Skip to content
Influencer StackWhat the influencers actually use.
App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.Noodlesoft

Hazel

Mac utility that watches folders and files documents by rules you write

Hazel watches folders on a Mac and acts on what lands in them. Rules match on name, date, kind, tags or text inside a PDF, then rename, move, tag, sort into subfolders or hand the file to a script. Typical jobs: filing bank statements from a scanner, clearing the desktop overnight, stopping a downloads folder from growing forever. Nothing leaves the machine. The app has been on sale since 2006.

Who backs it

Sorted by strength of stance

  • David SparksDoes it

    Apple productivity writer · MacSparky

    People ask whether AI has retired his Hazel rules, and he says no. Twenty years into the app, he still has it doing file management on the Mac, and the reason he gives is that it sorts things on the device without burning tokens or handing anything over.

    Source: MacSparky: Hazel Turns 20

Aimed at the same thing

Other entries filed under productivity.

  • App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.

    Claude

    Anthropic

    Anthropic's AI assistant, used by writers as a sounding board

    Backed by 5 of 62 stacks: 5 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.

    Readwise

    Readwise

    Syncs your highlights and resurfaces them a few at a time

    Backed by 4 of 62 stacks: 3 do it, 1 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • App$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.

    Website and app blocker

    Software that makes distracting sites genuinely unavailable on a schedule

    Backed by 4 of 62 stacks: 2 do it, 2 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • AppFREE, no cost

    Notion

    Notion

    Flexible workspace used as a second brain, wiki and task system

    Backed by 3 of 62 stacks: 3 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • App$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.

    Adobe Premiere Pro

    Adobe

    Adobe's video editor, the default in most professional edit bays

    Backed by 2 of 62 stacks: 2 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it
  • AppFREE, no cost

    Apple Notes

    Apple

    The note app that ships on every Mac, iPhone and iPad, synced through iCloud

    Backed by 2 of 62 stacks: 2 do it, 0 recommend it, 0 have discussed it

App entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.