Creating subfolders within a selected finder folder

Macro Library
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1

I'm a recent convert from QuicKeys and I'm a bit flummoxed by certain aspects of Maestro. I think I finally have a handle on finder selections and paths, but I can't seem to solve this particular puzzle; I would like to create 5 distinctly named subfolders within a finder selected main folder. I thought it would be a simple matter of using the "Create New Folder" command repeatadly but that is not the case. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

2

If you have not yet read it, the wiki article Transition From QuicKeys is worth a read for ex-QuicKeys users.

The Create New Folder action requires a full path, so the field should be something like:

%Variable%Path%/Artwork, final

The %Variable%Path% will expand to the value of the Path variable, which is the full path of the selected Finder item (well technically, each time through the For Each loop, it will be the full path of one of the selected Finder items, so your macro will work if you select multiple folders, and will create the five subfolders in each selected folder).

3

Ahhh, yes. Smack me in the head! And thank you for the QuicKeys link. Maestro is definitely a different way of thinking that is going to take a bit of time to figure out. But I think it will be well worth it in the long run.

On a completely unrelated issue; I want to move a selected finder object (A PDF on the desktop) to another folder. Fine, done. But if there is a PDF of the same name in that folder, the action does not complete. I want to be able to either; a) replace the PDF in that folder with the one that I’m moving from the desktop, or b) keep both files but possibly append the one I’m moving with a “V2” or something of the sort. Is this possible?

Thanks again!

4

Its generally better to start a new topic than continuing with something “completely unrelated”. It makes it easier for people to find the information on the unrelated topic in the future.

In any event, you are correct, Keyboard Maestro will not move or copy a file over the top of an existing file or folder. So you need to deal with that possibility yourself explicitly. So, for example, instead of:

Move File %Variable%Source% to %Variable%Dest%

where Source and Dest have full paths to the desired file names, you need to do something along the lines of:

Trash File %Variable%Dest%
Move File %Variable%Source% to %Variable%Dest%

or

Get File Attribute Name of %Variable%Dest% to FileName
Move File %Variable%Dest% to %Variable%FileName%-%ICUDateTime%SomeFormat%
Move File %Variable%Source% to %Variable%Dest%

Note that the destination of a Move or Copy File can be just a name, in which case it uses the same parent folder as the source

or

If Something Exists at Path %Variable%Dest%
    Get File Attribute Parent Path of %Variable%Dest% to ParentPath
    Get File Attribute File Name of %Variable%Dest% to FileName
    Move File %Variable%Source% to %Variable%ParentPath%/%Variable%FileName%-%ICUDateTime%SomeFormat%
Else
    Move File %Variable%Source% to %Variable%Dest%

Etc. Basically, you have to be explicit about what you want Keyboard Maestro to do in this case.