Missing Archive

Each action contains a reference to its archive, and it uses this reference to locate the archive when it runs. Here are a few of reasons why an action might report that it can't find its archive.

Broken Bookmark

An action uses a macOS structure called a bookmark to remember where its archive is. Bookmarks are really smart, and can usually locate your archive even if it's been moved or renamed. There are situations, however, where a bookmark will lose track of where the archive is; fix this by updating the action's bookmark.

Refreshing an action's bookmark Steps

Open an action that can't locate its archive.
Examine the location of the archive. If the location is incorrect¹, use the action button () to select the Choose Arcvhie… command and select the archive again.
Save the updated action.
Update any other actions that use the same archive.

¹ QRecall will automatically attempt to refresh an action's bookmark when you open it, if possible. Because of this, opening and saving the action is often all that's required to fix a bookmark.

Other uses for bookmarks More Info

Bookmarks are also used to identify the items excluded in the archive's settings. Like archive bookmarks, if a capture action can't locate an excluded item, removing and re-adding the item might fix the problem.

Remote Archives

An archive stored on networked volume presents a special challenge if the remote volume isn't connected when the action is started.

The scheduler will attempt to connect the remote volume when it runs the action. To be successful, all of the following must be true:

Setting up access to a remote volume Steps

Connect to the server volume containing the archive.
Enter the user name and password that will grant access to the archive.
In the connection dialog, check the Remember this password in my keychain option.
Select and mount the volume.
In the action, choose the archive on the remote volume.
Save the action.

To test it:

Unmount the remote volume.
Run the action.

If you do not save the user name and password on the keychain, macOS may prompt you for them when the action runs. Whether it does, or not, is dependent a number of factors, such as the type of server. Experimentation is your friend.

Archives on Local/External Drives

The scheduler will attempt to mount a local volume that contains the action's archive before the action starts. This can fail if:

Fixing the bookmark or running the action while logged in should resolve the problem.

The external/remote volume still isn't being mounted… Note

Some schedule conditions, like Ignore If No Archive, are evaluated before the action is run. Such a condition will ignore or hold the action if the archive isn't reachable, preventing the action from starting, so the volume never gets auto-mounted.

To confirm this, open the log window and set the detail level to maximum. Look for action conditions messages from the scheduler that caused an action to be ignored or held.