Sort & route: settings and best results

01Step 1: Open Organize and choose where the folders go

Click Tools in the sidebar, open the Any file tab and click Organize in the Organize section. You can also type "organize" or "sort" in the search box at the top. Organize opens on its own full screen: your choices on the left, the plan on the right.

Under Where folders go, pick one:

• In place (the default) creates the new subfolders inside the folder you are tidying. Use it to clean up a folder such as Downloads or a client handoff.
• Another folder puts the new subfolders in a separate folder you choose. Use it to sort files from one place into an archive somewhere else.

123456

1. 1In place
2. 2Folder to organize
3. 3File type
4. 4Make copies instead
5. 5A planned folder
6. 6Sort 12 files in place

02Step 2: Choose the folder or files

With In place, click Choose folder… under Folder to organize and pick the folder. Organize loads every file directly inside it and shows how many there are. Files in its subfolders and hidden files are left out. Click Change to pick another folder.

With Another folder, first add the files under Files to sort: Folder adds the files directly inside a folder, and Files lets you pick single files. You can use both, more than once. Then click Choose… under Destination folder and pick where the new subfolders go.

The rest of the settings appear once Organize has both files and a folder.

03Step 3: Pick how to group the files

Under Group into folders by, pick one card. Each file keeps its own name inside its new folder.

• File type (the default) makes one folder per kind of file, named in lowercase: image, pdf, video, audio, office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint files), archive (zip and similar), vector (SVG), raw (camera RAW photos), ebook, html, and other for everything else.
• Month makes one folder per month, such as 2026-10, from the date each file was last modified.
• Type & month makes month folders inside type folders, such as image/2026-10.
• Just my rules sorts only the files your special cases pick (step 5). Every other file stays where it is.

04Step 4: Choose to move or copy

Under Originals, Organize starts on Move originals: each file is moved into its new folder, and nothing is left behind where it was. To keep your originals, click Make copies instead. The section then reads Make copies, and Organize puts copies in the new folders and leaves the originals where they are. Click Move originals instead to switch back.

Organize remembers your choice until you quit Hangar. The next time you start Hangar, it is back on Move originals, so check this section before every sort.

The choice applies to every file, including the ones your special cases send elsewhere. Copies need as much free space as the originals.

123456

1. 1Another folder
2. 2Destination folder
3. 3Month
4. 4Move originals instead
5. 5A month folder
6. 6Copy 12 files

05Step 5: Add special cases if you need them

Special cases send certain files to a folder of your choice, before the grouping is applied. Click + Add next to Special cases, then fill in the sentence:

1. After When, pick a condition from the menu.
2. Type the value, or pick a date.
3. Choose Put in folder and type a folder name, such as Finance, or choose Skip them to leave those files where they are.

The conditions are:

• name contains: the text appears anywhere in the file name, capital letters or not. "invoice" catches Invoice-2041.pdf and NW-invoice.docx.
• has extension: the file type at the end of the name, such as pdf or mov. Type it with or without the dot. "jpg" does not catch .jpeg files: add a second rule for those.
• modified after and modified before: the date the file was last modified, compared with the start of the day you pick.
• is larger than and is smaller than: the file size in MB.
• name matches (regex): for patterns, if you know regular expressions. Here capital letters must match exactly.

A folder name with a slash, such as Finance/2026, makes a folder inside a folder. Once a rule is complete it shows how many files it catches, for example "2 files match". Until then it is a draft and catches no files.

If a file fits more than one rule, the rule nearest the top wins. New rules are added at the bottom, and rules can't be reordered, so add the most specific one first. Remove a rule with the cross at its top right.

12345

1. 1+ Add
2. 2Condition
3. 3Put in folder
4. 4Files matched
5. 5Finance folder

06Step 6: Check the plan

The right side shows the plan, updated as you change any setting. At the top: the folder, the number of files and the number of folders. Below, each new folder with its files, and a tag that says why they are there, such as by type, by month or the special case that caught them. Folders filled by a special case have an amber frame. Files that stay put are listed under Left in place.

Each folder lists up to 8 files; click +N more to see the rest. Point at a special case, or at Group into folders by, to fade out every folder it did not fill.

The line at the bottom sums it up, for example "12 files → 8 folders" and "0 left in place". If a file would land next to a file with the same name, Organize adds a number such as (2) to it, and the line says how many files get renamed this way.

07Step 7: Sort, then check the result

The button at the top right says what will happen: Sort 12 files in place, Move 12 files or Copy 12 files (the number matches your files). It is grayed out while something is missing, and reads Nothing to sort yet when every file would stay where it is.

When Organize is about to move originals, it first asks you to confirm. The window shows the folder, how many files move and how many folders it creates. Click Move 12 files to go ahead, or Cancel. Copies start right away.

1234

1. 1Files moving
2. 2Folders created
3. 3Undo note
4. 4Move 12 files

While it works, the button reads Working…, then returns to normal. Organize doesn't show a summary when it finishes, so open the folder in Finder or File Explorer to see the result. If a file could not be moved or copied, the others are still sorted. Each sort is also listed on the Runs page.