Hi. Welcome to MacScripter.
exiftool’s a third-party executable which I don’t have, so the following are things to consider rather definitive answers to your query
The only way I can see to achieve what you want in Automator is to use an AppleScript. Start a “Folder Action” workflow in Automator and select the folder to which you want to attach it. Then add the “Run AppleScript” action and insert this code into it:
on run {input, parameters}
tell application "System Events" to set DIR to POSIX path of container of item 1 of input
set exiftoolCommand to "exiftool \"-alldates<filename\" \"-filecreatedate<filename\" \"-filemodifydate<filename\" " & quoted form of DIR
do shell script exiftoolCommand
end run
This works up to the setting of the exiftool command line, but as I said above, I don’t have exiftool itself, so I haven’t been able to check that the line actually works when executed as a shell script.
A purely AppleScript folder action (ie. not using Automator) would look like this:
on adding folder items to thisFolder after receiving theseItems
set DIR to POSIX path of thisFolder
set exiftoolCommand to "exiftool \"-alldates<filename\" \"-filecreatedate<filename\" \"-filemodifydate<filename\" " & quoted form of DIR
do shell script exiftoolCommand
end adding folder items to
The last time I used Folder Actions, such a script would have to be saved in ~/Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/, which folder would have to be created if it didn’t already exist. I’m not sure what the process is now for attaching a script to a folder. Automator probably does it all for you.
One thing to be aware of with folder actions is that if they make detectable changes to the added files or folders, they’re likely to be retriggered because the system watching the folder is fooled into thinking new items have been added.
Also the word is that third-party command-line tools are subject to Gatekeeper security in Catalina, so you may need to authorise exiftool if you upgrade (and if exiftool works on that system).
And finally, it’s already assumed, since you’re posting to our “Automator” forum, that your question concerns Automator. You’re more likely to grab the attention of someone who knows about using it for folder actions if you give your query a more informative subject line. Something along the lines of “Getting the folder to which a folder action is attached”.
Hope this helps.