Automator - how do I Get Specified Finder Items from hidden folders?

Question

Level 1

8 points

Automator - how do I Get Specified Finder Items from hidden folders?

Am trying to learn Automater and am trying to build a small app to periodically backup some specific files to a network drive.

Some of the files I would like to back up are Application Support files (e.g. TextExpander Backups, Safari Bookmarks.plist). these are hidden in the ~/Library/Application Support folders and do not show up within Automator "Get Specified Finder Items" window of files available to select.

As a work around, I've tried "Find Finder Items" which I think let me specify ~/Library/Application Support but I couldn't figure out how to hand off the files/folders found to Automator to "Get" the items and then subsequently copy to my destination network drive.

Any thoughts?

If this isn't the right community for this I apologize and would like to know where else to post this query.

Thanks,

David

iMac (27-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), 2.8GHz, 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3

Posted on Dec 4, 2013 5:46 PM

Reply

Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,422 points

Dec 4, 2013 6:38 PM in response to DavidA591

In Mavericks, if your home Library (~/Library) folder is hidden, you can unhide it with the Finder by pressing command+J (Show View Options) and checking Show Library Folder.

In Automator, when you have the Get Specified Finder Items open after selecting the add button, click shift+command+. to reveal any hidden files.

Reply

Answer 2

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,684 points

Dec 4, 2013 7:45 PM in response to DavidA591

Automator can be a pain trying to do anything beyond what you can see in the Finder.

If you do a straight copy (preserving the hidden state) you will end up with backups containing hidden files, which can make restoring & comparing backup versions fun.

🙂

Are you familiar with shell scripting?

Add the 'do shell script' action & add some lines like…

cp ~/Library/path/to/my/hidden/files/.hidden-file /Volumes/my-backup-disk/no-longer-hidden-file

That removes the leading dot.

You may need the 'setfile' command to fix files that have been hidden with the invisible flag (setfile is part of Xcode).

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/ man1/SetFile.1.html

VikingOSX's way should work too, choose which one makes you most comfortable.

Reply