Install and first launch
- Download Owlsort from this site and open the disk image.
- Drag Owlsort into Applications, then open it from there.
- The first launch walks you through three short screens: a welcome, an optional permission, and the folders to look after.
Full Disk Access is optional. Desktop, Downloads and Documents work without it; it only matters if you want Owlsort to tidy a folder macOS protects. You can grant it later in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access.
Desktop, Downloads and Documents are chosen for you. Add or remove folders on that screen, or any time later.
Check and preview
The overview checks your folders as soon as it opens, and again whenever you press “Check for new files”. While it checks you see how many files it has looked at and which folder it is in.
When something can be tidied, the overview shows the count and a preview: your own files, scattered at the top, and the folders they will go to underneath.
- Drag the slider to watch the files move into place. Nothing moves until you press the button.
- If several folders have files to tidy, each shows as a small pile. Click a pile to take that folder out of this tidy, or put it back.
- Right-click a file in the preview and choose “Leave Here, Never Tidy” to keep it where it is from now on.
Tidy and undo
Press “Tidy these” and the files move while you watch. The result page says how many were tidied and how long it took.
Every tidy is one line in History. The latest one can be undone, and every file goes back to the exact place it came from. Undo is on the result page, in History, in the menu bar panel and in Spotlight.
Undo always works, even after the trial ends: putting files back never needs a licence.
How to tidy (rules)
The “How to tidy” page lists the built-in rules, each with a switch. Four are on from the start (screenshots, PDFs, installers, archives); four more are ready and off (office documents, other pictures, screen recordings, audio and video).
- Click a rule to open it and change what it takes or where it puts things.
- A built-in rule you have changed can be restored with “Restore default”.
- Press “New” to make your own rule from conditions (name, kind, size, date, tags and more) and actions (move, copy, rename, tag and more).
Rules only tidy the loose files at the top of a folder. Subfolders you made yourself, such as a note vault or files sorted by year, are left alone. If one rule needs to reach deeper, turn on “Include subfolders” for that rule.
Files and folders to leave alone
Anything on this list is never moved, by any rule or by background tidying. Add to it in three places:
- On the “How to tidy” page, under “Files and folders to leave alone”.
- From the menu bar panel: “Leave Files or Folders Alone…”. A small note under the icon confirms it, with Undo.
- In the preview: right-click a file and choose “Leave Here, Never Tidy”.
Owlsort also skips project folders (with .git, package.json, an Xcode project and the like) and folders created in the last 24 hours, so a broad rule cannot pull a file out of something you are working on.
Background tidying and the menu bar
Owlsort lives in the menu bar. Its panel can start or stop background tidying, undo the latest tidy, add files to leave alone, open the app and settings, and shows the last 30 days at a glance.
With background tidying on, rules that are allowed to run in the background tidy new files as they arrive. A small bubble under the menu bar icon says how many files moved, with an Undo button. You can turn the bubble off in Settings.
Spotlight and Shortcuts
Type in Spotlight or use the Shortcuts app to run Owlsort without opening it:
- Check for new files
- Tidy pending files (asks first, with the count)
- Undo the latest tidy
- Pause or resume background tidying
- Open the overview, or open History
Trial and licence
Every feature is unlocked for 14 days. After that Owlsort keeps checking and previewing, and undo keeps working, but moving files needs a licence.
- Buy Owlsort on this site. The licence key arrives by email.
- In Owlsort, open Settings → Licence → Manage and paste the key.
- Everything carries on as it was: your rules stay as you left them, and background tidying resumes if it was on.
One licence works on up to 3 of your Macs. To move it to another Mac, release the activation on the old one from the same Licence screen.
Why wasn’t a file tidied?
- It is inside a subfolder. Rules only take the loose files at the top of a folder, unless the rule has “Include subfolders” on.
- No rule matches it. The overview says “N files have no way to tidy them”; open it to turn on a built-in rule or make one for that kind of file.
- The rule for it is switched off on the “How to tidy” page.
- It is on the list of files and folders to leave alone.
- It is in a project folder, or in a folder created less than 24 hours ago.
- It is still downloading (.crdownload, .part and similar files wait until the download finishes).
Still stuck? Write to us from the support address on the privacy page and tell us what the file is called and where it is.
Owlsort