OrganizeHygiene

Download sorting

Renames and files every download by a rule on arrival, so the folder stops being a drawer of near-identical files.

Tools

Google Drive, Dropbox, Zapier, Make, Airtable

Outcomes

Downloads folder empty on most days • Every file named the same way • Unclaimed downloads deleted after a month • Nothing filed into two places

Documentation

Instruction-ready detail below

A downloads folder is the one place on a computer nobody has to look at, so it becomes a drawer of files nobody can name. The rule set is small and written down: rename every download to include the date and a plain description, move it into one folder per kind of document, and move anything matching none of them into an inbox folder that is emptied weekly. The workflow watches the folder rather than the person, so it runs on a phone download as reliably as on a laptop. Each file gets the date it arrived and a description taken from the page it came from, and a file that already follows the rule is left alone. A weekly pass lists the inbox folder and deletes anything older than thirty days that nobody claimed. A small table records where each file went, so the person who needs a document can be told the path instead of guessing the folder. A person still decides which folders the rule covers, what to call a file when the source gives no clue, and what is worth keeping out of the deletion window.

Automations

Choose the setup that matches your tools.

Problem this workflow solves

The downloads folder grows to four hundred files called final and final_v2, and the one receipt somebody needs sits under three months of unrelated documents. Whoever needs it is usually the person preparing an expense claim or handing a project over, and they end up re-downloading it from a portal that no longer lists it, or asking a colleague to send it again. The folder is never searched, because searching it takes longer than asking a person.

Download

Start with one instruction file.

Download the app and begin with drafts and checklists before you write anything back.

  • •Plain-language instructions
  • •Runs on your machine
  • •Works with your existing setup
  • •Reviewable activity history
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