Cluttered Mac desktop affects a lot of users. This is not at all necessary: if you are too lazy to delete files by hand, you can also use tools that do this automatically. One of the most popular macOS apps for this purpose is Hazel in version 6.0 available for download. With the update, the file manager gets, among other things, OCR capabilities for PDFs and images and allows you to easily reset the sorting created.
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look inside files
The basic idea of Hazel is to automate file management by default. To do this, you set appropriate rules in the app. For example, you can sort downloaded movies directly into the Movies folder, but you can also tag them, rename them, and organize them into subfolders. Handling the macOS trash can is also automated. For example, here you can specify that it is automatically emptied after a certain period of time. The App Sweep function can also find and remove files left over from deleted apps. Hazel has Spotlight integration (of course) and can be controlled remotely with AppleScript and Automator. When the app does something, you receive notifications.
Hazel 6 has now gone a bit further than its predecessor. The content of files that were previously unreadable can be deciphered using the integrated OCR (Optical Character Recognition) routine – for example, if images contain text or if the PDF does not yet contain text and has not been subjected to OCR. Has gone.
Encrypted PDF and new list features
Hazel can also open encrypted PDFs if the password is in the Keychain. The new quick action “Revert” instantly resets changes to files made by Hazel – including sorting. The matching engine was also equipped with so-called custom list features, which simplify tagging. Hazel 6 is also compatible with macOS 15 aka Sequoia.
Hazel in action: Here it clears the Downloads folder.
(Image: NoodleSoft)
Noodlesoft, the maker of Hazel, charges $42 to purchase the new app. A family pack for five people in your own home is available for $65. The cost to upgrade from an older version like Hazel 5 is $20.
(B.Sc.)
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