Finder is auto-tagging files. Need fix!

Question

Finder is auto-tagging files. Need fix!

Before Mavericks, I created a rule to mark certain downloaded files with a gray label. Don't really remember how I did that. Since upgrading, a large number of saved and downloaded files are marked with the gray tag. It is not across the board, but I have experimented with .txt, .scap, and .pdf files. Jpegs downloaded from safari also get gray labels, but oddly enough, only the first two or three files downloaded into a folder are marked, while the rest are clear. Other programs seem unaffected.

I have carefully looked at the save dialog when saving and found no entry in the tags field, but the files are marked with a gray tag anyway. I use Default Folder X for my save dialog and found no rules attached. Is it possible that the old label rule is somewhere in Maverivcks I can't find and is being wildly misinterpreted and applied? If so, how do I fix it?

Thanks,

Paul

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2010), OS X Mavericks (10.9.3)

Posted on May 26, 2014 6:41 PM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,524 points

May 26, 2014 6:46 PM in response to Paul Squasson

Take a look in your user/Library/Workflows/Applications/Folder Actions/

See if there is a folder action in there. If you double-click, it will open in Automator and you can see what it does.

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Answer 2

May 26, 2014 7:12 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks for the reply. There is nothing showing in the Folder Actions folder.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,524 points

May 26, 2014 7:26 PM in response to Paul Squasson

Ok, then take a look in /Library/Scripts/Folder Actions. See if there is a Configure Folder Actions alias. Run that and see if any old folder actions are linked to the downloads folder.

If not, then I would imagine it might be a leftover thing from Default Folder X. I've never used it, so I don't know where it would modify the OS.

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Answer 4

May 26, 2014 9:49 PM in response to Barney-15E

The only folder showing inside /Library/Scripts is Address Book Scripts, which is empty. You prompted me to troubleshoot with and without Default Folder X in different scenarios. Looks like the problem might be there somehow. Thanks!

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Answer 5

Mar 2, 2015 3:10 AM in response to Paul Squasson

I have been trying to figure this out for almost a year now.

It turns out I was using Default Folder X, and when I showed the "comments and tags in save dialogs", on the bottom of the box where you can enter spotlight comments or tags, the "label" had been set to gray... and the box for "remember this next time" had been checked.

Here's the rub! When the save dialog didn't activate/show the Default Folder X add-on, it still automatically performed this task.

(Even in Mavericks, it's called a label, and not a tag.)

I finally set the label to "none" and FINALLY solved this problem.

For what it's worth? This would never have bugged me as much as it did if I used any other color - I only use gray for old files or files that I intend to delete soon/later, and I have had to alter that convention because of this automatic tagging that's been going on.

Given that the files were being labeled even when the Default Folder X window modification wasn't taking place, perhaps it might be possible that it could still be doing this by default, if the app wasn't 100% uninstalled?

I hope this helps someone! You have no ideas the dark places I have been to in the Finder trying to find some root cause to this problem!

Rob

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