This works fine for me, unless any step along the way fails. Using your example, an image file by itself or combined with any other file type will file the image properly. But, If I put a movie file in the source folder, it will only file it properly if there was also an image file along with it. If I put in a movie file by itself, if will just stay in the source file and not get moved to the subfolder. It is like it never gets to the Find Finder Items step for movies because it never got past the Filter Finder Items step for images. Does this make sense to anyone?
There is an Automator based solution ... but, first, from what I gather, that is how it works, linearly, so if one step fails, it ends rather than moving to the next step... Workaround Solution: A folder may have more than one Folder Action attached to it. Create as many Folder Actions as you have file types to be auto-sorted. Each Folder action will have two steps, Filter, and Move. Don't know if there is a limit to how many Folder Actions can be attached to a Folder. I've done two... Problem this caused for me and Solution: When I created my second Folder Action, it did not initially work, and the first Folder Action also stopped working. Fix: right click the Folder (the one that I want to have the Folder Actions attached to), choose Services>Folder Actions Setup... and from there I can manually attach the Folder Actions that I created in Automator. Then they both worked.
Hello Craig, I basically understood what Automator can do for you. It is certainly worth learning more about it. Thank you for providing your content in 2020. It helped me a lot and I‘m sure that many other people out there also received important information from your channel. Thank you for that! Let me wish you all the best for the coming year! Stay healthy and always enjoy what you are doing ! Happy New Year !!! 🥳
Thanks again for the support. I wish you the best for 2021 also. Maybe starting next month I'm going to tray and ramp it up and make some better videos if time is there. Sooner or later I want to put more time into everything so I can create better videos visually ect. and better content. It's touch with a full time job but still fun for me.
Hello Craig, very clear and intuitive video on using the automator. Could it also work with organising pictures into subfolders (1-12) based on the month when the picture was captured? I tried to replace "Kind" with "Date captured" however it needs as input complete date not just a month. Thats a bit difficult if you have pictures from different years. Thanks for your thoughts.
Thanks Craig that was a really clear and helpful video. I am from Qld Australia where we definitely do not get any snow. I am therefore very interested to know where your great snowy desktop is located.
Thanks Simon. I do want to get down there one day and visit your great country. Thanks for watching the channel. Yes, we had about 4 feet of snow on the ground just north of Chicago this year because the temp was about 0 F for 4 weeks straight. In Chicago you can have -20 F in the winter and 109 F in the summer. I think our weather swings the most of any area for sure. Anyhow thanks for watching and please subscribe if you have not to help me grow. Thanks again.
I believe I've done this exactly as you showed it (except my folders aren't nested within the sort folder but I don't think that matters). For me, I had three passes setup to look for strings of characters in the filenames that are unique and at the end. So I did this but with 'Name ending with' and it's slow to do anything if I used more than a couple photos, but even if I let it think it all through, it moves everything to the third folder regardless of the file name. It definitely moves files which don't have the string into that folder meant for other files. Hmm...
Thanks for sharing. I'll see what I can find but I didn't see the exact same behavior but this was a while ago. Might be something to do with OS version. The video was more to show people what Automator is for and to start playing with it but if I find anything I'll follow up.
In trying this, if my first rule doesn't return a file, the following rules do not execute. Is there a way to move on to the next condition test if the previous condition isn't met?
Sorry, and I would need to go back and study this one since it's hard to determine what went wrong. I would try my example to see if you can get it to work and if not then it could be due to a version change or OS change etc. I'll see if I can find anything but this video was from a while ago and I would need to research a bit.
Unfortunately it doesn't work... for images it's ok (the type of flies in first step), but if you try to move to the source folder pdf or other types , it won't work without image file...
This was just a quick way to show you what Automator can do. You can program any type of files etc. and different things if needed and I just wanted to show the basics of using it to get people started.
Hey Craig, this is really useful indeed. I take a lot of screenshots and it saves them all on my desktop by default. Is there a way I can run automator to take the screenshots and put them in a fold automatically and keep my desktop clean? Could you assist me with that?
I have created a folder action wherein I can print automatically using the automator. It is done through me dumping a pdf in a google drive, using the automator extracting that into my mac and then print automatically. My question is how do i delete the folder actions i have created?
Thanks for watching. I'm not sure if you can create an app out of this but it's something I will need to look into. I think it's more for individual work tasks on each Mac though.
This was from a while ago Mendoza. I would check the video description to see if the link is in there as I normally post it in the description. Thanks for watching.
For me it doesn't work ideally if I drag only videos without images they are not sorted only when I drag videos with images both formats will be sorted (I only made it for videos and images without PDF) How can I make it work to sort videos when no images are selected as well?
You can fool around with the setting to have it perform the way you like it to but I had made that one a while ago and it's hard for me to troubleshoot individual requests. I was showing the basic principles in the video. Thanks for watching the channel.
Is this possible to sort files and folders automatically? Like in windows? In mac every time I create a new folder I have to sort it. Can’t it be sorted automatically like it happens in windows? This is very frustrating and time consuming process to sort again and again.
I have not tried that one but I would fool around with it and test it out. That is how I normally come up with the programs and it takes some trial and error.
