Way to manually(!) sort files into folders

applescriptgraphicssoftware-recommendationsortvideo

I'm looking for an easy way to quickly go through a bunch of files, mostly videos and images and sort them in a set of standard folders.
Currently I open the videos/images in VLC see what they're about and drag/drop 'em into folders. This is incredibly tedious work, but I really should get it done already. Annoying bits are in large part due to the dragging and dropping, also because the alphabetical sort order in the Finder and VLC is different and the file names get replaced by video titles in the VLC playlist etc.

Ideally I would want an application that show me the content (ideally skipping x% into the video to skip intros etc) and lets me sort it with a single key (press 1 and it goes into folder x, press 2 etc.) or click the folder and the file is moved into it, ignoring all filename-already-exists nonsense (just rename it and be quiet). Using drag/drop is just to annoying, slow and error prone.

To be clear, I'm not looking for automated sorting, I can't use it because I want to sort on video/image content.

I was thinking about writing an applescript for this but I wanted to know if anyone knew of existing software to do this. Searching for ways to sort items all result in automated sorting based on file properties.

Thanks.

Best Answer

I thought I might like to have something like this too, so I threw together an app that does this. Feel free to try it out! Warning though: I have one video where the skip value doesn't work. I'm not sure why it only has an issue with this one video... Just a heads up. It works 99% of the time though!

Push 1 to place the video or image being shown in sort folder 1, and 2 to place it in sort folder 2. Also make sure to select a folder source with the content! This should be able to play anything that VLC can play, which is to say, pretty much everything. I don't have access to a code signing certificate at the moment, so you'll have to right click on the application from within the Finder and click "Open". After that you'll be good to go!

Related Solutions

MacOS – How to get certain types of files dropped in certain folders based on file type

You can create two folder actions, one for images:

enter image description here

one for videos:

enter image description here

Both should be setup to receive files from Downloads folder.

The first step filters images and videos files.

The second step moves those files in the appropriate folder.

Be sure that folder action is attached to your Downloads directory (right click on directory, Services\Folder Actions Setup...).

To let Automator wait for the download to complete, you can add a Run AppleScript step, before the Move Finder Items step, similar to this:

on run {input, parameters}
    if input is {} then
        return {}
    end if

    repeat
        delay 1
        set {size:fileSize, busy status:Busy} to (info for (input as alias))
        if not Busy and (fileSize is greater than 0) then return input
    end repeat
end run

enter image description here

Automatically move files into correct folder on server

Automator Droplet

You can do this with an Automator workflow and a script (I'm using Python, but it could be done with Bash, Applescript or anything else really).

Open up Automator, and choose Application type.
Add a Run Shell Script action to the workflow.
In the Run Shell Script action, set the Shell option to /usr/bin/python, and Pass input: to as arguments.
Set the script text to the script as shown below. Be sure to change the destination path to your desired destination.
Save the application to your desired location.

Script

import sys
import os
import subprocess

destinationPath = '/Users/rob/Desktop/test'

for f in sys.argv[1:]:
    name = os.path.basename(f)
    newdir = os.path.join(destinationPath, name[:1], name[:2], name[:3])
    print newdir

    if not os.path.exists(newdir):
        os.makedirs(newdir)

    subprocess.call(['mv', f, os.path.join(newdir,name)])
#eof

Important: Change the destinationPath = line to the path you want (i.e. the folder that contains your numbered folders). Make sure to retain the single quotes around the path.

Usage

Just drag and drop the files you want onto the application file you saved, and they'll be moved accordingly. If the proper folders don't exist already, they will be created.

Best Answer

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MacOS – How to get certain types of files dropped in certain folders based on file type

Automatically move files into correct folder on server

Automator Droplet

Script

Usage

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