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Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 8:51 am
by andre.hoegger
Hi there

I tried to use the folder watch function but it looks like the watch routine doesnt work.
I've put some pdf files in the folder but they are still not touched by the "folder watch batch rule"

First i tought its an hidden interval that starts maybe all 5 minutes, but after over 15min. the files are also untouched.

When i open the PDF-Tools Mainwindow (GUI) i can start the routines manually with selection it and press start on the left corner.

I use windows 7 professional 64bit and newest pdf-tools version.
Wish someone could help me.

Thanks a lot.

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:26 am
by DenisO
Hi Andre,
I've checked Folder monitor on my Win7 x64 machine and everything works fine. What settings do you use?
If you use default settings in your Tool and Folder monitor then result files will be placed in default place - %userprofile%\Documents folder.
Try to customize output in corresponding tool by changing Save documents settings
image.png
Also Folder monitor has option to Move input files to custom folder after tool was applied.
image.png

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:43 am
by andre.hoegger
Thanks for your reply.

i checked this. My setup is 3 folderwatch routines in a chain batch process.
image.png
Each of them should process and safe the files in an other Folder, then delete the files inside his own watchfolder.

I've the watchfolder process starts, it works like a charm. But the problem ist that they don't start automatically..
i can force this manually by deaktivating and reaktivating the folder watch rule.
But when they are activated and i drop a file in the watch folder does nothing happens.

I also gaved the watch folder rules high priority rights - for faster regognizing the files in the watch folder but seems like its not affected.
I also gave them exlude rules in my ransomware, antivir, software and reboot the system after this.
I really tried a lot.. so im enden here in the forum..

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:49 am
by DenisO
Could you please provide full path to your folders so I can emulate behaviour on my side?

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:01 am
by andre.hoegger
Yes, i can
image.png
See attachments, there are screenshots from the Folder watch setting and also the tool settings from all 3 batch processes.

Note: This is not the complete batch chain, some folders between are watched and batched by another pdf tool.
They are working fine with batching, move and cleaning the sourcefiles after processing.

Let me know if u need more information. :)

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 11:13 am
by DenisO
Thanks. I will try to reproduce your problem with these settings

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 12:35 pm
by DenisO
could you please also provide the example of file names you are using. Preferable in text so I can rename my files for proper test

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:42 pm
by andre.hoegger
yes i can:

SCANS.pdf
Scan001.pdf
Scan002.pdf
Scan001 (2).pdf
Scan.pdf
scan 1.pdf
Scan (2).pdf

Testdatei (1).pdf
Testdatei (2).pdf
Testdatei (3).pdf
Testdatei (4).pdf
Testdatei (5).pdf
Testdatei (6).pdf
Testdatei (7).pdf
Testdatei (8).pdf
Testdatei (9).pdf
Testdatei (10).pdf
Testdatei (11).pdf
HMT&FPX 2018 - Andre Hoegger.pdf

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Tue Mar 05, 2019 8:43 pm
by Vasyl-Tracker Dev Team
Hi Andre.

We started investigating of your issue and hope to fix it soon. The internal development ticket RT-4687 has been created to track the progress of the fix.

Cheers.

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 3:06 pm
by DenisO
Hi Andre,

try to press Ctrl while you are dragging your files to watched folder. Or use Ctrl+C Ctrl+V

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:30 am
by Tracker Supp-Stefan
Thanks for your post Denis!

And as Vasyl said - we are looking for a fix from our end already!

Cheers,
Stefan

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2019 9:55 am
by andre.hoegger
Thanks for your support.

I can't use the copy (ctrl&c) or ctrl button while inserting the files in the watchfolders, beacuse some of these folders getting the files from an other pdf tool (File Juggler). This is a batch process chain that i'm testing in my office. :)

I have another new experience while testing it out, if there is a pdf file whitch is locked (secure) the batch process looks like its interrupted there, so these files stay in the watch folder and have to be moved manually.

It would be nice if there is an "if not processable" funtction that moves these files to an separate folder (sort them out).

thanks for the dev and support.
Your tools are amazing.