Hey Craig! Awesome video, thank you (just subbed to the channel)! I followed it exactly however only the first function in my work flow works. I've tried it several times and whichever file type I choose to go first is the only one that gets sorted. Any thoughts on troubleshooting would be appreciated. Would be happy to Venmo for your time. Thanks!
Hello Stephen. Thanks for watching. Are you sure you are using Filter Finder Items, then Move Finder Items, and then Find Filter items in that order? Maybe go back and just confirm as it was working for me with that format. Thanks for watching again.
@@craigneidel Everything is in order, ran it inside Automator to see the issue, the Move Finder function gave an error message about not having the data needed BUT - it magically started working! I'll chalk it up to using a Macbook Pro mid 2012 that I should retire this year. Thanks again!
@@drumskentala Great, thanks Steve. I appreciate the feedback and wish you the best of luck on everything. Thanks again for supporting the channel and I do truly appreciate that.
Thanks for the video @Craig. I had the same issue as @Steve Kentala. The first batch seemed to work. But after moving over 358 images to the correct folder, it stopped (i.e. didn't move anything else. When I ran it inside of Automator to test, it stopped at the first "Move finder items" and gave this message: The action “Move Finder Items” encountered an error: “No item references were passed to the Move Finder Items action.” What's odd, it gives that message at the move images step, which worked. But then I tried it again, and it worked, but temporarily (movie all the file types). I tried a third time, then stopped working again. Seems totally random. As of now, still not working. But I've noticed this with other workflows created in Automator. I created a Flip image workflow that worked as a Quick Action in the Service menu. But the exact same workflow as a standalone application didn't work. Have you seen this phenomena before?
Thanks! Was getting confused how to sort files and this answered my question
Thanks for the nice feedback.
This works fine for me, unless any step along the way fails. Using your example, an image file by itself or combined with any other file type will file the image properly. But, If I put a movie file in the source folder, it will only file it properly if there was also an image file along with it. If I put in a movie file by itself, if will just stay in the source file and not get moved to the subfolder. It is like it never gets to the Find Finder Items step for movies because it never got past the Filter Finder Items step for images. Does this make sense to anyone?
There is an Automator based solution ... but, first, from what I gather, that is how it works, linearly, so if one step fails, it ends rather than moving to the next step...
Workaround Solution: A folder may have more than one Folder Action attached to it. Create as many Folder Actions as you have file types to be auto-sorted. Each Folder action will have two steps, Filter, and Move. Don't know if there is a limit to how many Folder Actions can be attached to a Folder. I've done two...
Problem this caused for me and Solution: When I created my second Folder Action, it did not initially work, and the first Folder Action also stopped working. Fix: right click the Folder (the one that I want to have the Folder Actions attached to), choose Services>Folder Actions Setup... and from there I can manually attach the Folder Actions that I created in Automator. Then they both worked.
Hello Craig, I basically understood what Automator can do for you. It is certainly worth learning more about it. Thank you for providing your content in 2020. It helped me a lot and I‘m sure that many other people out there also received important information from your channel. Thank you for that! Let me wish you all the best for the coming year! Stay healthy and always enjoy what you are doing ! Happy New Year !!! 🥳
Thanks again for the support. I wish you the best for 2021 also. Maybe starting next month I'm going to tray and ramp it up and make some better videos if time is there. Sooner or later I want to put more time into everything so I can create better videos visually ect. and better content. It's touch with a full time job but still fun for me.
Thank you Craig
Thanks for watching.
This is so awesome. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks Ramon for watching.
Ruddy great video Craig as was the last Automator one you posted, thanks. I hope you do more about Automator.
Thanks for the feedback Phil.
This is great, thank you!
Thanks Martin. I hope it helped.
Awesome way to sort your files.
Thanks for watching
Yessss, I've been looking for this! Thank you so much sir!
Thanks for watching Teng.
Hi Craig , advise , Filter , Move , then Find -- from the Source to the destination
Thanks for watching.
Great video, I was also looking into Hazel. Not sure how Hazel differs from this app comes with Mac.
Thanks for watching. I have not really used that app too much but will let you know if I do in the future.
Hello Craig, very clear and intuitive video on using the automator. Could it also work with organising pictures into subfolders (1-12) based on the month when the picture was captured? I tried to replace "Kind" with "Date captured" however it needs as input complete date not just a month. Thats a bit difficult if you have pictures from different years. Thanks for your thoughts.
Thanks Craig that was a really clear and helpful video. I am from Qld Australia where we definitely do not get any snow. I am therefore very interested to know where your great snowy desktop is located.
Thanks Simon. I do want to get down there one day and visit your great country. Thanks for watching the channel. Yes, we had about 4 feet of snow on the ground just north of Chicago this year because the temp was about 0 F for 4 weeks straight. In Chicago you can have -20 F in the winter and 109 F in the summer. I think our weather swings the most of any area for sure. Anyhow thanks for watching and please subscribe if you have not to help me grow. Thanks again.
