Rename finder item withouth user to choose find string.

Hi,
I've built an automator workflow in wich I create a standard folder /w subfolders. Automator then renames the folders, by rename finder item with replace text.
The new name is a projectname an user can give in. But I don't want the user to change the find string. Is there a way to work this out?
I've tried to do an ask for text, but I don't know to how I can put the result into the replace field?
Thx,
Marlon
Powerbook G4 (1Ghz) Mac OS X (10.3)

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.

Similar Messages

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 - 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.

Filter finder Items... broken? (also request to help streamline script)

Let me begin by saying that I've done the SAME THING for a long time with this Automator script, and it's worked flawlessly. I recently added some now automator actions (and later deleted them) thinking they were the culprit of why my "filter finder items" was showing no results, but I'm not sure at all at this point.
Here's the script (that has been working fine until at least the 7th):
It's long, so bear with me (I use this script to install custom Sims2 content when I download it:
("Get Specified Folder" uses the "Get specified finder items" action, I just didn't want to type that every time).
New Folder: Recent (in my downloads folder)
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents (repeat for each subfolder found)
Filter finder items (name contains .package)
Copy Finder items (to Recent)
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents (repeat for each subfolder found)
Filter finder items (name contains Sims2Pack)
Move finder itmes (to my core download folder (they're generally in subfolders after downloading, as are the .package files)
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents (repeat for each subfolder found)
Filter finder items (name contains Sims2Pack)
Copy finder items (to Recent)
Get Specified Folder: Recent
Create Archive (on desktop named Sims2)
Rename (add date to end of file name)
Rename (add time to end of file name)
Get Specified Folder: Recent
Move to trash
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents (repeat for each subfolder found)
Filter finder items (name contains .package)
Move finder items (to Sims2 Downloads folder, which installs the custom content, replacing any repeats)
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents
Filter finder items (name contains Sims2Pack)
Move Finder items (Sims 2 Packs folder within the downloads folder... these items must be installed into the game by double-clicking on them.)
Get Specified folder: Desktop
Get folder contents
Filter finder items (name contains Sims2)
Move Finder items (To Backup)
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents (repeat for each subfolder found)
Filter finder items (name contains MTS (most of the containing download folders (after they've been expanded by another automator script, have this at the beginning of the folder name due to where I commonly download my custom content)
Move to trash
And that concludes the script. I know it could probably be streamlined (another reason I'm posting the whole thing) but it worked until very recently, and I don't know what could cause it to no longer report results after filtering within the subfolders while within the main folder works fine.
To clarify, it's recently been simply deleting the MTS folders and creating a "Recent" folder and archiving it but it's empty. So the script is not filtering for the Sims2Pack data nor the .package data as it used to.
I haven't modified the script, and I've deleted all actions that I downloaded recently (backed them up in case they're not the culprit). Also ran disk permission repair but nothing was repaired in regards to Automator.
Thanks.
iMac Intel Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Here is an update to the script, however filter continue to not work as it once did.
New Folder: Recent (in my downloads folder)
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents (repeat for each subfolder found)
Filter finder items (name contains .package)
Copy Finder items (to Recent)
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents (repeat for each subfolder found)
Filter finder items (name contains Sims2Pack)
Move finder itmes (to my core download folder (they're generally in subfolders after downloading, as are the .package files)
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents (repeat for each subfolder found)
Filter finder items (name contains Sims2Pack)
Copy finder items (to Recent)
Get Specified Folder: Recent
Create Archive (on in "to backup" named Sims2)
Rename (add date to end of file name)
Rename (add time to end of file name)
Get Specified Folder: Recent
Move to trash
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents (repeat for each subfolder found)
Filter finder items (name contains .package)
Move finder items (to Sims2 Downloads folder, which installs the custom content, replacing any repeats)
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents
Filter finder items (name contains Sims2Pack)
Move Finder items (Sims 2 Packs folder within the downloads folder... these items must be installed into the game by double-clicking on them.)
Get Specified Folder: my downloads folder
Get folder contents (repeat for each subfolder found)
Filter finder items (name contains MTS (most of the containing download folders (after they've been expanded by another automator script, have this at the beginning of the folder name due to where I commonly download my custom content)
Move to trash
I removed the step where it was saving it to the desktop. If the filters ever work again, this should therefore go faster than before.

Get Specified Finder Items - Clearing

I am new to Automator so please excuse if this question is obvious - but it isn't to me. I am trying to write an action to backup my important files. I can do it if I write just one file at a time in a separate action by "Get Specified Finder Items" - Filename followed by "Copy Finder Items" - Filename. Since I have several files I want backed up to different locations I tried writing one action and I tried to do the "Get Specified Finder Items," "Copy Finder Items" in a series. Well, the first one works well, file A goes to the backup A folder. But the next action is supposed to take file B and move it to the backup B folder. Well, what happens is that the second action takes files A and B and moves them to the backup B folder. The next takes files A, B and C and copies them to the backup C folder etc. etc. etc.
I am wondering if there is a way to clear the finder buffer (if that is what it is called) between my actions so that only file B is copied to backup B.
I have looked in the utility actions and did not find a way to do this. Any assistance would be appreciated.

No problem - there are a few things about Automator that are not obvious.
Note that this is a feature of Leopard's Automator (the OP appears to be running Leopard, although this is the Tiger Automator forum) - a separate action is needed for the same function in Tiger's Automator.

