OSX adds "-1" to file names for no reason

[eriknba]

Hi all,

To start off, I've had this issue for a while now, even before i moved to Mavericks. Basically, when I save a file to my desktop (only my desktop, if I save to Downloads/Documents/etc its fine), the system will eventually add a "-1" to the filename. Since Mavericks, however, it now will continually do that, and sometimes goes with "-2" or "-3".

I've already fixed permissions with no change, and verified the disk, again with no change.

This picture is after I had already remove the extra characters roughly 7 minutes ago...

Even just trying to upload that screenshot to Imgur failed a couple times because from the time I browse to the file to the time I hit upload, the filename has changed...

Any help would definitely be appreciated.....I'm almost at my wits end.

 

[w0lf]

Odd does the same thing happen on a new user account?

Maybe to a clean re-install of Mavericks?

 

[eriknba]

I'll try creating a new user when i get home today.....my guess is that it will work just fine....

 

[eriknba]

So with another user, no issue whatsoever.

Looking further into the permissions, I noticed that the group owner of my Desktop folder was "wheel". Changed it to "staff", no change. Checked shared folder perms, noticed I was sharing with everyone. Reset it back to default, again, no change.

I REALLY don't want to re-install and start from scratch(if I use my time machine backup to restore, it'll happen again).

Any other thoughts?

 

[w0lf]

Do you notice anything odd happening in Console ( /Applications/Utilities/Console.app ) when these files are renaming themselves?

One (probably the easiest) option would be to just copy your ~/Library folder from your current user to a new user and then just delete your old user and start using the new one.

Since the problem is user related there is absolutely NO reason to do a system reinstall or restore anything from a backup. The problem can be pinpointed to ~/Library however beyond that it's hard to say. Most likely it's a third party app that manages files in some way gone haywire.

 

[eriknba]

When I rename/remove the extra digits, and they start to come back, these are the error messages that pop up in the console at the same time...

 

[w0lf]

We'll then if say that's a pretty likely candidate for whatever's causing the problem. Try removing the Adobe Unit Types file/folder.

 

[eriknba]

I was able to clean up the errors, but the issue persists.

Is it possible to just copy over the entire Library folder from a newly created user? what could/would I lose?

 

[w0lf]

Is it possible to just copy over the entire Library folder from a newly created user?

Yeah.

what could/would I lose?

Whatever saved preferences and settings you have for most Apps.


I can't actually 100% guarantee that that will fix it though as I suppose it could be something outside of ~/Library causing the issue. However I'd definitely recommend making a backup of ~/Library then deleting everything inside of it and restarting your computer.

 

[eriknba]

So I renamed ~/Library and rebooted, allowing the OS to rebuild it, with no change(well lots of changes....but the issue persisted....)

 

[w0lf]

Well sort of hard to say then, do you have any apps running that might do this?

I suppose since it's obviously not an error with you ~/Library you could just migrate from your broken account to another working one. Try moving the whole ~/ folder from one account to another and see if the issue follows it or if the issue is just some odd thing linked to your account.

I'd keep an eye out for the issue on the new account though, I can't help but feel it's some app or something that's caused this issue in the first place.

 

[eriknba]

I'll try copying my entire ~/ folder to a new account and see how it behaves...

I really appreciate all your help on this!

 

[thirdeyeopen666]

I'll try copying my entire ~/ folder to a new account and see how it behaves...

I really appreciate all your help on this!

Sounds like a Folder Action is set...

 

[eriknba]

Sounds like a Folder Action is set...

You know, I did see one error in my console relating to Folder Action...but it only happened one...
Is there a way to see what folder actions I have enabled/running?

 

[Bruno09]

Didn't you create a service (script, Automator…) you needed at that time to batch rename files, or something like that ?

 

[eriknba]

Didn't you create a service (script, Automator…) you needed at that time to batch rename files, or something like that ?

I've only created 1 automator script, to resize images....and that runs on a right-click option, not automatically...

 

[eriknba]

Sounds like a Folder Action is set...

SUCCESS! Turns out i had a folder action on my desktop folder(one that I frankly didn't even recognize). I deleted the actions and my issues have resolved!

Thanks everyone for your help!