Automator Find Finder Items mod date criteria

I am trying to create Automator workflow/app to delete backup files from a folder when older than 2 weeks. I have set "Not within Last 2 Weeks" criteria for mod date, create date plus last access date and I am also using a "Name begins with" criteria. The problem is that the workflow moves files to the trash that have been modified within the last few minutes. The bizarre thing is that some older files in the folder with the same name prefix are not selected in the find.
Anyone got any suggestions or experienced this problem? Here are screen shots showing the workflow and selected files plus the folder content before the run.

Peter Russell1 wrote:
Yes, I was aware of changes in Leopard version, and did recreate the workflow from scratch. If you get AND, as expected, I wonder if there is some hidden AND/OR setting somewhere?
not that I know of.

Similar Messages

Organize Finder Items by Date Picture Taken

Will the Finder allow organizing image files by the date picture taken information in their EXIF data? I only seem to find Date Created or Date Modified.

umparrothead wrote:
Well, on XP and Vista, it just alphabetizes the files without the appropriate data; and I do find it surprising that a system so focused on lifestyle features (photos, websites, videos, etc.) left out being able to see photos organized without importing them into iPhoto.
Is there an add-on
not that I've ever heard of.
or applescript that could add such a column?
certainly no simple apple script can do something like this, maybe apple script studio can, I'm not sure.

Automator: Copy Finder Items Question

Hola,
Quick question about the Copy Finder Items action in automator: the "replace existing files" option, how is sameness determined? In other words, according to what criteria does Automator determine that two files are the same, and so eligible for replacement in the destination folder when that option is chosen? For example, would file Mydog.doc, modified 10/14/05, 230k be viewed as the same thing as Mydog.doc., modifided 2/21/06, 150k?
Cheers,
stu

As far as the Finder is concerned, the comparison is based on file name only.
It doesn't care about file size or modification date. If the name is the same the existing file will be replaced.

Find Sales Order Item Basic Data by Elements query fails

I am trying to consume Find Sales Order Item Basic Data by Elements in .NET 3.0.
Every thing appears to be working fine -- I could query by PO number, Creation time, SalesOrganisationID etc.
However, the most basic query is mysteriously failing. I just want to query by Sales order number, and have given a valid sales order number 6718 that exists in SAP.
It fails giving the following errors:
(in Log.LogItem.Note variable):
"Conversion failed: Invalid input format"
(in Log.LogItem.TypeID variable):
"701(SFB)"
Code is pretty simple, and I am just trying to query Saler Order number 6718. Of course there is nothing wrong with its format.
From the ESOA site, all I could get was:
----
QUOTE -
The following values are optional selection criteria for restricting the search result:
SelectionByID Document number range
INCLUSION_EXCLUSION_CODE
INTERVAL_BOUNDARY_TYPE_CODE
LOWER_BOUNDARY_ID
Value
UPPER_BOUNDARY_ID Value
Value
UNQUOTE -

I could not even have any documentation on what to put in InclusionExclusionCode, and IntervalBoundaryTypeCode. They apper to be some Global Data Types for which I couldn't find any documentation. By sifting through Wiki, I just guessed a couple of values praying that it may work. I am a bit new to ESOA, but have expertise in .NET 3.0. Would someone guide me where to find the documentation for that, where are the error codes listed, so that I make the queries with little better preparation.
 querydata.SelectionByID = new SalesOrderERPItemBasicDataByElementsQueryMessage_syncSalesOrderERPItemBasicDataSelectionByElementsSelectionByID[1];//Single element array is good enough
 querydata.SelectionByID[0] = new SalesOrderERPItemBasicDataByElementsQueryMessage_syncSalesOrderERPItemBasicDataSelectionByElementsSelectionByID();
 querydata.SelectionByID[0].InclusionExclusionCode = "E";
 querydata.SelectionByID[0].IntervalBoundaryTypeCode = "6";
 querydata.SelectionByID[0].LowerBoundaryID = new SalesOrderID();
 querydata.SelectionByID[0].LowerBoundaryID.Value = "6718";
 querydata.SelectionByID[0].UpperBoundaryID = new SalesOrderID();
 querydata.SelectionByID[0].UpperBoundaryID.Value = "6718";

