Unable to see menu

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Unable to see menu Sun Jun 21, 2015 4:14 am • by fidosg
I have created a rule to extract the first date that Hazel can find in a pdf file. As there are many formats to capture, I have many rows on the screen - about 26 patterns. I have given each pattern a unique name so that I can identify what I have already captured. (There are too many iterations to add them all so I'll add new ones when the rule fails). e.g.
1 December 1999
1December 1999
1 December1999
1December1999
1 Dec 1999
1Dec 1999
1 Dec1999
1Dec1999
......etc.

The problem occurs when I try to Rename with pattern.
As the Hazel screen is now the full length of my 13" mac screen, when I click in the pattern box, the menu that appears is only partially visible - most of it is off the screen.
Any idea how I fix this?
fidosg
 
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Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 2:17 am

Re: Unable to see menu Mon Jun 22, 2015 11:33 am • by Mr_Noodle
You can use the same date attribute. Create it the first time, then for each condition after that, you can drag it in. Each instance can have its own pattern but the first one to match is the one that is used when you use it later on in the actions.
Mr_Noodle
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Re: Unable to see menu Tue Jun 23, 2015 2:41 am • by fidosg
You are quite right, the issue would be avoided if I had the same attribute name for all of the different patterns. However if I gave them all the same name - when the rule does not work - I would have to click on every attribute and look at the pattern in order to check which attribute was missing. As the order of the list matters too, if it was simply in the wrong order - I'd have no way to tell again without clicking on each pattern and writing the results down. If the attribute name matches the pattern it's a lot easier to see.

Once you hit 22 conditions on a 13" MBA screen you hit a problem. Trying to rename in the "Do the following to the matched file or folder" area reveals only the first 9 rows of the "Type text and click/drag element to create....." pop up window (from where I am grabbing the attributes) - and I need to see about 25 lines in order to select the attributes.

I guess I'm asking if we can have a scroll bar on the
"Type text and click/drag element to create....." pop up window?

[There is a work-around by adding a few dozen temp actions to the "Do the following to the matched file or folder".....this pushes the box up the screen.]
fidosg
 
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 2:17 am

Re: Unable to see menu Tue Jun 23, 2015 11:07 am • by Mr_Noodle
I don't think it's a good practice using so many attributes for the same thing here. Instead of providing a way to handle such a large number, I'd rather focus on ways to make using the single attribute easier or a way to cut down on needing that many patterns in the first place.
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Re: Unable to see menu Wed Jun 24, 2015 3:57 am • by fidosg
I'd love to see a simple way to pull out a 1st, 2nd, 3rd instance of any date format from a pdf.
That was what I was trying to achieve with the Date rule above - once I sorted it for all Date combinations then I would be able to easily change it to 2nd, 3rd instance of a date. I'm not sure how others pick dates out - perhaps looking at each pdf and selecting the single format for that bill/client etc. I was looking for something more elegant - as even the piecemeal approach takes time what with scanner sometimes reading 12 Dec !999 as:
12dec1999
12 dec1999
12dec 1999
etc....
I would appreciate any suggestions you have!
thanks
fidosg
 
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 2:17 am

Re: Unable to see menu Wed Jun 24, 2015 12:49 pm • by Mr_Noodle
When doing "Contents contain match", if you drag in a custom date attribute, at the bottom you'll see the option to select which occurrence of the pattern to match there. Or are you referring to something else?
Mr_Noodle
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Re: Unable to see menu Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:23 pm • by fidosg
Yes thanks I understood that - I can work out the detail from here - thanks again for your help
fidosg
 
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2007 2:17 am


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