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2019 2:14 pm
by Tracker Supp-Stefan
Hello Andre,

There already is a provision for this:
passwords.png
passwords.png (7.59 KiB) Viewed 12429 times
If you tick that box - any file that requires a password will be skipped from the batch process, but the tool should continue with the rest of the files.

Regards,
Stefan

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 2:08 pm
by andre.hoegger
Thanks, i have set this option to on.
Pls let me know if you get some additional news, optimizations or fixes for this error/bug or programm behavior in this Post.

An other Question (in my batch process folder system):
Is there are way to autostart the folder watch routines with windows ?
tried to move them to autostart folder, didn't work for me. (2 of 3 stay deactivated after restart windows)

Thy André

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Tue Mar 19, 2019 5:56 pm
by TrackerSupp-Daniel
Hello All,
I cannot promise that we will be able to come back to this post specifically for followup on every feature and optimization that happens, but you can always see the changes made to each of our products from the version history pages:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/produc ... ro/history

Regarding your watched folders, Yes it is possible to autostart the watched folder with windows. The trick here is that starting tools alone is not enough to enable to watched folder, you would need to setup the shortcut with the same parameters as a command line entry to start the folder monitor. We have simplified this for users, by allowing you to Right click on the tool From the folder monitors and "create a shortcut on the desktop"
image.png
This shortcut, will include the unique identifier for your tool, Similar to my example below:
"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Tools\PDFXTools.exe" /RunFldMon "{C59D8A61-CA79-494E-918D8A2A7E485E47}"

This includes the path to Tools, and all necessary switches to launch the folder monitor, you can check this information from the shortcut properties, by right clicking in windows:
image.png
With this shortcut created, navigate to your Startup folder, which is located here:
%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Then simply place the shortcut in this folder, as such:
image.png
image.png (9.58 KiB) Viewed 12336 times
With all of this in place, you will find that the folder monitor will startup automatically shortly after logging into your account. Note that this command is direct to the folder monitor and will not open the PDF-Tools window. If you are unsure if it worked, you can check your task manager (Ctrl+Shift+Esc) for PDF-Tools after startup (it will appear under background processes).

We are also looking into options to automate this process, we may offer a system service option for tools, or simply a new configuration option while creating the monitor to "start upon log-in". I cannot offer any guarantees on this being implemented, but we are certainly considering it.

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2020 3:43 am
by fletch
Just checking, I think creating the special shortcut is no longer necessary? I have a single Folder Monitor and it's Enabled. So as long as I start Tools when I log in to Windows, the monitor should begin working?

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2020 11:47 am
by DenisO
fletch wrote: Fri Dec 25, 2020 3:43 am Just checking, I think creating the special shortcut is no longer necessary? I have a single Folder Monitor and it's Enabled. So as long as I start Tools when I log in to Windows, the monitor should begin working?
Hi fletch,
for autostart Folder Monitor you should put the shorcut to Startup folder
%appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Your folder monitor will start after log in to Windows. You don't have to start PDF Tools manually.

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 4:49 am
by fletch
I understand where to put it. My suggestion though is that the procedure above isn't necessary - since all that is needed is PDF Tools actively running.

So I only need to create a shortcut to

"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Tools\PDFXTools.exe"

and place that in the startup folder.

Instead of placing this in the startup.

"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Tools\PDFXTools.exe" /RunTool "{CE23C21D-EF99-48E6-9ADCE4A4539EFAF0}" "E:\Documents\Scans"

Because as long as the PDF Tools app is running, the folder monitor works.

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 2:19 pm
by DenisO
There are two ways to launch folder monitor:
1) launch PDF Tools go to menu Option->Folder Monitors then Choose monitor or create new and press Enable. After that you can close PDF Tools application, because Folder Monitor is independent process. In order to stop it you should go to menu Options->Folder Monitors and press Disable.

