Here are some things I’ve learned about AppleScript and about Mac OS X “Folder Actions”.

• A “folder action” is a service that watches a folder for file system changes (create new file, create new folder, update file, etc.)
• I hate AppleScript.
• To create a new Folder Action using a Workflow (i.e. an Automator program):
  • Start /Applications/Automator.app
  • At the “Choose a type for your document” prompt, choose “Folder Action”
  • Set the “Folder Action receives files and folders added to” to the folder you want to watch.
  • Add some actions. For starters, you might want to add an “Ask for Text” action, with a nonsense question.
  • File/Save - Save it with a good name (and don’t specify a folder).
  • Drag and drop a file in your watched folder and confirm that you get the expected message/question.
  • Quit Automator
  • It will store the workflow in “Library/Workflows/Applications/Folder Actions” under your home directory.
  • Do NOT store your workflows in “/Library/Workflows/Folder Actions”. There are circumstances where this will happen by accident, and then you won’t be able to edit them again.
• To create a new Folder Action using an AppleScript:
  • Create an AppleScript using “/Applications/Utilities/AppleScript Editor.app”. As a minimal example, you might make a script containing this: on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items display alert “Sample title” message “Sample message” end adding folder items to
  • Compile it
  • Save it under “~/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts” (you may have to create the folder)
  • Do NOT store your scripts in “/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts”. There are circumstances where this will happen by accident, and then you won’t be able to edit them again.
  • Attach it as an action to your folder:
    • Right-click the desired folder.
    • Choose Services/Folder Action Setup…
    • Choose the script you created.
    • Test it.
• I have a Folder Action to watch for files to appear in a “Watched for Import” folder. When this happens, I run “~/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/Evernote-Folder-Watcher”, to import the file into Evernote.
  • It is not enough to simply edit the Evernote-Folder-Watcher script. Relaunching Finder after editing won’t do it.
  • Right-click on the folder.
  • Choose Services, then Folder Action Setup…
  • On the Choose Script to Attach dialog, hit cancel
  • Select the script and press Edit Script
  • Note: If you edited it without following this process, and you want to get it to pick up your changes, follow this process and make a trivial change and it will start using the current edition.