Hazel is one of those truly clever, useful apps that I think could make the Mac computing world a better place if everyone bought a license (and used it, of course). If you haven't seen our previous coverage, Hazel is - in a nutshell - your "personal housecleaner," allowing you to specify rules for moving and organizing your files just like you would with Mail messages. For a basic example, you could create a rule that watches your Desktop for downloaded files types like .ZIP, .DMG, .SIT, etc., and automatically move them to a Software folder once they're a day old. Hazel's abilities don't stop there, however; not by a long shot. Hazel can automatically import image files into iPhoto, music into iTunes, add Spotlight comments, organize files into folders and even subfolders, add Finder color labels to files, run AppleScripts and so much more. Hazel can even manage your Trash for you by setting a specific time frame after which older (but not all) files should be deleted, or even a size limit that the Trash should be kept under (say, 2 GB). All this is done completely and transparently in the background, allowing you to get things done while Hazel works its magic.
Have I piqued your interest? Good, because Paul Kim at Noodlesoft has just released a much-anticipated Hazel 2.0 update in beta with some significant new features. At the top of my personal list is full-blown support for uninstalling an application and the ability to preview rule matches so you can polish your criteria before flipping the switch. Read on for details on these killer new features and more.
Now you may be saying "but David, uninstalling an app on the Mac is as easy as dragging it to the Trash, right?" Well, you're roughly half right - when you get rid of an application that way, it still leaves behind preference files, Application Support files and possibly other stuff that winds up sitting around on your Mac. Now these files are typically harmless, but after a while they can really start to eat up space. My support folder for NetNewsWire - an app that primarily downloads text and headlines, mind you - is over 200 MB alone.
Enter Hazel's new App Sweep feature, which watches any applications that are dragged to the Trash. When it notices one, it will present the dialog you see above with preference files, application support folders and other stuff Hazel found related to the app you're deleting. This awesome new feature allows you to trash all this extra stuff right with the app, taking the manual labor out of keeping your drive clean of derelict supporting files.
My other favorite new feature is the ability to preview rule matches before setting them in motion. This helps avoid any unfortunate mishaps due to a rule that wasn't built quite right, and it gives you a nice birds-eye view of what will happen once you give the green light.
There's plenty more good stuff in this new version of Hazel though, so here's a quick rundown of all the other new ways you can start managing your files:
- Menubar icon for quick access to Hazel's functions including the ability to start and stop Hazel's operation.
- Can now write rules to match against any Spotlight metadata.
- New rename action to rename files and folders.
- New sorting action that can sort your files into a set of subfolders.
- Unarchive action to unpack archives.
- Growl support including a Growl action where you can have Hazel send custom Growl messages.
- Rewritten to use internal task scheduler instead of launchd.
- Much better detection of files that are busy meaning that Hazel should work better with downloading apps and browsers even if it doesn't have specific support for it.
As I've said numerous times in this post and before, I honestly believe Hazel is a killer - nay: essential - app for everyone who has more than one or two files to manage on their Mac. I've been using it since v1.0 and can't even begin to guess at how much time it's saved me. I hope it can do the same for you.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-27-2007 @ 1:57PM
Chris said...
maybe i'm stoopid. can anyone provide some useful real-world examples of how i'd use this util?
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 2:30PM
Dave Chartier said...
#1: I provided a couple examples in the post, one of which I thought would be dead on for most users: organizing files we all download from the internet. Deleting all extra application support files when trashing an app is also a huge boost, as it helps keep your drive tidy and removes all the files that most users otherwise might not know how or where to find.
Let's say you download a lot of movies and pictures - most browsers automatically download everything to the desktop. You could create two Hazel rules that automatically move those files to your Movies and Pictures folders, respectively, or even automatically import the pictures into iPhoto. You could also add a color label to these files to help you determine exactly which ones were moved automatically, and pop up a Growl alert every time Hazel moves files for you.
Do those help?
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 2:31PM
FrankMcBilboWinker said...
I just found some wierd automator actions that do my photo importing now. Should I pay apple for them?
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 2:34PM
pepe said...
I, for one, am sold. Also check out this:
http://kinkless.com/article/kinkless_desktop/5_cruelty_can_be_kind
Does anyone know how much the app will cost after it jumps to a real 2.0?
