Hazel doesn't trigger automatically

My Hazel installation seems to be having some trouble automatically running rules.
For some folders it just doesn't run its regular rules checking. It can take 12h without triggering its check.

I made a video to show what's going on: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/100 ... _stops.mov

As you can see, the rules are matching, but the log shows Hazel is not checking the folder. I reinstalled the app, but it didn't work.

Support doesn't seem to understand what's going on. I'm only told it must be something with the rules and their logic. But if this was the case, the rules wouldn't match in preview mode and it wouldn't trigger all the rules after only clicking the preview button.

Can anyone else help me?

Thanks.

UPDATE
Here's a new video showing the same behavior. Now it has past 3 hours with no action from Hazel. It is constantly like this. Renaming the folders back and forth or reinstalling the app don't solve the problem.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/100 ... hazel2.mov

Well, I'm "support" here. What you sent me did not back up what you claimed (and you did not send in these movies which would have been helpful). The logs you sent with the process ids you pointed out indicated that the files were not being matched when run. The reason why the rules are "triggered" when you preview is that launching the pane does a delayed trigger on all folders. Doing the preview itself is a red herring.

I suggest you do the following (record a movie if you can):

- Open the log.
- Drop a file into that folder.
- Watch the logs.

There should be activity on that folder within seconds. If not then there's an issue. One was one which I pointed out in email which is that there's a bug with OS X's file event system where it will stop sending events for particular folders. Renaming the folder to something else then back again usually resets that.

Other things:
- In Hazel, right-click on the folder and do "Reveal in Finder". Make sure it's the folder you think it is and not some other folder with the same name somewhere else.
- Is the folder on some other type (non-Mac or non-local) of filesystem?
- Are you running any haxies or other extensions? If unsure about this, select HazelHelper in Activity Monitor and do "Sample Process" and send me that output.

Mr. Noodle
I had the time to make the movies on the weekend and probably because it was clear you weren't believing my claim (as you stated in your previous post). I didn't think we'd get to any solution only by words, screenshots and logs (which in my opinion greatly proved my point). The files you looked at on the log were from previous runs, I believe. The files I needed to be actioned weren't in the logs exactly because Hazel wasn't actually doing anything.

Well, let's get this thing going, as it is a great software and when it is 100% it is a MUST HAVE software for any Mac user.

Here's a new video where I show the folder renaming not doing anything. And it is worse now, because even previewing the rules isn't launching it. I had to force-run to get it going. After that (as you can see at the very end of the movie) it keeps working. But I don't know for how much time.

Here's the movie: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/100 ... hazel3.mov

If you need anything else to help you, just ask me.

Thanks!

Thanks for the movie. It seems as if file events are dead for that folder. One thing I noticed is that that folder is under your Dropbox. I'm wondering if they did something recently to screw up file events for everyone else. Can you move the folder to a non-Dropbox folder on your local drive and see if it works there?

Mr_Noodle
It looks like it's related to Dropbox.
When I moved the folder from Dropbox it worked flawlessly.
Then I put it back to Dropbox and it is happening again.

If Dropbox isn't the problem, this was a huge coincidence.

EDIT:
To make this a little more complicated, another folder inside Dropbox works flawlessly now.

EDIT 2:
The difference between the 2 folders, one that works and the other that doesn't work is this: the one that doesn't work is a shared folder under Dropbox. The one that works is in Dropbox, but not a shared one.

Maybe try a test with another shared folder to establish a pattern? In any case, it makes me think that Dropbox did something to the file events for shared folders. They have been known to use undocumented API and I wouldn't be surprised if they did something like that here.

Maybe there's something helpful on the Dropbox Forums, but unfortunately it's a PitA to search (and isn't Google indexed) and the signal-to-noise ratio can be low.

I have been experiencing this same issue. Hazel does not seem to run the trigger tests on a folder in Dropbox. Unlike this other user, my dropbox folder is not shared and it still isn't functioning properly. It will run if I select the folder in Hazel and select Run Rules Now from the contextual menu, but it doesn't run consistently on it's own.

My rule moves files from a Dropbox folder to Evernote. The folder "Evernote" is in the root of Dropbox and not shared.

Folder "Evernote"
If All of the following conditions are met:
Any File
Do the following to the matched file or folder:
Run AppleScript embedded script
Move to folder Trash

The embedded script is:
tell application "Evernote"
activate
create note from file theFile
end tell

Hinkensj

At first I had exactly the same problem with a folder that is not shared. I don't know why after so much messing around it started working. Now only that particular shared folder doesn't work. I didn't test it with other shared folders.

Mr_Noodle wrote:In any case, it makes me think that Dropbox did something to the file events for shared folders. They have been known to use undocumented API and I wouldn't be surprised if they did something like that here.

Could Dropbox's dbfseventsd process somehow be confusing Hazel's file events handling?

It could be irrelevant, but people having trouble may want to mention which version of the Dropbox client they're running. 2.2.9 had been the latest Stable build (on the dropbox.com/install page) for awhile, but was reverted to 2.0.26, while the Dropbox-controlled auto-updating has pushed out a mix of 2.0.x and 2.2.x builds. An initial 2.3.x Experimental build has to be manually installed; not sure if it auto-updates to newer 2.3.x builds. I strongly object to the silent, unpredictable, non-optional auto-update mechanism of the desktop client on my systems. To work around it on OS X, the Dropbox.app application can be locked after doing a manual update.

Mine is 2.2.29. I have it installed for years now and always auto updating.

Mine is 2.2.29.
I have it installed for years now and always auto updating.

martinewski wrote:Mine is 2.2.29.

Maybe you mean 2.2.9? 2.2.10 is currently the highest 2.2.x build. There's a ~2-year-old 1.2.29 but surely you're beyond that.

sjk wrote:
Mr_Noodle wrote:It could be irrelevant, but people having trouble may want to mention which version of the Dropbox client they're running.

Dropbox v2.0.22

sjk wrote:
martinewski wrote:Mine is 2.2.29.

Maybe you mean 2.2.9? 2.2.10 is currently the highest 2.2.x build. There's a ~2-year-old 1.2.29 but surely you're beyond that.

You are correct. When I read your post the first thing I did was to download the app again and reinstall. A few hours later Dropbox was auto updated to 2.2.9 again.

Now I'm waiting for the other person to accept the shared folder, so I can test it again.

martinewski wrote:A few hours later Dropbox was auto updated to 2.2.9 again.

The conditions when auto-updates occur will vary. AFAIK Include me on early releases on the Account Settings page is the only user option that influences them, but details are vague.

Other versions can be downloaded from links here:

Release notes - Dropbox

Even though 2.2.10 is marked Stable there auto-updating seems stuck at 2.2.9, for now. And the dropbox.com/install page is still back at 2.0.26. This sloppiness with Dropbox version management often makes it unclear which one is considered "current" or "latest" unless, I suppose, you say it's whichever one an auto-update happens to give you.