Copy twice, move once. Cant figure it out.

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Moderator: Mr_Noodle

Hi,

a invoice is dropped in a specific folder. When Kind = PDF, I want the following to happen.

a) remove all Tags. Works.
b) add a new Tag. Works-
c) COPY the file to Folder1 (in the Library of this user). Works alone, but not together with d) and/or e)
d) COPY the file to Folder2 (DMS on the Synology NAS). Works alone, but not with c) and/or e)
e) MOVE the file to a subfolder. Dienst work under any condition. It is copied, but not moved.

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BavarianOne
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:52 am

Are these all in the same rule or separate ones? If the former, be aware that whenever you do a copy, subsequent actions act on the copy, not the original.
Mr_Noodle
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11195
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 1:30 am
Location: New York City

Ah, the Screenshot is broken.
It is the same rule.



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BavarianOne
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:52 am

It works!

Thank you for your help!

I changed the order to

a)add tag
b) move
c) copy 1
d) copy 2

and this works! no clue, why.
BavarianOne
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:52 am

Mr_Noodle wrote:Are these all in the same rule or separate ones? If the former, be aware that whenever you do a copy, subsequent actions act on the copy, not the original.


I have a similar problem and question, Mr. Noodle. You say "subsequent actions act on copy, not original," but is there any way to prevent this and rather force a subsequent action on the original file?

After all, the Hazel User Interface is quite misleading because the second "Do Action" part of the rule specifically states (CAPS mine): "Do the following to the MATCHED FILE or folder:"

This is deceptive because it becomes a falsehood the moment a copy or move action is performed.

The reason this is important to me is that I need to be able to:
    1. Add Tag to File on fast source drive #1
    2. Copy to slow drive #2
    3. Copy to slow drive #3
    4. Delete Original from fast drive #1
and the reason the order is important and I do not want to do a "MOVE" instead is that only the Source directory drive is fast, and the two destination drives are very slow.

That is, were I instead to Move the file to the first slow drive, then the subsequent Copy from Slow drive to Slow Drive would be much slower, and this adds up with large numbers of files.
chaseholden
 
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2016 1:18 pm

How about using two rules instead? If you use a "Continue" action on the first of the rules, the second rule can also be evaluated and run.
Mr_Noodle
Site Admin
 
Posts: 11195
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2006 1:30 am
Location: New York City

Mr_Noodle wrote:How about using two rules instead? If you use a "Continue" action on the first of the rules, the second rule can also be evaluated and run.


That will work!
Thanks again for all of your hard work. Hazel is brilliant.

P.S.: As a feature request, I'd love to see option to choose whether an action applies to the source file or the copied file.
chaseholden
 
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2016 1:18 pm


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