Your first run
- Start Simple Organizer. The first time, it picks your
Downloadsfolder. After that it remembers the last folder you used, even while its drive is unplugged. - To choose another folder, click Browse… in the top bar.
- Click Scan (Ctrl + R). Nothing is moved yet. The Preview tab lists every file that would be moved and where it would go.
- Look through the list. Use the search field (Ctrl + F) to find files and click a column heading to sort. To keep a file where it is, select it and press Space or Delete (or right-click → Don't move). The app remembers this for the folder, also after a restart and for automatic runs. Export CSV… saves the list.
- Click Organize (Ctrl + O). You'll see how many files will be moved and how big they are. Confirm, and the files are moved into category folders inside the folder you scanned.
To reverse it, click Undo last (Ctrl + Z). The question tells you which run and folder it will restore. If you change a scan option or a rule after scanning, the list is cleared — just scan again.
The window
| Top bar | Folder path, Browse…, switch between light and dark theme |
|---|---|
| Sidebar: Scan | Include sub-folders, include hidden files, use sub-categories, scan limits |
| Sidebar: Staging | Staging mode, Commit, Revert |
| Sidebar: Auto-organize | Sort the folder on a schedule while the program is open |
| Buttons | Scan, Organize, Undo last, History… |
| Tabs | Preview, Duplicates, Log (keeps the newest 5,000 lines), Rules |
| Status bar | READY or WORKING, progress, shortcuts |
Only one task runs at a time; the other buttons are disabled while a scan or move is running. If you close the window during a task, the program waits until it's finished. Keyboard shortcuts also work with Caps Lock on, but not while a task is running or a dialog is open.
File types
Without rules, files are sorted by their extension. Sub-folders are off by default. If you turn on sub-categories, one more folder level is added, for example Images/Photos.
| Folder | File extensions | Sub-folders |
|---|---|---|
| Images | jpg, jpeg, png, gif, webp, bmp, tiff, tif, heic, heif, avif, jxl, svg, ico, psd, xcf, kra, raw, cr2, nef, arw, dng | Photos, GIFs, Vector, Icons, Editing, Raw |
| Documents | pdf, docx, docm, doc, txt, odt, rtf, xlsx, xlsm, xls, ods, pptx, pptm, ppt, odp, pps, ppsx, csv, md, epub, mobi, eml, msg | PDFs, Word, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Text, Ebooks, Email |
| Archives | zip, tar, gz, rar, 7z, bz2, xz, tgz | ZIP, RAR, 7Zip, TAR |
| Videos | mp4, mkv, mov, avi, wmv, flv, webm, m4v, mpeg, mpg, m2ts, mts, and ts files that are videos | MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, WMV, WebM, FLV, MPEG, TS |
| Music | mp3, wav, flac, aac, ogg, wma, m4a, opus, aiff | Lossless, MP3, AAC, OGG, WMA |
| Code | py, ipynb, js, ts, jsx, tsx, html, htm, css, cpp, c, h, java, rb, go, rs, php, sh, bash, json, yaml, yml, toml, xml, sql, r, swift, kt, dart | Python, JavaScript, Web, Java, C_CPP, Go, Rust, Ruby, PHP, Swift, Dart, Shell, Config, SQL, R |
| Programs | exe, msi, dmg, pkg, apk, appimage, deb, rpm, flatpakref | Windows, macOS, Android, Linux |
| Disk Images | iso, img | – |
| Others | Everything else, including files without an extension | – |
About .ts files
A .ts file can be TypeScript code or a video. Simple Organizer looks inside the file to tell them apart: videos go to Videos/TS, code goes to Code/JavaScript. For OneDrive files that are only stored online, the file isn't opened (that would download it). There, a .ts file of 1 MB or more counts as a video.
Files that are never moved
- System files like
desktop.ini,Thumbs.dband.DS_Store - Shortcuts:
.lnk,.url,.desktop,.webloc - Downloads that are still running (and the empty file Firefox creates for them), temporary files and the lock files of Office and LibreOffice
- Simple Organizer itself, so you can keep the program in your Downloads folder
- Hidden files, unless you turn on Include hidden files
Rules
Rules send files to a folder you choose, before the normal sorting by file type. They're checked from top to bottom, and the first rule that matches wins.
Create a rule
Open the Rules tab and click Add rule. Every rule has a name, one or more conditions, a target folder, and can be switched on or off. With Add condition a rule gets more conditions; it then only matches files that meet all of them.
| Condition | Matches | Example value |
|---|---|---|
extension | Files with this extension (also works for tar.gz; .pdf and *.pdf work too). One extension per rule | pdf |
name_pattern | File names matching a pattern, upper/lower case doesn't matter | invoice_*.pdf |
min_size_mb | Files at least this big (in MB) | 100 |
max_size_mb | Files at most this big (in MB) | 10 |
older_than_days | Files not changed for at least this many days | 365 |
newer_than_days | Files changed in the last … days | 7 |
Examples
| Goal | Condition | Value | Target folder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep invoices together | name_pattern | *invoice* | Invoices |
| Put large files aside | min_size_mb | 500 | Large files |
| Archive old files | older_than_days | 365 | Archive |
| Collect log files | extension | log | Logs |
| Archive old PDFs only | extension + older_than_days | pdf + 365 | Archive |
Target folder
The target folder is always inside the folder you scan. Sub-folders like Work/Reports are fine. Not allowed: full paths, drive letters, .., the characters < > : " | ? *, Windows names like CON or NUL, and names that end with a dot or space. A rule with an invalid target is skipped, and a warning is written to the log.
Manage rules
- Click the dot in the first column (or press Space) to switch a rule on or off.
- Double-click a rule or use Edit to change it.
- Use ↑ and ↓ to change the order. Remember: the first match wins.
- Rules don't use sub-categories. The target folder is used exactly as you typed it.
Rules are saved in rules.json. If another program (for example a sync tool) blocks that file, the scan stops with a message instead of sorting without your rules.
Why wasn't a file moved?
After a scan, the Log tab shows how many files were skipped. The usual reasons:
- It's a system file, shortcut, temporary file or a download that's still running.
- It's hidden and Include hidden files is off.
- It's in a sub-folder and Scan subdirectories is off.
- It's inside a Git project, a link or a junction, or already in a category folder.
- A file with the same name as the category folder is in the way.
- A scan limit (depth, number of folders, time) was reached.
- It's already in the right place.
A file went into the wrong folder? Add a rule. Rules are checked before the normal sorting.
Messages
| Message | What it means |
|---|---|
| “… is an unusual folder” / “Scan this folder anyway?” | You're about to scan a whole drive, your home folder, a system folder or a Git project. Only confirm if you really mean it. Your answer is remembered. |
| “Auto-organize paused” | The folder wasn't found (for example an unplugged drive), or it's an unusual folder you haven't confirmed. |
| “Simple Organizer is already running.” | Only one copy can run. Switch to the window that's already open. |
| “rules.json could not be read” / “Rules not available” | Another program (sync tool, antivirus) is blocking the file. Try again in a moment. |
| “… online-only … not staged” | OneDrive files that are only online aren't staged, because that would download them. Organize without staging mode. |
| “Something went wrong” | An unexpected error. Details are in error.log. Please report it and attach the file. |
Windows
- Duplicates on a network drive can't go to the Recycle Bin, because network drives don't have one. They're left where they are instead of being deleted.
Linux
- Dialogs have square corners. Rounded corners need window transparency, which only works on Windows.
- Drag and drop doesn't work: install
tkinterdnd2with pip.
More in the wiki
The Simple Organizer wiki has more pages about: