Mac Geeks: Let's Talk About Hazel

[RoyBiggins]

http://www.noodlesoft.com/hazel.php

Best $22 I've spent on software since I got that multipack of games with Sam & Max and Day of the Tentacle in it. 

Hazel is basically a program I've wanted for years; automatic file management based on rules for behavior. 

For example, I got a rule now that automatically grabs any folder from my desktop with the phrase "screen shot" in the name, then sorts it into "screenshots" folder, with subfolders based on the date the shot was created.

I have another set of rules that watches my downloads folder for .pdfs and .docs, moves them over to my documents folder, and labels them as blue, so I can tell at a glance what's been added there in the last couple of days (after 3 days, the blue label automatically comes off).

Finally, I have this big hondo set of rules I'm still tweaking that watches my downloads folder for new TV shows/movies, and moves them to my external hard drive.  If I flag any of the movies as green, it sets off a chain reaction where a copy of them gets converted to an iPod-friendly format, and that newly encoded video gets moved to a folder where I go when i'm looking to load up the iPod with new TV.

This all rules.  Anybody have it?  Anybody got some great ideas on what to do with it?

[jebreject]

Whoa

[RoyBiggins]

sayin'

[milly balgeary]

that software is what I NEED. Thank you Bigs.

[jm]

whoa, that does actually sound pretty dope, as I am a guy who is generally pretty picky about organizing my files, but who also often becomes overwhelmed by the sheer number of them.

[jebreject]

Can it rename files as well?

[RoyBiggins]

It can, and I keep trying to post a link here to a tutorial this guy has online about how he wrote a ton of rules to teach Hazel how to rename all his bit torrented TV shows into their actual names with season/episode numbers, but my computer keeps shitting a brick when I try to go to the link or paste a URL here.

[elpollodiablo]

It can, and I keep trying to post a link here to a tutorial this guy has online about how he wrote a ton of rules to teach Hazel how to rename all his bit torrented TV shows into their actual names with season/episode numbers, but my computer keeps shitting a brick when I try to go to the link or paste a URL here.

That's exactly how I was envisioning using this software!

[RoyBiggins]

http://www.mactalk.com.au/content/organising-media-hazel-pt-2-986/

I believe that's the right URL.

[RoyBiggins]

One of the reasons  I'm especially excited to get y'all up on this is, you can export rule sets and share them with folks.

[milly balgeary]

i installed it. it's moving my movies i get from newsgroups into a folder!

[RoyBiggins]

I'm not sure how your downloads work, but you might want to set something up so it doesn't move them before they're done downloading.  I think I set mine up so that it won't touch a movie unless the movie hasn't been modified for 5 minutes.

[milly balgeary]

yeah i gotta get my hands dirty with this shit. start making RULES. so much ta do!

[elpollodiablo]

This would be really useful for sorting files from different trackers. You could have it move and delete the .torrent file for anything you grabbed from a public tracker like Pirate Bay or Demonoid, but leave or resort into a different directory anything from those where you wanted to keep up a ratio.

[hannah]

Whoa, this will make my movie-making (which often requires sorting lots and lots of images) a whole lot easier, I do believe.