Having trouble with some rules... need help fixing it

Hi, I've set some rules to place new file that I download into folders by kind and by years (ex. Download/2010/Zip Archive/). That part work well so that every file that is downloaded is sort by those rules... Where I have a problem is that it duplicate the main folders (ex. I get 2 or more 2010 folder in the same place or 2 Zip Archive sub-folder in the same 2010 folder). OSX should make this impossible to happen... Just try creating 2 folders with the same name and the system will tell you that a name is already use... So How can I fix this issue so that when new files comes in, it place them in existing subfolder without recreating new ones with the same names...

As and example of one of the rule I use, here is the one for Sorting Archive :

and heres what it looks like in the folders:

Hope someone will find a way to fix this issue

Thanks

Martin B.

The filesystem won't allow two files/folders with the same name in the same folder. Double-check the names/patterns to make sure there aren't any extra spaces at the end.

The problem is that it is hazel who is creating thoses folders in the first place... I didn't create the 2009 or 2010 folders it's hazel who's creating them... as you can see in the screenshot of the rule, I haven't insert any space or special character. just telling hazel to sort files by Years and then by kind.

Why is Hazel always trying to create new folders instead of appending the new files to existing folders? is there another way of doing it?

Could you archive/compress the folders containing the duplicates files and folders and send it to me (click the Support link in the "Info" pane to email me)? As I said before, this should be impossible (the filesystem won't let Hazel do this). I suspect there's some sort of invisible character in there somewhere. Also, export your rules and send those as well so I can check the patterns.

One thing to check for is unintended space characters in Date/Time formats, configured under System Preferences > Language & Text > Formats (on Snow Leopard), that Hazel and/or other apps may be using that's causing this misbehavior.

I've notice that Hazel does recreate the folders with the same name (with a space after as an invisible character) I'm aware of this! But my problem (why I'll send you my rules) is that everytime a new file is process in hazel, instead of placing it in the folders already created, it recreate a new folder with the same name (but this time with a space after the name). So for an example if TEST.ZIP is processed in hazel, it won't move it to /download/2010/Zip Archive , it will recreate the /2010 /Zip Archive.

You will see in the email. If you find a solution to fix this problem, please send me the instruction to fix it

Thanks!

Martin B.

Ok, I think I see the problem. If you click on the arrow on "date created" in the pattern, you'll see the option to edit the date format. In there, you'll see that you have the year attribute in there and an extra space at the end. You need to get rid of that space. Double-check all your other patterns as well.

Thanks, I think that you just nailed the problem! I wouldn't have notice without your help!

Yep, similar to problems caused by having accidental stray spaces in the system Date/Time formats.