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

Putting Variables in Action "Find Finder Items"

Hello! I'm using Automator to make a workflow. One of my action in my workflow is to find finder items. I'd like to tell Automator to find items that start with a specific string of text (the text is "016") stored in a variable. Since Automator does not allow me to insert a variable directly, I tried to add the variable by adding the variable's UUID. I followed the method outlined in this website:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20080213200213250
But even after I put my variable's UUID as "$(9051E0AA-257F-4F00-9A58-50677FB0C07E)", it seems that Automator does not understand, as the results of the action "Find Finder Items" returned no files at all. I tried to store my string as "Storage" and "Text" and used the same method, but it still didn't work. Thank you very much!

I'm not sure what the action is using to search, but a name extension does not include the period. Another approach would be to get the entire contents of the memory card, and filter the items from there.

How do i copy library items to a new users when my finder wont open?

i had the problem of my finder opening and closing constantly, i got told i need to create a new user which i did, the finder problem does not occurr in the new user, i then got told i need to copy my library items i want over to the new users but i cannot do that because the finder keeps closing my windows, any tips on how to access these folders not through the finder?
thabks, nervous kiwi.

if finder is quitting unexpectedly during use, this is not a good thing.
if it is not persisting in a new user, then it is a corrupt user preference.
there are ways of accessing the data you are looking for without using finder, but if you are going to go that route, you may as well try and fix the finder issue you are having.
you will need to do all this through terminal.
you can probably just rename the ~/library/preferences folder to preferences.old then restart and log in to your user. and then it should work. the draw back to this, is you will lose your preferences. but you can always move over the ones you want back throught the finder window once it is working again.

How to display the current name when renaming Finder item

Is there any way to get Automator to display the current name of a Finder item when renaming an item?
I want my users to be able to copy and rename a folder template but I want to display the folder template's current name as a default in the renaming dialogue window, so the user follows the correct naming format.

Since you've already hacked into it, if you've got developer tools installed, it is most likely in the nib file that is in the English project folder in the Resources.
I don't know what further implications that will have on the app in general, though.
If you are a little adept at applescript, you may want to create your own Applescript Studio app to do this instead of Automator. Also, take a look at Platypus to make a wrapper around you applescript instead of AS Studio.
Message was edited by: Barney-15E

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.

Workflow and/ or script to rename finder items using a .txt or a .csv file as a reference?

Can someone assist me, I am looking for a workflow and/ or script that would allow me to rename finder items using a .txt or a .csv file as a reference for the new naming convention?

THANK YOU!!!!
I have taken your recommendation and enabled the script menubar item. I also tweeked the script as you recommended, I will play with both options to see which I prefer.   I thank you again for the quick turn around on this.
If I am to understand your comment correctly about placing the .csv file in the same folder as the files to be renamed I should modify the script as such.
REMOVE:
                    set csvFile to choose file with prompt "Select the CSV file." of type "public.text"
                    set workingFolder to (choose folder "Select the folder to be processed") as text
                    set fileList to (POSIX path of (files of folder workingFolder whose visible is true and name begins with "untitled"))
REPLACE WITH:
                    set csvList to paragraphs of (read "/path/to/csvfile.csv")
                      set fileList to (POSIX path of (files of folder "/pah/to/folder" whose visible is true andname begins with "untitled"))
After reading this and attempting to modify it I am missing one piece of markup or the arrangement of the markup.
Please find the modified script with options:
-- change this to specify the correct csv delimiter
set splitDelimiter to ","
-- change this to specify the file name join character
set recombineDelimiter to "_"
-- choose the csv file
set csvFile to choose file with prompt "Select the CSV file." of type "public.text"
-- choose the folder
set workingFolder to (choose folder "Select the folder to be processed") as text
-- csv contents as list
set csvList to paragraphs of (read csvFile)
--set csvList to paragraphs of (read "/path/to/csvfile.csv")
tell application "System Events"
-- list of files in alphabetical order
     set fileList to (POSIX path of (files of folder workingFolder whose visible is true and name begins with "untitled"))
-- set fileList to (POSIX path of (files of folder "/path/to/folder" whose visible is true and name begins with "untitled"))
     repeat with i from 1 to count of fileList
-- get a file from the file list and note its extension
          set currentFile to file (item i of fileList)
          set fileExtension to name extension of currentFile
-- get a line from the csv list, split it at the delimiter, and recombine it
          set {oldTID, my text item delimiters} to {my text item delimiters, splitDelimiter}
          set newFileNamePieces to text items of (item i of csvList)
          set my text item delimiters to recombineDelimiter
          set newFileName to newFileNamePieces as text
          set my text item delimiters to oldTID
-- write the new name back out to the file
          set name of currentFile to (newFileName & "." & fileExtension)
     end repeat
end tell

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.

Rename Finder Items from Automator doesn't work correctly!

I made a rename finder items in Mac OS X 10.4 by just using rename finder items task and save as a plug in for finder. It was working fine. I tried to use it in 10.5, but it doesn't really change the names. I created a new one or even tried to modify the workflow, but it still not working. Can someone verify the issue? Thank you.

I can verify the issue, but I have no solution. Very frustrating, as I used to batch rename all the time in just the same way.

RENAME FINDER ITEMS

- I am using the function RENAME FINDER ITEMS to rename hundreds of files. It is possible to use wild chars in the FIND field ?
- All my file names start with date (example: 2010-04-10 xxxx.yyy) and i want to rename it to xxxx.yyy.
thank you,
Paulo

I don't think Automator can do this task for you. Consider Name Mangler instead: http://manytricks.com/namemangler/.

"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.)

Rename finder item withouth user to choose find string.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for