How do you test with a SOAP Client - I am trying to use same dataset as provided?
I did with WSDL Test - SAP, SOAP Client and got the following error:
<soap-env:Envelope xmlns:soap-env="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/">
 <soap-env:Body>
 <nr1:SalesOrderERPBasicDataByElementsResponse_sync xmlns:nr1="http://sap.com/xi/APPL/Global2">
 <Log>
 <MaximumLogItemSeverityCode>1</MaximumLogItemSeverityCode>
 <Item>
 <TypeID>701(SFB)</TypeID>
 <SeverityCode>1</SeverityCode>
 <Note>Conversion failed: Invalid input format</Note>
 </Item>
 <Item>
 <TypeID>701(SFB)</TypeID>
 <SeverityCode>1</SeverityCode>
 <Note>Conversion failed: Invalid input format</Note>
 </Item>
 <Item>
 <TypeID>701(SFB)</TypeID>
 <SeverityCode>1</SeverityCode>
 <Note>Conversion failed: Invalid input format</Note>
 </Item>
 <Item>
 <TypeID>701(SFB)</TypeID>
 <SeverityCode>1</SeverityCode>
 <Note>Conversion failed: Invalid input format</Note>
 </Item>
 <Item>
 <TypeID>701(SFB)</TypeID>
 <SeverityCode>1</SeverityCode>
 <Note>Conversion failed: Invalid input format</Note>
 </Item>
 </Log>
 </nr1:SalesOrderERPBasicDataByElementsResponse_sync>
 </soap-env:Body>
</soap-env:Envelope>
Thanks..
Vikas

Automator - how reset Finder Items?

I want to to defrag a big file, so I have thought to copy the file in an external disk, than rename the file in external disk and copy to directory in which there is the file to defrag.
Than revert to the original name the file in the external disk.
In this way I have a copy of the file in external disk and the original file and the file copied in HD.
I do that to avoid failure of external Hard Disk that could have the result to destroy the original file if this happen during the copy from external to internal HD.
I have made a workflow that do this:
1) Get Specified Finder Items (pictures/file)
2) Copy Finder Items (to DK1)
3) Rename Finder Items (DK1/file to DK1/filecopy)
4) Copy Finder Items (to pictures)
5) Get Specified Finder Item (DK1/filecopy)
6) Rename Finder Items (DK1/filecopy to DK1/file)
The problem is that in the 5 step the item passed to the 6 step are two (pictures/filecopy and DK1/filecopy).
I want only DK1/filecopy.
I have seen that Item passed to various step are:
1) Get Specified Finder Items (pictures/file) >>passed picture/file
2) Copy Finder Items (to DK1) >>passed DK1/file
3) Rename Finder Items (DK1/file to DK1/filecopy) >>passed DK1/filecopied
4) Copy Finder Items (to pictures) >>passed pictures/filecopied
5) Get Specified Finder Item (DK1/filecopy) >>passed two pictures/filecopied and DK1/filecopied
6) Rename Finder Items (DK1/filecopy to DK1/file) >> in error
I have have tried to make two workflow one with the step from 1 to 4 and another with the step 5 and 6.
If they run separately all is ok, but if they run in a single workflow (that is made with the step from 1 to 4 and the 5 step that recall the second workflow) happen the same thing that I have described before.

Stanley Horwitz wrote:
I have been working with Macs since 1986 and in the IT industry full time since about the same time and I honestly have no clue what you are attempting to do. What does "defrag a file" mean and why do you want to do that?
I want to copy a file to an external device, so system, copying file, write this without fragmentation, and then copy to original location.
In this way the result is to have the file unfragmented.
If you want to defrag your disk, by far the easiest and quickest way to do that is to take another disk drive that's as big or bigger in capacity as the disk you want to defrag, then format that disk, then simply use your favorite disk cloning tool to copy the contents of the disk you want to defrag to the other disk. The copying process to a newly formatted disk will write the data in an optimum manner onto the disk without any fragmentation on the destination disk. You can then, if you so desire, reverse the process and clone the cloned drive back to the original drive and you will end up with two defragmented disks with the same data on them. The biggest benefit to this strategy is that you get a complete backup of the contents of the disk.
OK, but I only want defrag 1 file, not all the disk.
If You see, I want the same manner that You suggest for the entire disk, applied only to 1 file.
There are also several utilities that will do disk defragmentation such as TechTool Pro and Disk Warrior. I think though that in all but the most extreme cases, it is a wast of time to use those utilities to defragment a disk. In fact, in most cases that I have seen on home Macs, the benefits of defragmentation are minimal at best, which is why I suggest simply doing a backup of the disk to another disk, because the big benefit there is that you have a fresh backup which is far more important in most cases than defragmenting a disk.
OK, I don't want defrag utilities, because I am not confident in the process.
For backup I use regularly Time Machine on two external disks.
All the matter is only to know if there is a manner to tell Automator wich is the file to use during the workflow.
Thanks.