2) from command line using /RunFldMon {Folder monitors id} command. Your can retrieve Folder monitor id by right click on you Folder monitor and click Copy Monitor identifier.
For example: PDFXTools.exe /RunFldMon {23954F34-C10B-4819-B15B-D35631D3CD94}
So when you place shortcut PDFXTools.exe /RunFldMon {...} to start up menu your Folder monitor is lauched on you log in to windows. You do not need to launch PDFTools UI application for that.
So I only need to create a shortcut to
"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Tools\PDFXTools.exe"
and place that in the startup folder.
this will just launch instance of PDF Tools application.
and this
"C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Tools\PDFXTools.exe" /RunTool "{CE23C21D-EF99-48E6-9ADCE4A4539EFAF0}" "E:\Documents\Scans"
will not launch Folder monitor, it will launch custom Tool with {CE23C21D-EF99-48E6-9ADCE4A4539EFAF0}

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:24 pm
by fletch
AH ! I did not consider #1. Even though I configured the folder monitor and enabled it, I just assumed that PDF Tools still had to be running in order for it to work. Just as you described though, it will run without PDF Tools running. That's great.

However, I suppose after a reboot it's no longer "enabled"? Hence the need to use /RunFldMon as you described? So I need to grab the Folder Monitor ID an start it on each boot in order for it to be "enabled"?

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2020 11:02 am
by DenisO
However, I suppose after a reboot it's no longer "enabled"? Hence the need to use /RunFldMon as you described? So I need to grab the Folder Monitor ID an start it on each boot in order for it to be "enabled"?
You can create shortcut as described above
Image

shortcut will contain command with your FolderMonitorID that launches your monitor. For example "C:\Program Files\Tracker Software\PDF Tools\PDFXTools.exe" /RunFldMon "{A5E5918B-73B8-4151-B19A9C6285CAD42D}".
Place this shortcut to Windows Startup folder: go to %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup or press Win+R and call shell:startup.
Your monitor will be lauhched after every reboot.

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:07 pm
by fletch
Ok, so the answer is YES. Even though a folder monitor is enabled via PDF Tools, after you reboot is it no longer enabled? Hence the solution in your post.

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:26 pm
by DenisO
Even though a folder monitor is enabled via PDF Tools, after you reboot is it no longer enabled? Hence the solution in your post.
Yes the FolderMonitor you started via PDFTools is enabled during current Windows session time until you reboot your system or disable it via PDFTools. But if you place the shortcut to StartUp folder you don't have to do anything manualy after reboot.

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2023 3:04 pm
by JorgeV
TrackerSupp-Daniel wrote: Tue Mar 19, 2019 5:56 pm We are also looking into options to automate this process, we may offer a system service option for tools, or simply a new configuration option while creating the monitor to "start upon log-in". I cannot offer any guarantees on this being implemented, but we are certainly considering it.
Hello, does this feature exist? And if not, is there a way to start a folder monitor upon system boot, maybe through a windows service or task?

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2023 3:15 pm
by Jordan - Tracker Supp
Hello JorgeV,

Welcome to the Forum!

You can fallow our guide how to set up automatic start up here:

https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowledgeba ... ic-startup

Best regards.

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:00 pm
by JorgeV
Hi Jordan,

I appreciate the response, but that's not what I'm asking about.
I need to be able to enable a folder monitor at *system start-up, without any users logging in manually*. The start up folder method only works for when users login.
I've been trying to run the enable folder monitor command (C:\%pathToPDFTools%\PDFXTools.exe /RunFldMon "{1234}") from a powershell script executed by either a windows service or task. The issue is that when the folder monitor command is run from a service or task, a PDFXTools process starts and then exits without actually enabling the folder.
My question is if there's a officially supported way to enable folder monitors at system start-up.

Thanks

Re: Folder Watch doesnt start the Batch Tools

Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2023 4:18 pm
by TrackerSupp-Daniel
Hello, JorgeV

PDF-Tools is not intended to be used as a background application for various users to access or make use of. Much like the Editor, it is designed to run locally, and only for licensed users. If users need monitors functioning on startup, they will need to sign in in order to make use of them, so windows can start those processes.

Kind regards,