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 2:40PM
Dave Chartier said...
No word yet on Hazel's final price, at least that's the latest from the dev in Hazel's support forums. I would imagine anywhere from $20-30.
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 2:48PM
Hobbes said...
This seems like a really cool app. I really liked that it watches the Trash and if I delete an Application it offers to delete all the associated files. Currently I use AppZapper and it works great, but this integrated feature is really cool.
I have a downloads fold where all my stuff goes before I have a chance to filter and move them to the proper locations. One way this app can be used is to set up rules to move any pics in this folder to a particular pictures folder or iPhoto.
I will have to check it out and see if the rules are flexible enough and customizable to my needs. I just wouldn't want it to move things around blindly based on the file type only. Sometimes you download pictures you don't necessarily want to have added to iPhoto, etc.
Thanks for the tip. This seems really cool.
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 2:51PM
Hobbes said...
#3
You already paid Apple for that when you bought your computer/OS.
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 2:55PM
Inwa said...
Does this app pretty much replace AppZapper while adding more features?
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 3:35PM
Dave Chartier said...
8: Yep, you could definitely look at it that way.
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 3:55PM
Andy C said...
I've really enjoyed the first release of Hazel. People don't quite grok how useful it is to have your Download's folder sorted by document, application, or other. The ability to give labels to those files after certain criteria, and moving/handling them further even later. It keeps my directories clean and me notified on ages/last touched. Good for any productivity geek. :)
-a
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 4:27PM
Wytse said...
If you combine this with a GTD workflow this could be very handy. I have an inbox on my desktop and have set my rules like kinkless article posted above.
Aren't you supposed to process files in your inbox anyway and the decide where you would like to place them in your archive if you need to keep them. While processing you could add a prefix to the file name. If you then set a rule which states: [name] [starts with] prefix. Then Hazel will move the files to the archive folder of your choice.
I also set it to give a growl notification whenever one of the files has received anothe color. This way i do not need to open my inbox that often. Use a sticky notification to really be pushed to processing the file.
I just got it today (tested it for a couple of hours and bought it) so there are probably many more useful rules.
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 5:09PM
shig said...
I've been using Hazel for a few months now. A couple more real-world usage examples:
1. Music. If it detects a music file on my desktop, or in a folder on my desktop (such as the folder EMusic Download Manager automatically creates), it imports it into iTunes, then moves the original file into the trash.
2. TV shows. It watches the desktop for files with certain keywords in the names, like Lost or Doctor Who, and moves them into appropriate subfolders in my Movies folder. Then, when I open a movie, it changes the file's color label so I can see at a glance what I have and haven't watched yet.
It really is the sort of program that gets better the more you work with it. It supports all kinds of creative tweaks, and makes life easier in all kinds of unexpected ways.
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 10:42PM
MajorMauser said...
Speed Download organizes files to folders like this
Reply
6-27-2007 @ 10:44PM
mark said...
you can also watch your Trash bin to check if any "important" folders where moved to the trash accidently (by yourself or friends, kids, drunken room mates, whoever) and then simply move the folder back to its origin place.
(i know you can "lock" folders.. but what's a download folder for if you can't write into it?...)
i do lots of intense file downloading/moving/organizing (and deleting) working tasks... this saved my Downloads and my Documents folder twice :)
Reply
6-28-2007 @ 4:20AM
NG5 said...
Regarding Chris the 1st post, I've been using Hazel for a few months now and its fantastic. I use it to keep files organised mainly. Generally I work on new files and save them to the desktop. At the end of the day I'll use an automator finder action for prefix the file name (eg. [WORK]-[EDITORIAL], or [HOME]-[FINANCES] etc) and then move them to my TO SORT folder which Hazel monitors. By setting simple rules I can then 'file' these in to my predefined folder structure.
In addition all my internet downloads and mail downloads are watched by Hazel and moved depending on what they arey zip, dmg etc.
You can just keep going, my advice is give it a try and if you get stuck contact Paul Kim. I asked him a about multiple licenses because it's so useful I wanted to use on both home and work machines and got and almost iunstant reply.
Reply
6-28-2007 @ 12:57PM
Greg Perkins said...
I love Hazel, because if I didn't have it, my downloads folder would never get sorted.
Reply