Nasty Bug in Watch Folders?

I have a parent folder (12-2015) set up as a Watch Folder and Watch Folders are active in the system tray.

Inside the parent - there are two folders from work done prior in the week - they are 12-02-2015 and 12-03-2015.

Today -with Watch Folders “watching” - I tried to add a new (empty) folder called 12-08-2015 into the parent. As soon as I finished typing - Windows gave me an error saying the folder could not be found.

When I checked the folder structure - sure enough - the Watch Folder process deletes my new folder immediately - even if there is nothing in it. What gives?

While I can totally understand the folder being moved to the Sources area following actual processing (when an actual wav file is placed in it) - why would Watch Folders suddenly trash an empty folder before anything is even put in it?

If I pause Watch Folders - I can add the folder successfully and place items in it. Once it’s created and work done - when I unpause Watch Folders - it process the wav correctly and leave everything else in the folder along - like my PDF script, text files and so on.

But with a new folder and nothing in there (WAV) to process (yet) - logically this folder should be ignored?

VP

Not a bug. Understand a “watch folder” as a “living thing”. When you drop a folder with files in it, the folder content will be processed, and then the empty folder removed. Because the concept is to keep a watch folder clean.
Hence if you create an empty folder, it will be removed immediately.
The procedure is to drop a folder with files already into it.
Note that a whole tree of folders can be dropped, and if the batch is set properly, the whole tree can be recreated at the destination.

If doing otherwise, the watch folder would be full of empty folders after a while.

Well - I disagree as I can have many folders in the Watch Folder path - as I do right now - and Watch Folders simply leaves them there if they do not have an actionable file.

Ex: My folder from this morning. Watch Folders blasts it away with nothing in it. But as soon as I pause Watch Folders, create the folder and put a PDF and a text file in there - and then unpause Watch Folders - the folder is not “cleaned” OR removed. Watch folders simply posts a message saying such and such files do not have the right extensions to be processed and leaves them alone. And then it sits and waits for a WAV to show up.

And when it finally DOES showup - Watch Folders moves on the WAV - converts it and copies the source WAV over to Sources.

BUT it does not clean up my PDF and text file - it leaves it as it is. Which is exactly what I need it to do.

I did finally figure out a way to get the path that I want!

I now have a single Watch Folder called M:\Client Files

And when I drop a client “tree” on it - like this (that has a bunch of child subfolders)

M:\Client A\12-2015

I finally get my desired output:

\SERVER\Bruce\Client Files\Client A\12-2015\12-02-2015
\SERVER\Bruce\Client Files\Client A\12-2015\12-03-2015
\SERVER\Bruce\Client Files\Client A\12-2015\12-08-2015

Whew! It just took me a long while to try and figure out exactly what paths were being created and so on.

Now that I finally understand the Watch Folder itself will always be inserted into the Output path - it was a simple as naming my Watch Folder to BE a part of the output path :slight_smile: “Client Files” instead of “Convert” or something.

I do have to change up a bit of workflow on how I store my local files so I can actually “drop” the entire tree on the watch folder.

For years - I have stored my files for my clients - month by month like so

M:\Client A\01-2015
M:\Client A\02-2015
M:\Client A\03-2015
M:\Client A\04-2015

and so on.

But in order for Watch Folders to recreate JUST my Dec 2015 work at the right location - I am going to have move all my Jan-November folders out to Archive and leave just the M:\Client A\12-2015 folder available.

If I left my 12 monthly folders in M:\Client A - the entire year would fly through the Watch Folder process - causing to recreate an entire year of MP3s - which I do not want.

So for this to work properly - month by month - I need to ensure I have just current months work being dropped into the folder.

And just so I understand it - if I drop a Tree like this

M:\Client A\12-2015\12-02-2015
M:\Client A\12-2015\12-03-2015
M:\Client A\12-2015\12-04-2015
M:\Client A\12-2015\12-05-2015

Watch folder will create MP3s for the four days work as above. And then when I drop

M:\Client A\12-2015\12-08-2015

It will only process new work for 12-08-2015 correct? I am presuming that the prior 4 days worth of conversions are now stored in Sources and will not be “processed” again?

Appreciate an update.

VP

M:\Client A\12-2015\12-02-2015
M:\Client A\12-2015\12-03-2015
M:\Client A\12-2015\12-04-2015
M:\Client A\12-2015\12-05-2015
Watch folder will create MP3s for the four days work as above. And then when I drop
M:\Client A\12-2015\12-08-2015

It will only process new work for 12-08-2015 correct?

Correct.

I am presuming that the prior 4 days worth of conversions are now stored in Sources and will not be “processed” again?

The content of “Source” is always preserved.