Files corrupted by Copy finder items
I made a simple Automator workflow droplet. When a (PDF) file is dropped onto it, it copies it to the desktop, does a rename step, then copies it to another folder on the server. Today, I've been having a problem with the pdf files getting corrupted by the action (they open, but parts of the image are messed up). Has anyone else run into this problem?
Hi
It may be easier with an appleScript (which you could incorporate into an Automator action if you wanted).
--start script
set the_file to -- path to the file you want to copy goes here
set docs_folder to path to documents folder from user domain
tell application "Finder"
set target_folder to folder "MegaSeg Database" of folder "MegaSeg User Data" of docs_folder
duplicate the_file to target_folder with replacing
end tell
-- end script
This will replace existing files of the same name in the target folder. Hope it helps.
Similar Messages
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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! -
I keep on running into this when I try to save a download file. Any help would be appreciated.
'The action "Copy Finder Items" encountered an error. Check the action's properties and try running the workflow again.'
I tried clicking the button to change the save but that has no effect.Hi All,
I am having same issue too. Can anyone you advise? Thank you. -
Maximum file/folder size for Copy Finder Items?
As I mentioned in another recent post, I used Automator a while back to set up a workflow that would Get Finder Items and then Copy Finder Items. Set it up as a iCal plugin. Worked fine for a long time, but I just checked and saw that the largest of the three folders (1.8 GB) was not being completely copied. The other two folders, much smaller (20 MB or so) were fine, but several folders within that large 1.8 GB folder were being skipped. I opened the workflow, and ran it, and it came up with an error that just told me to check the workflow. Is there a maximum size on this type of workflow? Seemed to work fine before . . .
The *Copy Finder Items* action will not make duplicate copies. If you want multiple copies of the same item, you will need to rename or duplicate the item before copying, since the copy action doesn't have an option to rename, and the duplicate action doesn't duplicate to a different location.
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Copy Finder Items - how to generic for multiple user home directories?
I am creating an Automator workflow to allow my networked users to be able to copy certain files from a central location to their local home directory and overwriting their local copy. How to I make the destination of the Copy Finder Item to be generic home directory (something in the like of "~/Document/MegaSeg User Data/MegaSeg Database" instead of a fixed user home directory)?
Hi
It may be easier with an appleScript (which you could incorporate into an Automator action if you wanted).
--start script
set the_file to -- path to the file you want to copy goes here
set docs_folder to path to documents folder from user domain
tell application "Finder"
set target_folder to folder "MegaSeg Database" of folder "MegaSeg User Data" of docs_folder
duplicate the_file to target_folder with replacing
end tell
-- end script
This will replace existing files of the same name in the target folder. Hope it helps. -
Can't use "Copy Finder Items" after "Run Workflow"
Create a simple Automator workflow:
Set just 1 action "Create Thumbnail Images" and save it. I called it "wf1.workflow".
Now create the second workflow with 3 actions:
"Get Specified Finder Items" action (choose an image file here).
->
"Run Workflow" action (specify "wf1.workflow" as a workflow, select "Return workflow results", check "Wait for workflow to finish").
->
"Copy Finder Items" (specify any location)
Now run the workflow. Everytime I get an error.
The log:
Get Specified Finder Items completed;
Run Workflow (wf1) completed;
Copy Finder Items failed
* -[NSAppleEventDescriptor count]: unrecognized selector sent to instance 0x113185d0
The same workflow works fine in Tiger, so I think there is a bug in Leopard Automator.
Am I right? Is there any workaround?I can confirm I got the same results for the workflow, just don't know why as of yet. And then I somehow got it to work.
I checked the results for each action and they didn't seem unusual. The results of "Get Specified Finder Items" is a single parenthesized text string representing the file's path. The results of "Copy Finder Items" is an alias, but that should be okay.
So, deleted the thumbnail from the first run, and then ran the workflow again. It got stuck on "Run Workflow" and hung for a while. So I stopped it and removed "Run Workflow", and then added it in again. Presto! It worked, sort of. It didn't copy the thumbnail, instead it copied the original file. I'd forgotten to reset it to "Return workflow results". So, it seems to be something to do with returning the workflow results instead of the action input.
I'm going to do some more testing. -
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 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,
stuAs 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. -
I have a workflow that is reading images names & pathways from a text file, and copying the images in the text file into another folder. My problem is coming with the "Copy Finder Items" action. If I have the same image that I want copied into the folder, it will only copy it once. Actually, when I run the workflow, all of the images appear in the results section of the copy finder items. However, any duplicate images are not actually in the folder that it is copied to. Is there any way to correct for this, so that I can copy an image into a folder more than one time?
ThanksThe *Copy Finder Items* action will not make duplicate copies. If you want multiple copies of the same item, you will need to rename or duplicate the item before copying, since the copy action doesn't have an option to rename, and the duplicate action doesn't duplicate to a different location.
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Copying Finder items into same folder as Action
I want an Action that can copy Finder items directly into the same folder the Action resides in, i.e. without specifying where or asking the user where.
