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.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- 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
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