Why I created RuleThemAll
Right after buying a Mac it feels amazing. It's fast, lots of disc space, all folders are clean and tidy, no old files and apps. But after some time things get worse. Desktop is filled with screenshots, Downloads is a complete mess, and storage becomes more and more of a concern.
Regardless of how motivated you are to keep things clean and tidy at some point it's almost impossible to consistently organize files on a Mac by yourself. The clutter makes you less productive, things are harder to find, folders take longer to open.
After more times passes, you just accept the way it is and clutter becomes your new normal. It's not pretty, you know it, but the task to clean feels so big you just postpone it forever. I'm just like that, well, I used to be.
The parts I missed in the existing apps
At some point I realized that as a software developer I can write an app that can organize my files and folders and not drive me crazy with configuration. There are some apps on the market that promise to solve this problem but all of them had something missing.
One of the biggest problems for me in the existing apps was safety. What if wrong files are moved or deleted? What if I can't recover them? None of the existing apps offered a solution to this.
Another problem is how apps that claim to solve the "sort your Downloads folder automatically" don't "sort" anything. They just re-organize the garbage into smaller folders, and call that "smart". If you ask me, that's the worst kind of automation, one that doesn't actually solve the problem, it just makes it less visible.
What I wanted the app to do
I wanted it to be simple and reliable, without AI and marketing fluff, but at the same time configurable with great precision. Something that you can set up in a minute and use for years. So I created RuleThemAll. The app looks very basic but it's tested extensively and built to solve my two main problems: safety and real decluttering, not just hiding the mess from sight.
How to set it up
The app is built in the simplest way possible, so that as many people as possible could use it without confusion. You choose the folder that receives the mess (for most people that is Downloads and Desktop). You decide criteria for the files. File extension, word in the name, date created or edited, etc, and the best part - you can combine the filters to match specific files. Then you decide what to do with the files, move, copy, rename, etc, or even better - combine the actions so that, for example, you can rename, move and send a notification about the file! Isn't this great?! Then you pick the destination for the file if you want to move or copy it, and that's all.
Monitoring and safety
Every action is written down, and you can recover a file if the rule was greedier than you meant. That's the part that concerned me the most during development. When you use the app it may feel like it's no big deal but in reality is the key feature and unique to RuleThemAll. You are in complete control of what was done and when, and you can undo anything.
If Downloads is the main culprit
Which it often is because browsers dump everything into Downloads, and the installers, PDFs and videos you do not need keep eating your SSD. I wrote a separate walkthrough for that: How to organize your Mac Downloads folder.
Is it for you?
Why wonder if you can just try? The start is free and with one free rule and folder you can do A LOT. Especially if your issue is mostly about Downloads.
Most of the apps in this category are paid from the start. So you don't even know what you're paying for. I think it's wrong and makes little sense if you want to give people real trial. So RuleThemAll is basically free if your needs are minimal.
Thank you so much and I hope RuleThemAll will help you keep your Mac the way you want it to be!