The Apple Files

We showed in our last post that you can make a free 1GB file storage account at Box.net and mount it on your desktop. While it’s very easy to set up, it’s not perfect, Let’s see why…

There is currently a bug with uploading to a box.net account via the Mac Finder. The bug means that if you drag and drop a file which has spaces in its file name, it will not appear in the Finder window (although the file is actually there in reality, you can see it via the website interface). It would be annoying to have to check and edit for filenames with spaces each time you upload, so again the guys at UNEASYsilence came up with an Automator workflow/application which lets you pick files and have spaces replaced by dashes or underscores (See their post here).

Personally I still find this annoying and would rather I could just drag and drop my files and for it to just work. So I have made my own Automator workflow/application. Essentially, the application just looks like any old application icon you would have in your Applications folder. When you have some files you wish to upload then simply select them all and drag them onto the application’s icon. The application will run through the files and fix any that need fixing, and then it will upload the files to the box.net storage account for you!

To get this working you need to do the following:

1. Download the following action from Apple (here) unzip the archive that’s downloaded and place the ACTION file in the Home/Library/Automator folder (where Home represents you Home folder, usually named after yourself).

2. Open up the Finder and go to (Home/Documents) and create a new Folder called “Box Temp” (without quotes “”). You don’t have to worry about this, it is just a temporary place the files can be stored while they are being corrected for spaces in the filenames, and means that your original files won’t get changed. This folder will not fill up with files as it is cleared each time you upload.

3. Download our Automator application (see icon below) called Box.net Upload. You can place the application anywhere you wish on your computer and just drag files onto it to upload them. Currently however, you can’t place them on the dock or sidebar of the Finder. The workflow source can be found (here) for those interested in modifying the application, or are just curious about what it is doing exactly.

Now all you need to do is drag and drop files onto the icon and they are uploaded, that’s it!

DISCLAIMER: We do not take any responsibility for loss of data or damage caused through use of this workflow/application, so use at your own risk. This Automator workflow is a workaround only, it is most likely not perfect, but I’d be happy to receive any bug reports you have.