Trouble getting Hazel to process files.

Hello,

I have been using Hazel for quite a while now, and I am pretty comfortable adjusting things to make sure everything is working. I have an iMac running OS X 10.7.5.

I scan documents as OCR'd PDF files to a folder that Hazel monitors. I have a different rule for each type or category of document. Those rules tell Hazel to rename the files to fit the specific type or category, based on the OCR'd content. The files are then moved by Hazel to another program (Together) for storage.

Everything was working well until recently. I am not sure if the problems people are having using Spotlight and Time Machine in OS X 10.7.5 have anything to do with this. My Spotlight updates sometimes are slow, but they do not take forever to finish, and Spotlight is up to date. Time Machine seems to take longer to finish as well. When I check, I see that Spotlight does detect the OCR'd content of the scanned files. So with this background information out of the way, I would like to know if there is anything that I can do sort Hazel out?

I have two problems with Hazel right now. First, Hazel does not immediately recognize the different files so that they can be matched with the appropriate rule. I do find that Hazel will eventually match rules to those files, but lately it has usually been taking at least 10 minutes to do that. Second, once the rules are matched to the files, Hazel often will not automatically run the rules until I manually select Run Rules. I have waited over 20 minutes, before running out of patience, for Hazel to run the matched rules.

Sometimes Hazel will work quickly to process files. But I have found that I can take a file that Hazel has just processed and removed from the folder that it is monitoring, put that same file back in the folder, and wait because Hazel will not process the file.

I do not understand the log well enough to get any hints, but if you need it I can repeat the process and send the log file to you.

Ken

Yes, it's probably best to email the files in. If you think Spotlight is slow then that may account for delays but it's best if I look at the logs to make sure.

Hi,

I tried sending you the Hazel log from yesterday, but your Web mail client balked at the size of the message. Is there a way I can send you this file as an attachment?

By the way, I am currently running Hazel Version 3.0.13 (Build 875), but this problem was occurring with the older version.

Ken

Click the "Contact Support" button in the "Info" section. Also, do you recall if this started happening with 10.7.5?

Hi,

I just dawned on me that you meant the Info section in Hazel. I had been looking for Contact Support in the Noodlesoft Web site.

I think most of my recent problems have occurred after I updated to OS X 10.7.5, but I cannot be absolutely sure. Since that update, I have noticed the changes in behavior of both Spotlight and Time Machine. Before this latest update to OS X, I would sometimes see that Hazel would not immediately process a file, but I could always select Run Rules to start things off. Since the update to OS X, I frequently see that Hazel does not match a file to a rule when I open Preview, and then there is nothing that I can do until some time has elapsed and Hazel finally recognizes the file.

I have sent yesterday's log to you.

Ken

Hi,

Well, Apple just came out with a supplemental update to OS X 10.7.5, and they claimed that it would fix the slow Time Machine backup problem. I downloaded and installed the update this evening. It appears to me that Time Machine is backing up very quickly, even if Spotlight is in the process of indexing. The time estimate that Spotlight gives when it started to update its index tonight was 12 minutes to finish. It finished in 24 minutes, but that is a reasonable time for my internal hard drive.

I next threw some files at Hazel. Hazel recognized the files immediately and processed the files within 2 minutes.

This is much better than it was, and I am hopeful that this update has solved my Hazel problems

Ken

Oh good. Frankly I'm surprised Apple fixed it as quickly as they did. Definitely let me know how things turn out.

Hi,

It has been a little over a week now since I applied the supplemental update to OS X 10.7.5. Since then, Hazel has not had any problems processing files according to the rules that I have given it to use.

Ken

Great. Thanks for the update.