key>RunAtLoad</key>
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          <integer>900</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
Finally, all that was needed was to log out and then log back in. Once I launched the Periscope Pro app and started the motion-detection mode, I left my office... and within fifteen minutes I received a text message indicating that motion had been detected in my office. In the plist above, I set a StartInterval of 900 seconds, which corresponds to 15 minutes. I can reduce it down to 300 seconds (5 minutes) without it adversely affecting performance, but I'm going to leave the setting where it is for now.
So, I solved my own problem and I'm pleased with the results.
-- David

Need help creating a folder action for creating folders based on filenames.

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Managing and distributing Folders with folder actions to a group of users?

I want to set up a server for a camera club on a SnowLeo Server running on a MacMini. We want to collect images every month from users who want to participate in a club competition and are looking into the FileSharing service on the server to collect the images.
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In Automator-No
The trigger for folder actions to run is the act of adding a file/folder to the folder which has the action applied. If you don't add anything, they won't do anything.
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Folder Action works, but only once

Attached a Folder Action to a folder in my Home directory, to upon dropping folders/files to that folder will change the Folder Views to 128 Icon size (and subfolders) - works once, then next time I drop a folder into that folder doesn't do anything.
Here is the script attached via Automator to that folder
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
tell application "Macintosh HD:Users:USERNAME:Library:Workflows:Applications:Folder Actions:MAKE 128.app"
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end adding folder items to
Is there something I'm doing wrong? Folder Actions are still Enabled for said folder but dropping into that folder does not produce these results - something happens in the menubar but that's it.
Message was edited by: nickdynamite

You might try this approach, using the following workflow...
1) *Get Specified Finder Items* -- press the "+" sign, navigate to the target folder and choose it.
2) *Set Folder Views* -- move the icon slider to 128, etc., and check "Apply Changes to Sub-folders."
From Automator's File menu select Save As Plug-in > Plug-in for: Folder Actions.
The AppleScript, located in the User > Library > Scripts > Folder Action Scripts folder, can then be modified:
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving added_items
tell application "Macintosh HD:Users:username:Library:Workflows:Applications:Folder Actions:Make 128.app"
run -- 'run' replaces 'open added_items'
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end adding folder items to
This has worked for me consistently (so far) using Mac OS 10.4.11; not tested in Leopard. Your results may vary.
Good luck.

Issue with folder action created with automator

Hello all,
I'm having an issue with folder actions that i created with automator and it's driving me crazy. Apple says they can't help with things created by the user so this is my only shot at figuring this out.
Running a Mini 2.3G quad i7, 8GB ram on OSX Mavericks 10.9.2
My goal is to set up an action to add text to the filename of a file placed into a particular folder. So I open automator and choose folder action. Then I choose the folder I want the action applied to at the top. Then I go to Files and Folders in the library and choose rename finder items and drag it over to the workflow. I select add text, then add the text I want added to the file name and choose before name because I want the added text to preceede the original filename text. I save it then go to the folder I applied it to and right clikc go to services then folder actions and verify that the service is attached to that particular folder and it is.
Should work right? No. When I place a file in that folder the action runs and adds the text like I want it to... but then it starts to add it over and over again in an infinite loop. It also adds a file with the extension .ds_store to the folder that also has the name added over and over.
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(the .ds_store is a normally hidden database file which is getting revealed by the same process.)
The solution is to move the files out of the renamer folder into a receiving folder after they have been renamed:
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H

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Francine
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Folder Actions still unreliable in Snow Leopard

Hello everybody,
I used to give folder actions a try in Tiger, then in Leopard and now in Snow Leopard I still see that in terms of reliability, folder actions still seem to be useless - at least to me.
Yesterday I created a folder action in Automator which is intended to just *move files* that have been downloaded with Safari in the Downloads folder, to another folder, nested in the Downloads folder itself.
So for example when I download a file with a .rar .dmg .iso .zip extension, it should move it to the next folder "archives" where a similar folder action awaits the files to be moved according to their "type" in the next folders (rar, dmg, iso and zip). The same thing for images, music and movies.
It works for a few files, but then for some reason (the holy Apple gods know why) it gets picky or lazy if you like : it just doesn't work 100%. I can manually drag out the files it didn't "act upon" and redrop them in the folder - still no joy.
And I noticed a flickering or blinking of the finder window. Really weird....
So I fire this out in hope that some of you share the same frustration
Maybe somebody knows how to fix this.
Or maybe I'm doing something wrong..
cheers
X
Message was edited by: xanvertin

Thanks for the quick and helpful reply!
I also thought that incomplete files downloaded through Safari could mess up things, but it seems to be a general issue the way the folder script "asks for the files". I tried the same folder action in a different folder, where I manually drag 'n dropped several files manually in it - still no joy. 49 out of 100 files just stayed put. It's so frustrating.
And I believe such thing as folder actions is tremendously useful if it "just works" - I download so many files on daily basis at my University - wether it is PDFs, photos, music whatever - that after a while the whole idea of "Stacks" and Coverflow in the Downloads folder just becomes a real useless pain. You just can't find anything through browsing. Sure you could search - if you know what to search for - but almost every file nowadays in the Net has a cryptic file name. So if I look for "applepie" the real file turns out to be "3934iiijpjfedi923.jpg
folder actions could at least help us get things more "organized"
but..
nope.
I just found out that my folder action has a problem with "hidden extensions"...
oh dear...
i think I'll stick to my wasted hours of cleaning up my mac on sundays...

