Make Hazel move parent folder

Hi!

I would like to create a rule to move a folder based on the contents of this folder. What I have so far, is this:

If Kind is Folder
Run rules on folder contents

Then a new rule

If name contains <some_characters>

Do the following:
move the parent/containing folder to a new location.

Is there a way to do this without using AppleScript?
As in Subfolder Depth is -1 or something?

I'm new to Hazel, so sorry if I'm asking something that is really obvious.
Thanks for helping!

The bad news is that it does require AppleScript but the good news is that I've posted the script and you can use it as is: viewtopic.php?p=1545#p1545

That uses a mechanism I added to the AppleScript support where the script can re-target the file that Hazel will operate on in subsequent actions (in this case, the parent folder).

I will be adding a built-in way to do this in a future release.

Last edited by missdigital on Thu Jul 15, 2010 12:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Mr_Noodle wrote:The bad news is that it does require AppleScript but the good news is that I've posted the script and you can use it as is: viewtopic.php?p=1545#p1545

That uses a mechanism I added to the AppleScript support where the script can re-target the file that Hazel will operate on in subsequent actions (in this case, the parent folder).

I will be adding a built-in way to do this in a future release.

Thank you. So where do I add this AppleScript code? Sorry, I'm very new to this...

ETA: Found it.

Thanks!

Select the "Run AppleScript" action, click "Edit script" and paste in the script from that article in there. No need to edit it. "theFile" is a variable that represents the file being processed at the time and gets replaced with the actual file when the script runs.

Mr_Noodle wrote:Select the "Run AppleScript" action, click "Edit script" and paste in the script from that article in there. No need to edit it. "theFile" is a variable that represents the file being processed at the time and gets replaced with the actual file when the script runs.

Thank you! I just figured it out, and it works like a charm. I just love this program, it's worth every cent. When I get all my rules set up, it will save me hours of work.

Mr_Noodle wrote:I will be adding a built-in way to do this in a future release.

Has this been added or should we still use the AppleScript method?

It's slated for 3.0 so for now, use the AppleScript.

Cool, thanks.

can you please explain how to do this on 3.0?

You need to think of it in the opposite fashion, from the top-down:

Code: Select all: If all of the following are true for any sub-file or folder Name contains <whatever> Then Move <wherever>

Basically, if this folder has any subfiles with that name, then move the folder wherever.

has this feature been implemented in the latest Hazel?

Yes, it's been there for a while. Hold down the option key while clicking the + button to create a new condition. That will create a nested condition with an extra pop-up where you can specify the target.

Mr_Noodle wrote:Yes, it's been there for a while. Hold down the option key while clicking the + button to create a new condition. That will create a nested condition with an extra pop-up where you can specify the target.

I apologize, but can you explain this?

I want a rule that when new music is added to iTunes, the parent folder for the music files is copied to a cloud backup folder. I have a smart folder in the Finder that gathers all music files added to the "iTunes" file in the last 2 days (currently has 12 songs all from the same CD I just imported).

I want Hazel to watch this folder, when it sees new music files to copy the parent folder (or multiple if I added multiple albums) and not just copy the music files themselves. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

See my earlier example above. By using a nested condition, you can specify that the condition match a folder based on the files within it. The action will operate on the folder.