Noodlesoft Forums

Hi,

I have setup some rules to monitor my download folder for invoices.
Each rule matches on partial filename for a specific supplier and moves it to a specified folder.

But some of these suppliers prefix their PDF files: "Invoice 134.pdf" and I would like to rename the file to "134.pdf" after it has been moved.

I have successfully automated the movement of the PDF files with Hazel, but I still need to rename the files manually with a separate tool:


But I would love to automate that last part too.

Is this possible with Hazel or do I need to create custom scripts to accomplish this?

Thanks!

Search for "match patterns" in the help. You can set up a custom attribute to match the part you want to keep and then use that in a Rename pattern.

Mr_Noodle wrote:Search for "match patterns" in the help. You can set up a custom attribute to match the part you want to keep and then use that in a Rename pattern.

Hi there,
Would you mind going over the specifics of it, please? I'm going crazy trying to figure this out. Here's an example of a filename I want to change:

NL 20190901010101.pdf

I need it to remove the start of the name "NL ", remove the last 8 digits before the file extension, ending up with the filename "201909.pdf".
The first part is easy, I simply add a "Rename" step and configure it to replace "NL " with nothing. The second part, however, I simply can't figure out how to do. I know you mentioned "match patterns" but after reading through the help file, I still don't understand what I should be doing.

Thank you so much!
Rui

Create a pattern to match the name. The part you want to keep, save that into a custom attribute. You can then use that in the rename pattern.

Mr_Noodle wrote:Create a pattern to match the name. The part you want to keep, save that into a custom attribute. You can then use that in the rename pattern.

Thank you for getting back to me so quickly. I'm afraid I don't get it, though.

How do I create a pattern to match the name? And how do I save it into a custom attribute? The thing is, the part I want to keep, changes every month, as it's a date, so what I want to tell Hazel is to keep 6 characters of the original name, starting on character 4 up t0 character 9, regardless of what they are.

Sorry to be a pain in the ass with all these questions. Thank you so much for your patience.

All the best,
Rui

I think I got it After a bit of trial and error I figure it out.

Thank you so much anyway.

Here you are in images:

@Trickyt57: I don't think that quite address the issue here. I believe the beginning text may change and that they just want to extract the specific digits after that (but before the last . For that, you really do need to use match patterns.

Hi and thank you for all the input.
I figured out how to do it. Using a match pattern for the Date, I was able to do it. Once you understand how it works it's actually pretty easy.
In my case, I simply used the "Custom Date" option, typed it exactly how it shows in my invoice (18 Sep 2019) and then used the same string in the Rename rule bellow. The only other change needed, if you want it, is to edit the Date Pattern (I turned mine into 201909).
Hope it helps someone looking to do the same.