Automator - Filter Finder Items filtering contents of sub folders

I have an external hard drive and I want to keep my iTunes music library automatically backed up on it. I am using automator to copy my most recent files to the external (run the script once a week). I let iTunes manage all my audio files, etc so I figured the created, modified, opened dates would be the best way to filter the items I want to copy over. The workflow is as follows.
1) Get Specified Finder Items (iTunes Library Music folder)
2) Get Folder Contents (All artist directories (Repeat for each subfolder found is NOT checked)
3) Filter Finder Items (ANY of Date Last Modified, Date Created, Date last opened in the last week)
4) Copy finder items (to my external hard drive)
I am having two problems.
1) If I play a song from my second hard drive iTunes copies it into it's directory when it opens... iTunes Music > Artist > Album > Song.mp3. The mp3's modified date, created date, and last opened date is the same as the file that got copied. The new Artist and Album directories that were created by itunes have current created dates (makes sense). However, the filter is still not catching it. Only if the mp3 is current will the filter catch it. I DON'T have 'Repeat for each subfolder found'... shouldn't the filter check for the folder's modified, created and last opened dates?
2) If everything works the way I want it to I see this to be a problem in the future. If I add an album by an artist that I already have an album for, the filter will skip it. Any suggestions on how I could handle this problem?
Thanks.

Found out that since Hebrew was set up first in the language option the filter on textual was failing. After I changed the order of the languages in the language preferences the file filter by name, extension etc… worked O.K.
Nati

Automator Filter Finder Items

A very simple task, which I have attempted to figure out many times over the last few months; but my repeated attempts haven't been successful. This should be easy for someone to resolve…
I would like to strip out all the files of a certain extension (.txt) from an hierarchy of nested folders, & move them to the Trash. (Told you it was easy!)
Here's what I think ought to work:
• Create an Automator Workflow
• 'Ask for Finder Items' to select the topmost folder
• 'Get Folder Contents' with 'Repeat for each subfolder found' — (the results successfully include all the relevant files)
• 'Filter Finder Items': "find files where any of the following are true: file extension is .txt" — (I tried "txt" as well as ".txt")
• 'Move Finder Items to Trash'.
The files turn up (alongside loads of other junk) in the 'Get Folder Contents' step, & they are reported in the results; but when I try to filter out everything apart from the .txt files, so that only the .txt files remain, the filter reports no results.
So the 'Filter Finder Items' action completes with no results, & with a warning that: The action “Move Finder Items to Trash” was not supplied with the required data.
I think it must be something obvious, but I can't figure it out, & although I've searched extensively online, everyone else with similar problems has other complications which get resolved… so they lose interest just at the point where I think they're going to reveal the solution.

You need to understand the issues here. Automator was released with 10.4 (Tiger), and many of the core automator actions date from that time. This introduces forward-compatability problems: things that should work (and maybe did work) in 10.4 might not work as specified in 10.6, depending on if/how the underlying cocoa APIs have changed. Now, in the best of all possible worlds, Apple would update automator actions with each new upgrade, but it's probably not needed for the bulk of the actions, and Apple may not be aware of problems that do exist with given actions (that depends on whether people filed meaningful bug reports on them).
Don't be confused by the seeming simplicity of what I did: the Move Finder Items to Trash action probably uses cocoa file system APIs directly, whereas my applescript leverages the developed programmatic underpinnings of the Finder - the Finder has a built-in system for moving files in bulk, whereas the action is obviously moving files one at a time (which is where things are getting congested).
Filter Finder Items seems to be a simple metadata search (just another use of the spotlight framework, which hasn't changed much since its inception) so I can't see any way in which it would fail. it is, of course, limited by the same things that spotlight is limited by - it won't find material that's not indexed and may not do exactly what one always expects (e.g., may not recognize an extension as an extension unless the extension belongs to an app registered with the system) but other than that there's very little it can do wrong. As a general rule, actions that deal only with manipulating automator data (e.g. modifying references passed from one action to the next) won't break. You'll only see breakage with actions that need to access exterior frameworks that have changed significantly since the actions were created.
That's the best answer you're going to get: one can't prove a negative, so there's no way to demonstrate that FFI isn't broken. it's easy enough to check for a given task, though - just run the workflow you have on a test folder without the deleting action, check the results window, and compare it to the results you expect (which you can gather by eye in a Finder search window, through an applescript, through an app that will report the number of files of given types in a folder…).

