Hazel cannot monitor Dropbox folder

This is a somewhat complicated issue, so I'll use bulletpoint

1. What I wanna do is this: Send a note from Squarespace Note to my Dropbox folder. Hazel will monitor that folder, and run iCamSource application on my Mac when I send a note.

2. It doesn't work

3. Both Squarespace Note and Dropbox sync work perfectly fine.

4. The Applescript I use works fine, too.

5. Hazel (in general) works fine as well. No problems whatsoever with monitoring folders (in the Dropbox folder or elsewhere) - except for the Squarespace Note folder in Dropbox.

6. I thought it was maybe because the Apps folder in Dropbox (where Squarespace Note and other app folder are located) was somehow "more" protected and untouchable than others, but nope, other app folders trigger Hazel and launch iCamSource.

7. When a Hazel rule is triggered for the Squarespace Note app folder, I get that mysterious and dreaded message: "Another hazelworker process is processing folder (null). Exiting." - No, nothing else is processing that folder.

8. I unlinked Dropbox and Squarespace Note, deleted the folder and re-linked them. Nah, nothing changed.

Can anyone make anything of this? Why can't Hazel monitor the Squarespace Note folder in Dropbox in a healthy way? Remember: It monitors every other Dropbox folder perfectly, including the app folders.

Any help is welcome.
Thanks in advance.

A few comments:

Emre wrote:2. It doesn't work :|

This isn't particularly helpful if we don't have the content of the rule. What exactly do you do to run iCam?

Emre wrote:4. The Applescript I use works fine, too.

Ok, now we're getting somewhere. I'm guessing that you use some sort of AppleScript in this rule? Is that true? If so, we're going to need the AppleScript to see what's going on.

A bit more info will help diagnose the problem.

Ugh, yeah, sorry about that. I'm mega-new to this.

I can't export the rule because I'm using an evaluation version. I'll decide if I'll buy Hazel depending on whether this works on not.

So here are two screenshots of the rule. The second one includes the Applescript.

http://cl.ly/MTtz
http://cl.ly/MU4M

This rule works perfectly fine with any other folder in Dropbox (or elsewhere on my Mac), but gives the "Another hazelworker process is processing folder (null). Exiting" response when I try to run it in the Squarespace Note folder.

I can't even be sure if it's a problem with Hazel, but this seemed like a good place to start because it looks like it's not about Dropbox monitoring its own folder, and I'd be really surprised if it had anything to do with Squarespace Note because that app doesn't look like it has any connection with its folder other than posting stuff in there.

And of course, thank you for your response.

This user is having a similar error, although I am unsure if it were resolved since it appears the conversation was taken offline. That said, if you log in and out/reboot is there any success with the rule?

Also, it is perfectly fine to call that shell script from Hazel, no need to invoke AppleScript.

I rebooted several times and it didn't change anything. The other user says it solves his problem for a while but it comes back. For me, it just never happens. I couldn't get this rule to work for the Squarespace Note folder even once. It's just perpetually haunted by the phantom of an omnipresent hazelworker process :evil:

Do your rules match in the preview window?

Yeah, it does. http://cl.ly/MVie

If you change the rule (add conditions/results) does the behavior remain?

Yes. I've tried adding to and removing from the Applescript, and removing it completely as well. Such as: Changed the "contains" condition, removed it completely, wrote the rule for ANY text files, etc. Again, they all work fine in every other folder, and none of it works in the Squarespace Note folder.
Weird, huh?

Yes, I agree that this is strange. What happens if you add a rule to the parent directory that dives into subfolders?

Try what a_freyer suggested but also try renaming the folder to something else the renaming it back and see if that fixes anything.

Mr_Noodle wrote:Try what a_freyer suggested but also try renaming the folder to something else the renaming it back and see if that fixes anything.

FINALLY! This did the trick. Thank you so much. It would never in a million years occur to me to try that. I still don't get it, but it finally worked. Many many kisses.

a_freyer wrote:What happens if you add a rule to the parent directory that dives into subfolders?

For completion's sake, I'd already tried that, but the result was the same. Apparently I had to rename the folder and then change it back to "Squarespace Note."
Again... Weird, huh?

Thank you both so much.
I'll see how this plays out in the following days and decide whether to buy Hazel or not. This is the second time I'm evaluating it, and the first time was like this as well. Lots of sites and blogs recommend Hazel as an indispensable tool for Mac users, but both times I tried using it, it's just one random weird buggy mess. Maybe I just need to learn to speak its language.

Haha, yes it can be a hard language to learn. That is definitely true. That said, it is great that you continue to post these edge cases - which I assure you they are.

I'm pleased you found the solution to your problem.

Happy organizing!

Oh good. Sorry about the problem you saw but unfortunately, it's unavoidable as it's a bug in OS X. Hopefully Apple fixes it at some point.