When using hazel to rename a file with a date, and a main name, and placing the file somewhere else, will that folder have 35 different rules if I’m automating 35 different types of documents such as different banks, utilities, invoices? Or should I condense the rules of each into one hazel rule? Just want to set this up efficiently and not sure if I’m doing it. Does it matter if you have too many rules pointing to a folder?
I’d post this is on the Noodlesoft forums and let the dev answer. My guess is that you’re much better off with a few rules with internal conditions.
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I’ll check out the forums but I don’t know what you mean by internal conditions.
i.e. one script that determines which of the 35 types a file is, and acts accordingly, rather than 35 different scripts. I’d expect there’s less overhead to starting a single script than there is to running 35 different scripts. Also you can have the script complete once it matches, whereas with 35 rules (if I’m not mistaken) there’s not a way to stop evaluation of subsequent rules once you match.
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That’s what I have. All my stuff gets processed in 1 folder. I highly recommend this approach, so you aren’t digging through multiple places to find stuff Hazel missed. (Hazel rules need tweaking every now and then as statements change.)
To make the Hazel rules list easier to use, I group similar rules with a prefix. e.g., “Bank:” or “Utility:” or “Medical:” or “MyCompany:”
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I use this approach too. Much easier if I need to adjust the format for Amazon!
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Ok great. I thought I was going to break hazel with so many rules! It does sound like there could be a more efficient way but I like the idea of troubleshooting standalone rules.