Files and folders in unexpected places

Yesterday in looking in one of my EF libraries the finder I noticed hundreds of files (400+) outside of the file folders where they had been placed within EF. The 400+ files do not appear in the Unfiled smart folder. I searched for a few where I expected to find them and in most cases they were also inside the EF folders. Then I noticed a file folder that appears in the finder but does not appear in EF. Inside the non appearing EF folder were all the files for a particular project. The folder that does appear in EF (and also is in the finder) has only has a sub-set of the expected files.

I ran a verify and had only 7 files with bad checksums all of which were changed files since import. I also notice my EF Trash has 1 file while the finder is showing 51 files.

Before mucking around on my own, what steps should I take to get the library cleaned up. I am concerned that I am going to have to do a complete audit of thousands of files to make sure they are there. Obviously, not what I want to do.

To add files to your library, you need to import them into EagleFiler. Dragging the files in the Finder does not count as importing, except if you use the “To Import” folder. The Verify is telling you that EagleFiler was able to find all the files that it knows about, i.e. the ones that are imported. It does not check for stray files that are in the library folder but which were not imported.

To ensure that all the files are imported, you could use the Finder to move the stray files into the appropriate folders in the library’s Files folder. Then create a new EagleFiler library and drag the old library’s Files folder into the EagleFiler window to import the entire contents of the old library. Then you could delete the old library.

Where in the Finder to you see 51? In in Trash folder in the library or in the Trash can in your Dock?

To be clear, all files were imported using the capture key and processed inside of EF. None of the files or folders are there through any interaction with the finder. When I discovered this issue, I was simply trying to find the library size to determine whether I was going to create a new library for another project.

Sorry I missed the question about the Trash. The reference is to the trash folder in the EF library folder not the Mac’s trash folder.

To follow you suggestion about moving files in the finder, I guess this means the auditing to see that all the files are there. Will reimporting mean that I will loose all my tagging and notes associated with files?

Then could you clarify what you mean by “outside of the file folders”?

So, you’re saying that EagleFiler and the Finder show different numbers of files in EagleFiler’s Files/Trash folder? This could indicate a problem with file permissions, e.g. EagleFiler was not able to delete the files when you emptied the trash. Did it report an error when doing so?

If I understand you correctly now, no moving will be necessary because the files are already in the right folder?

For the files that EagleFiler knows about, everything will be preserved. The others, according to the database, were never imported so they do not have any metadata.

With EagleFiler 1.5’s Scan for New Files feature, you can move or save new files into the EagleFiler’s library folder, and it will auto-import them.