Unzip/Unstuff Folder Action

I wanted to set up a folder in which a file would automatically unzip/unstuff once it is done downloading from an FTP site, and V.K. in the Automator board showed me this applescript:
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #ADD8E6;
overflow: auto;" title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
property DELAYTIMESECONDS : 5 -- How long to wait between checking file size.
on adding folder items to thisFolder after receiving theItems
repeat with f in theItems
set oldSize to 0
set newSize to -1
-- When newSize equals oldSize, it means the copy is complete because the size hasn't changed.
repeat while newSize ≠ oldSize
-- Get the file size.
set oldSize to size of (info for f)
delay DELAYTIMESECONDS
-- Sample the size again after delay for comparison.
set newSize to size of (info for f)
end repeat
-- Do your processing here on file f.
tell application "Finder" to open f
-- thats where my processing should start for each file
end repeat
-- Or start processing here to wait for all files to be complete.
end adding folder items to</pre>
I attached it to a folder, and it works, but only on the first file. If I let multiple files download concurrently, the script never kicks in for the second, third, etc. file. Can the applescript be modified so that it hits every file that is, eventually, saved to the folder?

The problem is that the folder action gets triggered the minute something gets added to the folder. This works when everything is added at once, but if there is much of a time delay between adding items there can be a problem, since repeatedly firing off the same folder action script on the same folder with different items doesn't seem to work very well.
Another thing to try would be to just look at the folder itself to stop changing size. After the folder has stopped changing size (presumably because the files have finished downloading), all of the files would then be processed. The items would need to be moved somewhere during the processing, so that the next time the folder action is triggered, it would just be processing the new items (if the processing just gets all of the files, a sub folder could be used).
The following folder action is similar to what you were using, it just looks at the folder size.
<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
font-weight: normal;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px; height: 340px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #FFEE80;
overflow: auto;"
title="this text can be pasted into the Script Editor">
on adding folder items to thisFolder after receiving theItems
if (WaitForFilesToCopy into thisFolder for 60) then
tell application "Finder"
set theItems to (files of thisFolder) as alias list -- get a new item list
end tell
repeat with anItem in theItems
-- do stuff with anItem
end repeat
else
-- the downloads didn't happen in time
end if
end adding folder items to
to WaitForFilesToCopy into TheFolder for TimeToWait
waits up to the TimeToWait for files to be copied/downloaded to TheFolder
the test is based on the size of the folder not changing after several seconds
the rough TimeToWait may need to be adjusted if copying several files/folders
parameters - TheFolder [mixed]: the folder to check
TimeToWait [integer]: a maximum timeout value in seconds
returns [boolean]: true if copy/download finished, false if timeout
set {Possible, Interval} to {false, 3} -- change the check interval as desired
set CurrentSize to size of (info for TheFolder) -- get initial size
repeat (TimeToWait div Interval) times -- check every Interval seconds
delay Interval
set NewSize to size of (info for TheFolder) -- recheck size
if (NewSize is equal to CurrentSize) then
if Possible then -- no change since last time
return true -- success
else -- one more time...
set Possible to true
end if
else -- update size & Possible switch
set {CurrentSize, Possible} to {NewSize, false}
end if
end repeat
return false -- fail (timeout)
end WaitForFilesToCopy
</pre>

Creating a simple Folder Action

Hello, I am trying to make a simple folder action.
Well first off I have all my applications stored in the "application" folder (Mac MD>Applications) and I have aliases to all the apps stored in a separate application folder in which I have arranged the apps by type. One folder I have is called "new apps" (Mac HD>Users>Me>Applications>New Apps) it contains obviously new applications I have downloaded and have yet to try out.
*What I want to do is whenever I drag a new application to the new apps folder I want it to 1) make an alias of that application and then 2) move the application to my actual "applications" folder.
I went to automator and selected "New Aliases" and selected the new apps folder for its location to be made, and then followed it by "Move Finder Item" and selected my applications folder. I then saved it as a folder action attached to my new apps folder... It doesn't work. Yes folder actions are enabled. Is there something else I need to do for the folder action to actually pass the new files added into the folder into the script? thank you much
Sean

Spotlight can search for a color label but you must make that an active search criterion. Open a new Smart Folder in the Finder. Click on the + button to the right of the Save button. From the drop down menu that displays "Kind" select Other. Scroll down the list until you find the "File label" entry and then check the box to the right of the item. Click Close button. Now you should see the drop down menu has the "File label" selection followed by the color options. Select the "Green" color.
Now, Spotlight will find files with a green label, but it may not display folders with the green label. I've not tested that. If it does not locate folders with a green label, then you will need to set the color of the files in the green labeled folders to the green label.

Applying a folder action to thousands of folders?

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