Notification when a file is added or deleted In subfolders.

It should be pretty straightforward, but I can't get it to work at all.

I've put the Go into subfolder rule provided my Mr. Noodle at the top of my rules. Then added
if Any
sub-file/folder count -> did change
Do the following
Display notification with pattern, file was deleted or added.

That's it. It "should" work. When I add or remove a file, nothing happens. The folder in question contains about 10 subfolders. The file can be added at the root or in one of the subfolders. So what am I doing wrong?

Try using the rule status feature (click on the "eye" button). My guess is that all of the folders are matching the subfolder rule thus preventing it from ever getting to the second rule. If that is the case, you need to re-order your rules.

Thanks Mr. Noodle, it worked after inverting the rules. Very unintuitive though.

Having it work differently (for example, having all rules apply regardless of whether any previous ones matched) would end up being even more unintuitive. For example, user creates rule to handle a certain class of files. They don't think of the side effects that other rules (which they created to handle a different class of files) may also match those files.

It does create confusion in cases like this but the alternative is just as confusing and also more dangerous as unexpected side effects would be common. You can use the "Continue" action in this case, which makes it clear that you thought it through and understand the side effects.

I was thinking removing that feature from the rules and putting it at the Folder "options". Like apply recursively (for all subfolder). It might just be me, but you know if you want to apply your rules to every folder or just the first level. You're approach is more flexible though.

As a second question. I've set my rule to notify me if the count of file/folder changes. That works, but it would be nice if it could show me the actual file when it was added, and the parent folder when it was removed. (that last part works currently as I open the result with Path Finder). I don't want to apply a label since how would I tell it to reset all other files and folders when some new files/folder is put in my watched folder? Anyway, it works ok for now, it would just be gravy at this point :wink:

If you want an alert when a file is added, then add a rule to match added files. A condition like "Date added is after date last matched" should do it.