Filed under: Productivity, Freeware, .Mac
File Action: a free, light-weight alternative to Hazel
Many of us here around the TUAW home office love Hazel ($21.95), the great folder-based automation utility that you can set up to run various rules to process (e.g. move, copy, sort) your files. However, we also like free, and so I was intrigued by a new application called File Action that is basically a kind of Hazel-light.File Action concentrates on only one task -- moving files -- but like Hazel you can set it up to move those files on the basis of various rules. While less sophisticated than Hazel it can definitely handle useful tasks like sorting your downloads folder on the basis of file extensions, etc.
While I wouldn't give up the power of Hazel, if your file sorting needs are basic (and your wallet light), File Action is worth a look. It's a free download from Tom Hancocks.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Phil said 11:15PM on 1-29-2008
Wow... Just bought Hazel last week. I love it though :)
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Quine said 11:56PM on 1-29-2008
Great alternative for those who only want to do very minimal tasks. Hazel, of course, still remains the best tool on any platform for easy, automatic criteria-based file management imo :)
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Wysiwyg said 4:12AM on 1-30-2008
Don't get me wrong, this is an honest question that I have to ask... What this and Hazel are different from Folder Actions? I still don't get it.
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Paul Kim said 11:44AM on 1-30-2008
I was passing through and thought I'd reply since the Folder Action question is a common one. I'm the author of Hazel, BTW.
Hazel is different from Folder Actions in several ways. For one, it handles date based criteria. Folder Actions are work for one-shot things that fire one the file first appears, but Hazel will continue to watch the files for changes including those involving dates. You can then do thing like act on the file if it's older than a month or copy it somewhere else if it's been modified since the last time. Hazel has more advanced file filtering criteria and I feel the rule engine runs much better than that of Folder Actions, especially when you deal with folders you already use with a big mix of files, instead of designating special folders to process specific types of files. But don't just take my word for it. Download Hazel, load up the sample rules, then try and implement the same functionality via Folder Actions.
Also, there is something to be said for making the functionality accessible, which both File Action and Hazel do. Folder Actions are not obvious to many users and you have to go to a couple places to configure it instead of having it all pulled together into one place. It all feels cobbled together and hard to maintain.
In the end, if you all you need is basic moving of files or one-shot processing of files, then depending, File Action or Folder Actions would be fine. Even in such cases, I invite you to try out Hazel as you may find you could do much more with your workflow than you thought.
I hope this answers your question. I may not be monitoring this thread so if you don't hear back from me on any follow-up questions, feel free to contact me via email (use the form on the Noodlesoft site).
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