I believe I've done this exactly as you showed it (except my folders aren't nested within the sort folder but I don't think that matters). For me, I had three passes setup to look for strings of characters in the filenames that are unique and at the end. So I did this but with 'Name ending with' and it's slow to do anything if I used more than a couple photos, but even if I let it think it all through, it moves everything to the third folder regardless of the file name. It definitely moves files which don't have the string into that folder meant for other files. Hmm...
Thanks for sharing. I'll see what I can find but I didn't see the exact same behavior but this was a while ago. Might be something to do with OS version. The video was more to show people what Automator is for and to start playing with it but if I find anything I'll follow up.
In trying this, if my first rule doesn't return a file, the following rules do not execute. Is there a way to move on to the next condition test if the previous condition isn't met?
Sorry, and I would need to go back and study this one since it's hard to determine what went wrong. I would try my example to see if you can get it to work and if not then it could be due to a version change or OS change etc. I'll see if I can find anything but this video was from a while ago and I would need to research a bit.
Unfortunately it doesn't work... for images it's ok (the type of flies in first step), but if you try to move to the source folder pdf or other types , it won't work without image file...
This was just a quick way to show you what Automator can do. You can program any type of files etc. and different things if needed and I just wanted to show the basics of using it to get people started.
Hey Craig, this is really useful indeed. I take a lot of screenshots and it saves them all on my desktop by default. Is there a way I can run automator to take the screenshots and put them in a fold automatically and keep my desktop clean? Could you assist me with that?
I'll see if I can look into this but in the meantime thanks for watching.
Same way he did. Find any file in desktop with "Screenshot" present in the filename and move it to your wanted folder.
I have created a folder action wherein I can print automatically using the automator. It is done through me dumping a pdf in a google drive, using the automator extracting that into my mac and then print automatically. My question is how do i delete the folder actions i have created?
What about finding files also in sub folders?
I have not done that yet but you can try it in Automator by following what I did in the example. Thanks for watching.
Great tutorial, can we create an automator app and sell it to others ?
Thanks for watching. I'm not sure if you can create an app out of this but it's something I will need to look into. I think it's more for individual work tasks on each Mac though.
@@craigneidel yeap i was just thinking on the lines of creators able to help others without reinventing the wheel. Thanks for reply!
can i have the link that you mention about backing up files and folder to external drive thru automator. Thanks!
This was from a while ago Mendoza. I would check the video description to see if the link is in there as I normally post it in the description. Thanks for watching.
For me it doesn't work ideally if I drag only videos without images they are not sorted only when I drag videos with images both formats will be sorted (I only made it for videos and images without PDF) How can I make it work to sort videos when no images are selected as well?
You can fool around with the setting to have it perform the way you like it to but I had made that one a while ago and it's hard for me to troubleshoot individual requests. I was showing the basic principles in the video. Thanks for watching the channel.
Is this possible to sort files and folders automatically? Like in windows? In mac every time I create a new folder I have to sort it. Can’t it be sorted automatically like it happens in windows? This is very frustrating and time consuming process to sort again and again.
You should be able to work that out in Automator but I don't have a specific video on that. Thanks for watching and good luck.
How do automatically sort a folder of movie files into sub folders by date created?
I have not tried that one but I would fool around with it and test it out. That is how I normally come up with the programs and it takes some trial and error.
Hey Craig! Awesome video, thank you (just subbed to the channel)! I followed it exactly however only the first function in my work flow works. I've tried it several times and whichever file type I choose to go first is the only one that gets sorted. Any thoughts on troubleshooting would be appreciated. Would be happy to Venmo for your time. Thanks!
Hello Stephen. Thanks for watching. Are you sure you are using Filter Finder Items, then Move Finder Items, and then Find Filter items in that order? Maybe go back and just confirm as it was working for me with that format. Thanks for watching again.
@@craigneidel Will double and triple check and then do a deep dive. Thanks again!
@@craigneidel Everything is in order, ran it inside Automator to see the issue, the Move Finder function gave an error message about not having the data needed BUT - it magically started working! I'll chalk it up to using a Macbook Pro mid 2012 that I should retire this year. Thanks again!
@@drumskentala Great, thanks Steve. I appreciate the feedback and wish you the best of luck on everything. Thanks again for supporting the channel and I do truly appreciate that.
Thanks for the video @Craig. I had the same issue as @Steve Kentala. The first batch seemed to work. But after moving over 358 images to the correct folder, it stopped (i.e. didn't move anything else. When I ran it inside of Automator to test, it stopped at the first "Move finder items" and gave this message: The action “Move Finder Items” encountered an error: “No item references were passed to the Move Finder Items action.” What's odd, it gives that message at the move images step, which worked. But then I tried it again, and it worked, but temporarily (movie all the file types). I tried a third time, then stopped working again. Seems totally random. As of now, still not working. But I've noticed this with other workflows created in Automator. I created a Flip image workflow that worked as a Quick Action in the Service menu. But the exact same workflow as a standalone application didn't work. Have you seen this phenomena before?
Is there one for windows?
This is for Mac's only
very complicated I dont know why apple dont organize those folders o files like windows or another softwares
Different os. That's all
RIP Automator
Funny, thanks.