Hazel
Automatic file housekeeping
paidProductivity
Hazel is a quiet file-system automator: it watches folders and applies rules — move invoices to "Finance", delete month-old downloads, rename screenshots by date. Set it up once and order maintains itself. One-time purchase.
// Install
Your MacHomebrew in /opt/homebrew
brew install --cask hazel// What it is for
- Rules watch folders and file things for you: receipts to accounting, screenshots to an archive, installers to the Trash
- The Downloads folder stops being a dumping ground with zero manual effort
- Conditions combine name, type, date, contents, and tags — and can run your own scripts on a match
- Cleans up leftover files when an app is moved to the Trash
// Common questions
Could Hazel delete something it should not?
Rules do exactly what they say, so build the first ones with a "move" action rather than "delete" and test them on a scratch folder. The rule editor previews which files match.
Is there a free alternative?
Partly: Automator folder actions and launchd scripts cover simple cases for free. Hazel wins on convenience and the breadth of conditions, and that is what you pay for.