Automator (move finder items)

I have a service that moves finder items to a particular folder. Since I started using this I noticed I occasionally will need to move an item with the same name into this folder. Is there a way I can get the service to move the second item with the same name, but instead of overwriting the first item, have it add a -1 or something? If I open something like a zip file multiple times in finder, it creates the second one with a 1 after the name. That's exactly what I need. Any way to do that with a service like this?

No, I didn't give up on the thread, I just went to work with what you gave me to see what I could do with it. It's just that you've been nothing but extremely helpful and patient with me in the past; and I started to feel like I was coming to the board, putting up my problems, and you do everything for me. I know you're here to contribute to the community, but I don't like to take advantage. I am making an effort to learn this stuff now, I just have to make baby steps!
Okay, here is the deal with this item. I actually want to apply this with more than one operation, but the basic script or concept would remain pretty much the same. We create lots of documents like invoices, receipts, shipping labels, etc., that usually get saved as pdf onto the desktop. Then, they are named, often with the date and particular file name and finally moved into the proper folders. For example, shipping labels get saved to desktop with the default name of something like
vty3RlsIK.LabelGenerationServlet.part
Then I would change the name to something like
12-31-2009USPSLabel.pdf
Then, I would move it to the folder where we keep the shipping labels for records.
So, the service I created actually does more than just moving the file. It goes like this:
service receives selected pdf
in finder
name single item in finder item names (to: USPS_Label.pdf)
add date or time to finder item names (before name, underscore separator)
move finder items (to target folder)
open finder item (with default application)
The other ones I need would be similar, except they don't usually need to be opened afterward, just named and moved, for the most part. I figured I could continue to just use the name change function of automator before running the script, but if would run faster or more efficiently if that were also part of the script, I suppose that would be better. And I would like to be able to have the numbers go up through as many as I need. If it's a matter of just adding in all the possibilities of existing names up to the number I need, that's tedious work I don't mind doing now to save on having to name all these files in the future!
Also, these files are always named differently, so the source file would need to just be selected file, not the actual name.
Finally, I tried to play with the script to name the desktop like you said, but would it be something like
set source_folder to folder (path to desktop)
or
set source_folder to (path to desktop)
I still need to learn a little more before I understand the way that works. I am so used to only using the unix path, I like the ability to use (path to desktop) that's really interesting.
I think I may have rambled a bit, but that should explain the details of what I'm trying to accomplish.
thanks

Rename Finder Items with Automator in Leopard

I used following automator actions to rename all files contained in selected folders in Mac OS finder:
1. Get Selected Finder Items
2. Get Folder Contents (repeat for each subfolder found option on)
3. Rename Finder Items (Add Text before name, Show action option on)
First two actions were executed flawlessly. Unfortunately after keying in text to be added in front of every file name in text field of popup window on execution of last action, no file name was changed. Then I realized that same actions performed in automator application instead of invoking through Finder's contextual menu worked as expected. So the problem seem to be related to initialization of text value in text field of the action.
I decided to try with new variable feature introduced in Leopard version of automator. Clicking on Variables button next to Actions button in menu bar of Automator, then select following item:
Library > Text & Data > New Storage
I managed to provide a text value for the New Storage variable through "Library > Text > Ask for Text" and "Library > Utilities > Set Value of Variable" actions, but text field in Rename Finder Items action seem to reject the New Storage variable completely. So the attempt to provide text value to the Rename Finder Items action through user initialized variable failed without reason.
May I know how can I make use of variables to set text fields in Rename Finder Items action ? Is the above mentioned failure a confirmed bug of Leopard waiting to be fixed by Apple (after one whole year of beta testing !!) ? Thanks in advance.

