Automatic tidying

Use Hazel, Smart Folders, and some new good habits, to keep your Mac permanently cruft-free

Explained… Automate your Mac’s tidy up

1 Install Hazel

With Hazel (£25, noodlesoft.com), you get an app that can automate the bulk of ongoing busywork, through you setting up rules. In short, the app monitors folders and performs actions on specific items.

2 Start defining your rules

Add a folder using the Folder pane’s + button. Then create rules for that folder – each is added using the + button under the Rules pane. You can automatically have duplicates/broken downloads trashed from here.

3 Build actions

If you’ve ever created a playlist in iTunes, the steps for creating rules are similar here. You define conditions that trigger actions when any, all, or none of the conditions are met. Use the Preview button to test a rule.

4 Remove apps

In Hazel’s Trash tab, you can enable its App Sweep feature. This tries to remove application support files when you delete an app, thereby potentially freeing up more space than just trashing the app alone.

5 Automate Trash

macOS can be set to automatically erase items that have been in the Trash for 30 days, but Hazel offers many more timescale alternatives – and you can optionally set a maximum Trash size, too.

6 Use Smart Folders

Alongside or instead of Hazel, you can also use Smart Folders (in Finder, pick File > New Smart Folder) to keep tabs on certain file types. Set up searches for recently added large files, to make sure you’ve actually done something with them.