Is this possible? All I've been able to create so far is an Action whereby I need to specify the folder or get the user to specify it.OK, I am now going to try to teach you to fish
It might be a little bit easier to visualize if you think of the values passed along in your workflow as a stack of playing cards. Some actions do something with the cards and then just pass them on, some take all of the cards, and others add cards to the stack. The Set Value of Variable action takes the current stack of cards (the results of any previous action(s)), assigns it to a variable that is named whatever you want to name it, and passes the stack on to the next action. The Get Value of Variable gets the value of one of your previously named variables and adds it to the stack. You can also use a previously named variable in input fields of various actions, such as locations to copy to. I'm not sure why you are getting the path to the desktop (unless that is where your workflow application is located), but here are some additional comments for my previously posted workflow:
1) Run Applescript (with the Applescript posted earlier)
- if your workflow has been saved as an application, the results of this action will be a path to the folder that it is in (if not, the path will be to where the Automator application is, which isn't what you want)
2) Set Value of Variable
- this action will take that path, assign it to a variable with your specified name, and pass it on
3) New Folder
- this action makes a folder with the specified name in the specified location - you can drag variables into these fields, in which case their current values are what will be used
- the result of this action is a new folder, and the path to the folder is added to the current stack of cards (if any) and passed on to the next action
- since we just want the path to the new folder (and none of the previous cards), first we throw away any cards we may have (with the "ignore input" option) so that our results don't get mixed up.
4) Set Value of Variable
- same as (2) above, except that the value is now the path to the folder that got made in the previous action (3)
5) Ask for Finder Items (Type: files, Allow Multiple Selection)
- the results of this action will be whatever items you selected, and of course, they will be added to our current stack of cards unless we throw them away first with the "ignore input" option
6) Copy Finder Items
- this will copy Finder items (the ones we selected in the previous action) to the location that is specified - you can drag a variable into the To: field, in which case it's current value is what will be used.
- the result of this action will be the paths to the items that were just copied, but since this is the end of the workflow it doesn't matter
You can use the View Results action to see what the current stack of cards is, so you can see if what is going in and coming out of your actions is what you expect, and tweak accordingly. -
This is the problem:
I have a Toshiba USB Flashdisk formatted with a Windows format (so that both Mac and PC can read/write it).
I have a folder inside Documents where I want to backup to my flashdisk regularily (i'll plug in the drive, and then run the automator workflow).
It worked well when I first made this, but some time ago, it won't copy ALL the files. It'll only copy some of the files/folders which makes it fustrating.
Please Advice.
ThanksI've also found that after an upgrade to Lion an Automator script I've been using to back up my Entourage 2008 identity to a USB drive no longer works, failing with a report that Copy Finder Items couldn't copy to the destination (which it had been happy doing under Snow Leopard).
I had saved the workflow as an application in the Utilities folder. First of all I also discovered that the Utilities folder permissions had been set differently, with "system" as the owner and as the only account with Read & Write permissions. I had to change the folder permissions and then having opened the "application" in Automator had to unlock it there too.
I've tried changing the destination of the copy to local locations like my account's Desktop or Downloads folders but still the script fails with a "Copy Finder Items can't copy ... to this destination" message.
The script is essentially the one described here:
http://www.officeformachelp.com/2009/04/quit_all_microsoft_applications_before_b acking_up/
but set up as an application rather than an iCal repeating event. Once I've quit all the Microsoft applications (by running the first part of the script), Finder allows me to drag the Entourage "Main Identity" folder to the folder on the USB drive to make a copy so at that level the permissions (and disk space) are ok.
Any suggestions welcome! -
Help with what should be an easy workflow.. copy finder item
Hello,
I am writing a workflow to backup a folder to an external hard drive. The flow first copies the folder to the desktop, then re-names it with the date and then should be copying it to an external fire-wire hard drive.
The problem is that the "copy finder item" does not work - only the last sub-folder in the folder actually gets copied. I can't figure out what the problem is. This seems to affect both the copy to the desktop and then the subsequent copy to the firewire drive. Puzzlingly, it sometimes seems to work and copy the whole folder!
Any advice?
JonathanWell, I don't know what's causing your problem, but let me suggest an optimization. Unless you have a specific reason to want this, there's absolutely no reason to copy the folder twice. Right now, you're copying to the desktop, renaming the folder, then copying to the external drive. Presumably, you must at some point delete the copy on the desktop. Copying twice means the backup will be half as fast as it could be. It also introduces extra room for errors by increasing the complexity of the task.
Instead, copy the folder to the destination on the external drive, then rename it once it's there. Perhaps, if you're lucky, in making this change, your problem will solve itself. -
Video download from SD card to iPad 2 interrupted, corrupted. Cannot find file to delete. Does not appear in Photos, or is not visible using Windows File Manager. Consumed 2.5G of space! Can anyone help?
Video download from SD card to iPad 2 interrupted, corrupted. Cannot find file to delete. Does not appear in Photos, or is not visible using Windows File Manager. Consumed 2.5G of space! Can anyone help?
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Files corrupt during copy & save
I have been experiencing an intermittent problem with files becoming corrupt when copied from a CD to my hard drive. Tests on the hard drive show no problems. Problem also occurs (intermittently) when attempting to open or save attachments from emails. If the message is forwarded to another computer from mine, the attachment is still corrupt; however, if the original message is sent to a different computer rather than forwarded from my computer, the attachment is fine.
Can anybody offer ideas as to why this is happening? It's particularly hard to troubleshoot because it's an intermittent problem.Hi KathyW@ppg,
Your hard disk could have developed bad sectors, usually because the drive is failing. Don't get me wrong, all hard drives have bad sectors when they come from the factory. Only, the bad sectors are marked to protect from use by the computer. You can reformat the drive and mark all sectors, a 7-pass write, to ensure you get all newly created bad sectors.
Usually, this will reoccur some time later. It is prudent to locate a large capacity new drive, at a good price to purchase for the near future.
Regards -
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.
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