I figured out a way to use variables in the Rename Finder Items.
In my case I want to rename the files to a sequential name. I can't link the variable to the "New Name" box in the Automater GUI.
But it helps to know that that the Automator is just creating an XML file and you can edit this directly.
To do this, create the Automator workflow and save it. Give the variable some distinct name like "myVariable".
In Finder, right click the Automator file and select Show Package Contents. Within this folder go to Contents and find the document.wflow file. This is the XML file, so open it with TextEdit or something.
Search the file for your variable name. The first instance of it should be in a section that starts with <key>variables</key>. All the variables will be listed here. Each variable has several lines to define it. The first will be the UUID. The UUID will have a line that is something like: <string>BD464B7A-ACDE-4A63-B595-FAF1DA6DE26E</string>. The BD464B7A-ACDE-4A63-B595-FAF1DA6DE26E is how Automator refers to your variable. Search the file for this UUID string and you will see. Whenever Automator wants to insert the variable, it will enter $(BD464B7A-ACDE-4A63-B595-FAF1DA6DE26E).
Copy this string, with the $() surrounding it. Close the wflow file. Now you can go back to Automator itself and paste it wherever you want your variable to appear, even if you can't normally insert the variable into that field.

Automator's Filter Finder Items behaves incorrectly

Can anyone confirm the misbehaviour of the Filter Finder Items in Automator when set to filter items whose date created is not in the last 7 days? I have a workflow being used as a folder action to keep my downloads folder tidy but never runs right as it gets rid of content that I've just downloaded.
Link to workflow: http://cl.ly/1S0h1I3m3r1t3l2a1W1J
Insight would be appreciated.

The only reliable way to do that would be to take an inventory of the filesystem, and compare it with an earlier inventory. I don't know of any easy way to do that with built-in tools. If you use Time Machine, there are third-party tools such as BackupLoupe that compare snapshots. Or you could try something like Uninstaller, though it's quirky and doesn't seem to be maintained much anymore.
At an advanced level, there are UNIX tools such as mtree, which is built in, radmind, or tripwire, but you probably don't want to go there. I use radmind and mtree for different purposes, but they're not for the squeamish.

[Automator] Using an ls command and then getting the finder items?

So i want to make an automator app that looks for all external hard drives and then ejects them. Unfortunatly to my experimentation you cant use the finder actions to search in the root directory so i simply added a shell script with
ls /Volumes
which works.
then i have a Filter finder items so it doesnt try to eject the Macintosh HD
then i have eject Disk.
The problem lies in that the shell script does not spit out finder items to the filter so the filter throws a warning because it isnt supplied the required data.
My question is, how do i get the shell script to pass down finder items to the filter so everything else runs through smoothly?
EDIT: i have python installed if that helps for simplicity i also know a small bit of C
Thanks
Tom Copcutt

Where did he say that? He only stated that he wanted to avoid ejecting the HD, which isn't possible in any case.
If avoiding .dmg is the issue, one way would be to hard code the possible disk names by using a list like this:
Replace the example volume names with your own volume names inside the curly brackets below;
Names must be quoted and comma separated as shown.
Spaces in names ARE allowed. You can name as many or as few volumes as you wish.
set gDiskList to {"External1 500GB", "Time Machine HD", "External2 HD", "External3 45GB"}
repeat with i in gDiskList
          set i to quoted form of i
      try
                    do shell script "diskutil umount " & i
          end try
end repeat

Data folder can not be opened in finding " AirPort Time Capsule " The operation can not be completed because the original item for " data" does not exist .

