Automatically create aliases from contents of subfolders

Try, Automator > Folder Action :

Open Automator > File > New > Folder Action :

Toggle : Folder Action receives files or folders added to : select "Other...", and choose the folder you want to attach the Folder Action to :

Build your workflow :

Double click, or drag the Actions you require into :

When done :

For "Get Folder Contents" make sure : Repeat for each subfolder found, is checked.

For "Filter Finder Items" you will have to set the filter for the type of file you require to be passed to the "New Aliases" Action :

For the "New Aliases" Action the default location is Desktop, toggle this and choose the folder you want the aliases to be saved to.

Save the workflow.

Nb. the Folder Action will only create aliases for new items added to your selected folder.

As a workaround, It will work if you move the folder containing the files you want aliases for into the folder with the Folder Action.

This will also work with the contents of folders with subfolders moved into the folder with the Folder Action.

(It wont work if you move the folder to a subfolder in the folder with the Folder Action)

Nb. pardon the alliteration.

Hello

Not that this implements folder action to create aliases automatically, but you might try the following script which will create symlinks to movie files of specified extensions created in the source directory tree in the last one day. Whenever you run this script, it will scan the source tree and create symlinks to those files meeting the criteria.

#!/bin/bash SRC="/Volumes/TEST/Top Folder" DST="$HOME/Media Export Folder" mkdir -p "$DST" || exit find -E "$SRC" -type f -iregex '.*.(mov|mp4|m4v|m2ts)$' -Btime -1d -print0 | xargs -0 -J% ln -fs % "$DST"

I myself have never trusted folder action and would prefer this sort of periodical scanning on demand.

Briefly tested under OS X 10.6.8.

Good luck,

H

Oops. Regex pattern should read as listed below. (Escaped the period preceding name extension)

#!/bin/bash SRC="/Volumes/TEST/Top Folder" DST="$HOME/Media Export Folder" mkdir -p "$DST" || exit find -E "$SRC" -type f -iregex '.*\.(mov|mp4|m4v|m2ts)$' -Btime -1d -print0 | xargs -0 -J% ln -fs % "$DST"

H

If you insist on implementing folder action, you'll need to attach your folder action to every folder to be watched because it is how folder action works.

H