diff --git a/intakebuilder/getinfo.py b/intakebuilder/getinfo.py
index 2d170e3..1af838c 100644
--- a/intakebuilder/getinfo.py
+++ b/intakebuilder/getinfo.py
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ def getInfoFromFilename(filename,dictInfo,logger):
 #adding this back to trace back some old errors
 def getInfoFromGFDLFilename(filename,dictInfo,logger):
     # 5 AR: get the following from the netCDF filename e.g. atmos.200501-200912.t_ref.nc
-    if(filename.endswith(".nc")):
+    if(filename.endswith(".nc") and not filename.startswith(".")):
         ncfilename = filename.split(".")
         varname = ncfilename[-2]
         dictInfo["variable_id"] = varname
@@ -131,8 +131,12 @@ def getInfoFromGFDLDRS(dirpath,projectdir,dictInfo):
     for i in range(nlen-1,0,-1):
       try:
           if(builderconfig.output_path_template[i] != "NA"):
-             dictInfo[builderconfig.output_path_template[i]] = stemdir[(j)]
-      except:
+              try:
+                  dictInfo[builderconfig.output_path_template[i]] = stemdir[(j)]
+              except IndexError:
+                  print("Check configuration. Is output path template set correctly?")
+                  exit()
+      except IndexError:
           sys.exit("oops in getInfoFromGFDLDRS"+str(i)+str(j)+builderconfig.output_path_template[i]+stemdir[j])
       j = j - 1
     cnt = cnt + 1
diff --git a/intakebuilder/gfdlcrawler.py b/intakebuilder/gfdlcrawler.py
index abc3f19..5d38d52 100644
--- a/intakebuilder/gfdlcrawler.py
+++ b/intakebuilder/gfdlcrawler.py
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ def crawlLocal(projectdir, dictFilter,dictFilterIgnore,logger):
         pat = re.compile('({}/{}/{}/{})'.format(dictFilter["modeling_realm"],"ts",dictFilter["frequency"],dictFilter["chunk_freq"]))
     
     orig_pat = pat
+
     #TODO INCLUDE filter in traversing through directories at the top
     for dirpath, dirs, files in os.walk(projectdir):
         searchpath = dirpath
@@ -27,14 +28,17 @@ def crawlLocal(projectdir, dictFilter,dictFilterIgnore,logger):
         if(pat is not None):
             m = re.search(pat, searchpath)
             for filename in files:
+               if filename.startswith("."):
+                   logger.debug("Skipping hidden file", filepath) 
+                   continue
+               if not filename.endswith(".nc"):
+                   logger.debug("FILE does not end with .nc. Skipping", filepath)
+                   continue
                logger.info(dirpath+"/"+filename)
                dictInfo = {}
                dictInfo = getinfo.getProject(projectdir, dictInfo)
                # get info from filename
                filepath = os.path.join(dirpath,filename)  # 1 AR: Bugfix: this needs to join dirpath and filename to get the full path to the file
-               if not filename.endswith(".nc"):
-                    logger.debug("FILE does not end with .nc. Skipping", filepath)
-                    continue
                dictInfo["path"]=filepath
                dictInfo = getinfo.getInfoFromGFDLFilename(filename,dictInfo, logger)
                dictInfo = getinfo.getInfoFromGFDLDRS(dirpath, projectdir, dictInfo)