Hi
I have a " AirPort Time Capsule " (firmware 7.7.3) When I try to open the data folder in "finder". Then I got the message " The operation can not be completed because the original item for " data" does not exist". I have a lot of data and I can understand why I get this message?
Anyone who can help? Thanks..
Br. Bo

Get a USB drive of 2TB or more.. assuming your TC is 2TB. Either preformatted Mac or plug into your Mac and format it standard Mac OS Extended Journaled in disk utility.
Do a full archive of the TC. You do this using airport utility. Do not click the erase disk.. I marked in green.. just the archive.. that is to backup the internal disk to the USB disk. It is not fast.. take it that the process will go at around 40-50GB/hr.
Once you complete the archive .. it is a direct image of the data on your TC.. you can then plug it into your computer directly.. and then try and open the files you lost.. if you cannot open them.. open disk utility and fix the permissions.
http://osxdaily.com/2015/01/13/repair-disk-permissions-mac-os-x/
Or try the methods apple recommends..
OS X Yosemite: Set permissions for items on your Mac
It is possible to fix things on the USB drive because it is locally mounted.. but you cannot fix it on TC which is network drive.

"Ask for Finder Items" Automator action broken?

OK, I'm pulling my hair out on Automator (again). I'm on OS X Lion 10.7.1.
Here's what I want to do: I have image files named "something-something (S1).png" and I want to create a copy of each file named "something-something (S2).png" then resize that copy to 50% the size of the original. A perfect choice for Automator, I would have thought.
So here's the workflow I came up with:
1. Ask for Finder Items: Type set to Files and Allow Multiple Selection checked.
2. Duplicate Finder Items: To create a copy, hopefully named "something-something (S1) copy.png".
3. Rename Finder Items: Set to Replace Text, with Find set to "(S1) copy" and Replace set to "(S2)" (in basename only).
4. Scale Images: Set to By Percentage 50.
I would have thought that would have worked. Trouble is, it doesnt even get to first base. When I run the workflow I see the expected choose file dialog, and I choose a test PNG file. Then Automator happily announces that "Ask for Finder Items completed" in the log, and proceeds to sit .. and sit ... and sit. It says it's running, but nothing is happening. No duplicate file action happens, no rename .. nothing. Oh, and yes, I do see the selected filename in the "Results" area for the Ask for Finder Items action.
What's going on? Any ideas? For a supposedly intuitive tool I find automator inscrutable (and I'm a 30 year seasoned operating system oftware developer).
TIA,
--Tim

FWIW, if you've found a bug, please contact Apple Support folks or (if you have access) use the BugReport tool.
(This is a user forum, and the Apple Engineering folks may or may not see any reports that are posted here.)

Automator 2.2 "Copy Finder Items" Action Error

Hello all,
When I try to create an Automator workflow that finds a type of file (pdf) in a nested folder structure and copies those files to another folder - essentially extracting the pdfs from their nested folders - I get an error message.
1) I use the "find Finder items" action. I specify the top-level folder and set the kind to "document"
2) It returns 56 items
3) I use "copy Finder items" action and specify a new folder
4) The copy action fails stating that a given file "couldn't be saved in the folder". It does not always error-out on the same file. Changing or creating a new folder doesn't help.
I have tried this under two user accounts with the same result. I have tried deleting preferences. The same error results.
Any ideas?
I am running 10.7.1 on a 15" MacBook Pro, early 2011.

I was having the same issue.
I found another solution: instead of copying files, you could move files.
1) Duplicate your original folder (unless you want to move/extract your files entirely to the new folder) (right click the folder and select duplicate)
2) Create a new folder as the destiny folder
3) Open automator and use the following actions (in order) on the workflow
- Find Finder Itens (browse to your source folder; select "any"; select "extension"; select "end with"; type "pdf") (you can do the same thing with the actions "get specified finder items" combined with "filter finder items")
- Get Folder Contents (and mark repeat for each subfolder found) (use this action if you have subfolders)
- Move Finder Itens (browse to your destination folder, that you created previously)
Now you can delete the duplicated folder.

Automator Copy Finder Items - file couldn't be saved error

I have a simple automator sequence that suddenly stopped working for no apparent reason. Copy Finder Items has started returning an error "the file xxx couldn't be saved to the folder yyy" Happens for different files and folders. Can't see anythng that's changed. Any ideas?

I'm currently having the same issue, and have had it with mulitple automator scripts on multiple computers, but it's not fixing itseltf. Anyone know what this error could be?
I've noticed that I get the above error most often after getting and then correcting permissions errors in the same workflow. Any help would be most appreciated.
Thanks!

Automator Find Finder Items mod date criteria

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