I've just bought and installed HotFolder and it looks like it could be the perfect 'auto' archiving solution, but I have hit an issue early on and would like to know if there's a way around it.
Ideally I would love to be able to make the Root Folder the HotFolder so any and all documents, spreadsheets, photos, images, e-mails etc. that are placed in any of the SubFolders are automatically converted and moved to a corresponding folder structure of PDF-A's.
During my testing, HotFolder not only moves the original (i.e. docx) file to the specified location, but also the subfolder it was placed into, thus destroying the SubFolder structure that sits in the Root folder that is also the HotFolder; and, the HotFolder program crashes.
I've tried to keep my explanation as simple as possible, but if you need more info / clarification, just ask.
This is sooo close to being an ideal solution, please can someone help me?!
unfortunately we cannot do something about the original files getting moved at the moment.
The subfolder only gets deleted if it is empty, after the file was moved out. There is a not so nice workaround, if you place a file inside the folder, that cannot be converted by HotFolder such as an .exe file the folder should not get deleted. In the new version (scheduled for the 29th of february) you can set filters, so specific file types do not get converted. If you place a file with the type you filtered inside the folder, the workaround should also work.
But we will think about an option, so that the user can choose if he wants the folder to get deleted or not if it’s empty. I am afraid this will not be available in the next version.
Could you kindly tell us a bit more about the program crash? Do you get an error message or what does exactly happen?
Regarding the crash, there are two methods I have tried:
1) create the subfolders in the HotFolder. Place a file into a subfolder. Open and Start the HotFolder program. The program runs through conversion process then Windows 7 reports that the program has stopped working. This seems to be an intermittent problem though. it happened to me on the 23rd Feb and again this morning, but it seems to be working fine now… :-/
2) drag and drop a folder containing a file into the HotFolder whilst the HotFolder program is running and started. The conversion process runs smoothly.
On a separate note I have just noticed that jpg files aren’t automatically being converted…
I have tested the workaround you suggest and it is something I could use, although I have a lot of subfolders!
I hope HotFolders is going to continually develop. I believe it could be a great little program for automating archiving.