File meta information cannot be used or are unavailable

Hello all,
I'm currently evaluating Hazel for my use cases and I ran into 2 problems, that might be linked ..

I've created a rule to archive applications. I check that the file has the ".app" extension and also that the "Version" field is not blank. Then copy it to another folder and rename the copied file as follows: {name}-{version}{extension}. But the resulting filename is e.g. "Firefox-.app". I've checked with the "Rule Status" if the file has a version set which is true. Otherwise the rule would not match.

Second I try to organise my DJI drone footage but Hazel is unable to get any exif or metadata for the mp4 files. So Hazel is not able to even check the conditions for the video files

Has anyone a clue or idea what I can try to get the rules running?

Just a side note, I currently run the 14 day trial version, but I don't think that the trial version has any limitations except the usage time.

Thanks!

Can you check the logs by going to Help->View Logs? Search for one of the renamed files and post the appropriate excerpt. Also, can you post Hazel showing the version number.

As for the metadata, if you select the files in Finder and do "Get Info", do you see the metadata there?

Heya!

Thanks for the quick reply, much appreaciated!
I've installed Hazel threw homebrew, but that should not make a difference.

I've cleaned up my testing folder, copied a FireFox.app into the folder and started the job through the right click menu of the watched folder within Hazel.
These are the logs:

Code: Select all: 2024-07-15 14:54:43.436 hazelworker[17204] Running worker (v5.3.4) for folder with identifier: IDENTIFIER 2024-07-15 14:54:43.442 hazelworker[17204] ###Arch: arm64 2024-07-15 14:54:43.442 hazelworker[17204] ###main load address: 0x102d10000 2024-07-15 14:54:43.442 hazelworker[17204] ###Hazel Core load address: 0x103328000 2024-07-15 14:54:43.442 hazelworker[17204] ###Noodle load address: 0x103618000 2024-07-15 14:54:43.442 hazelworker[17204] ###CK load address: 0x103218000 2024-07-15 14:54:43.501 hazelworker[17204] Processing folder tmp_downloads (forced) 2024-07-15 14:54:45.662 hazelworker[17204] Firefox.app: Rule Archive Application matched. 2024-07-15 14:54:45.785 hazelworker[17204] [File Event] File copied: Firefox.app copied from folder /Users/UserName/tmp_downloads to folder /Users/UserName/tmp_downloads/Applications. 2024-07-15 14:54:45.802 hazelworker[17204] [File Event] File moved into subfolder: /Users/UserName/tmp_downloads/Applications/firefox/Firefox.app sorted from folder /Users/UserName/tmp_downloads/Applications to subfolder firefox. 2024-07-15 14:54:45.807 hazelworker[17204] [File Event] File renamed: /Users/UserName/tmp_downloads/Applications/firefox/Firefox.app renamed to /Users/UserName/tmp_downloads/Applications/firefox/firefox..app. 2024-07-15 14:54:59.436 hazelworker[17204] [File Event] File archived: /Users/UserName/tmp_downloads/Applications/firefox/firefox..app archived as /Users/UserName/tmp_downloads/Applications/firefox/firefox..app.zip. 2024-07-15 14:55:01.563 hazelworker[17204] File .DS_Store is busy. Skipping for now. 2024-07-15 14:55:03.652 hazelworker[17204] Done processing folder tmp_downloads

I've replaced the folder identifier and my username.

In the rule status, I can verify, that Hazel identifies the FireFox version as "128.0".

The rule work as follows:
Checks:

Check that: File extension is "app"
Check that "Version" is not blank
Check that "hazeled" tag is not set

Action:
Add tag "hazeled"
Copy into subdirectory
Sort into subfolder "Name" (to lowercase, replace " " (empty char) with "_") ▶ "Version" (to lowercase, replace " " (empty char) with "_")
# Note, the lowercase and replace empty char are used below as well
Rename file to: "Name".version""extension"

---

Regarding the metadata:
Right clicking on a DJI MP4 file shows no additional information, it only show "--". Final Cut Pro X and "MediaInfo" are capable to check the metadata and extract information like VideoBitrate etc. from the File .. Interesting that Finder is also unable to do it.
If it helps, I'll can provide a short unedited video from the Drone directly with you.

If I can provide any additional information just let me know

Thanks again for the quick support!
Regards

That indicates Spotlight is not indexing the file to make the metadata available. Do you have Spotlight disabled or any drives set to privacy mode for Spotlight?

Hi!
Nope, Spotlight was active and had nothin on the blocklist.
However, I started a reindex of Spotlight and I start to see the additional information in the Finder information view.
I'm pretty sure this explains both issues I've faced!

Thank you so much for your help, I'll edit or post another answer with the result

For anyone facing the same issue:
Open Terminal.app and run the following command

Code: Select all: sudo mdutil -E /

Enter user password and enjoy Spotlight starting to reindex the whole system. If I've googled correctly that should include external drives as well as network shares.
Status can be checked by opening spotlight (CMD + Space) and entering something into it.