Understanding Hazel

I've read help and posts on this forum but don't seem to be able to understand Hazel sufficiently. Hope you can help.

I created a rule that renames some generic files to the parent directory name plus an incrementing number. Seems to work just fine. Situation is that I decide to add something else into the mix. What happens if I change a running rule? So I watch the log and the old rule just keeps running. So I pause the rule thinking I'll stop the running and then restart it. But the log shows that the original rule just keeps on running. So I decide to stop Hazel thinking that I'll just restart in a bit, but the original rule just keeps on running.

What is the proper way to make changes to a running rule?

Why is it that rules keep going when paused?

Why is it that rules keep going when Hazel is stopped?

Must I always delete Hazel and re-install just to make changes to a running rule?is the

Another thing that is occurring is the constant appearance of the beach ball. I seem to be constantly waiting for Hazel to make any move whatsoever. Just moving to "info" and back to "folders" can take several minutes of beach ball observation. Will editing rules perform faster if Hazel is stopped? Currently I have Hazel doing rename of files in six different directories each of which has several thousand files. Am I overworking Hazel? Hazel is the only thing slow. I can read email or navigate the internet with no apparent slowness. Why is Hazel acting this way?

Finally, here's a suggestion for a possible enhancement: I'd like to see a "pause all"/"start all" on the dropdown under the folders window.

You should be able to just make changes. How are you pausing the rule?

Can you provide more details, like evidence in the log? Also, when it beachballs, launch Activity Monitor and do "Sample Process". I suggest emailing this all in instead of posting here as it's easier to deal with there.

Also, never uninstall to fix something without contacting support first.

Concerning pausing I just use the pause folder selection... I was probably not clear on that. But I notice that Hazel just keeps renaming files and seems to not pause. I will take a look at the activity monitor to see what I can learn. I will also send an email as soon as I can.

Gee, I'm still confused on some stuff.

I did some file renaming stuff and I had to go into sub-folders before the several rename rules. But when I ran several move rules I had to put the go into sub-folders rule after the moves to get it to work.

Is there some rule of thumb as to where to place the go into sub-folders/run rule?

Depends a lot on the other rules you are using. The subfolder rule is supposed to match folders. If you have other rules that also match certain folders, then that rule usually needs to precede the subfolder one.