What can organize be used for?

organize is a command-line, open-source file management automation tool. You can use it to sort, rename, copy, move, and clean up files based on rules you define, rather than doing the work by hand. It is a fit if you want repeatable, scriptable file organization on macOS, Windows, or Linux, and you are comfortable running commands in a shell. It is not a graphical app, so it is a poor fit if you need a point-and-click interface.

The documentation lists these common uses:

• Sorting and tagging pictures into various folder structures based on EXIF data
• Sorting and renaming PDF invoices based on file content
• Removing incomplete downloads from ~/Downloads
• Cleaning up ~/Desktop from unused files
• Freeing up disk space by removing duplicates
• Automating various business processes

How these tasks map to features

Each use case depends on a specific capability of the tool:

What makes it flexible

Beyond the built-in filters and actions, organize supports a powerful template engine and lets you run inline Python and shell commands as filters and actions. That means a rule is not limited to the operations the tool ships with — you can express custom logic when a built-in filter does not cover your case.

A second practical feature is simulation: everything can be simulated before touching your files. You can preview what a rule would do before committing changes, which matters when a rule moves or deletes files.

Getting started

Only Python 3.9+ is required. Install via pip — note the package name is organize-tool:

pip install -U organize-tool

The same command updates to the newest version. Verify the install with:

organize --help

Create and edit your first rule:

organize new
organize edit

A minimal rule looks like this:

rules:
  - name: "Find PDFs"
    locations:
      - ~/Downloads
    subfolders: true
    filters:
      - extension: pdf
    actions:
      - echo: "Found PDF!"

If you have trouble editing the configuration, organize show --reveal can help locate it.

Version note

Version 3 is now available. According to the documentation, it should be much faster and fixes a lot of bugs, and it adds new actions, filters, and options. If you are migrating from an older version, a changelog and migration guide are provided. If you hit bugs or problems during migration, the project asks you to reach out.

When to choose something else

organize is a command-line tool, so it suits users who want automation they can version, script, and run repeatedly. If you prefer a GUI, the documentation positions organize as an open-source alternative to apps like Hazel (macOS) or File Juggler (Windows) — those are the graphical options to compare against if clicking through a window is a requirement. organize itself is free and open-source software.