Automator: weird issue with "move finder items"

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Level 1

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Automator: weird issue with "move finder items"

I have a weird issue with mac automator (on Mojave).

What I want: Take a pdf > save each page as png to same folder as pdf
What happens: Takes a pdf > all pngs are saved to desktop

Here is the automator after a test run:

You can see how pdfPath actually shows me the folder where pdf is in, but then after removing it DOES remove the files out of system folder, but not to pdfPath but to Desktop. Important: if I manually pick any folder, it will save it there and not to desktop, so still somehow related to the pdfPath variable?

Anybody an idea why it happens and how to fix?

Posted on Jun 22, 2019 12:01 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Community+ 2024

Level 10

116,009 points

Jun 22, 2019 1:18 PM in response to ilwez

The following Automator application deposits the slide images into the original ~/Downloads/test folder, which is its Get Specified Finder Items location. Set the Options for Get Value of Variable PDF-file to Ignore this Action's input.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,008 points

Jun 22, 2019 12:46 PM in response to ilwez

Everything gets passed through each action and is conjoined. You need to strip the path item from the list of items returned after getting the container. The result that goes into pdfPath is something like {alias test.pdf,"path_to_test.pdf"}

In the Result, click the {} button and see what is returned in each step.

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Answer 3

ilwez Author

Level 1

12 points

Jun 22, 2019 2:43 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you VikingOSX for your help, works like a charm! In fact all I changed was the Applescript part as you proposed and left rest as I had.

Thanks also to Barney, you pointed correctly which part was at fault :)

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Answer 4

Jun 22, 2019 3:01 PM in response to ilwez

You are welcome.

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Automator: weird issue with "move finder items"

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