Automate with rules

Let rules sort your files for you: start from a template or build a rule with a trigger, conditions and actions, then run, pause or edit it.

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A rule does a chore for you each time a file arrives: move PDFs into a folder, tag invoices, warn you about a large file. Each rule has three parts:

  • a trigger: when the rule starts;
  • conditions: which files it applies to;
  • actions: what it does to them.

Click Automation in the sidebar to see and create your rules.

Start from a template

  1. Click Templates at the top right (or Use a template while you have no rule).
  2. Click the template that fits, for example Tag invoices or Organize PDFs.
  3. Check each tab of the rule, and choose the folders it needs.
  4. Click Create rule.

A template only fills in a new rule for you. Nothing runs until you save it.

Build a rule yourself

Click New rule. The window has four tabs: General, Conditions, Actions and Advanced.

General

Give the rule a Rule name, and a Description if you like. Choose the Trigger, and leave Rule enabled on.

The triggers that start a rule on their own are:

  • File creation: a new file arrives in a folder, for example when you import it;
  • Imported from the computer: a file brought in by a watched folder.

With Manual execution, the rule only runs when you ask for it (see below).

Conditions

Conditions choose the files. Pick the Conditions logic: All conditions (AND) or At least one condition (OR). Then click Add a condition and fill in the three boxes: what to look at, how to compare, and the value.

You can look at the File name, the Extension, the File type, the Size, the Creation date, the Modification date, the Folder, the Original path on the computer or a Tag. Help on condition types explains each one. Two things to know:

  • sizes are in bytes (1 MB = 1048576);
  • dates are counted in days, with negative numbers for the past: -30 means 30 days ago.

A rule without conditions applies to every file that meets its trigger.

Actions

Click Add an action and choose what the rule does. When a rule has several actions, drag them to change their order.

  • Move to and Copy to send the file to a folder you pick;
  • Add a tag and Remove a tag change its tags;
  • Send a notification shows a message of your choice.

Advanced

  • Priority: rules with a lower number run first.
  • Stop after match: once this rule applies to a file, the next rules leave that file alone.
  • Test rule checks that the rule is complete: a name, a trigger, at least one action, a target folder for each move or copy, valid conditions.

Click Create rule. The rule appears in the list, marked Active, with its trigger and its number of conditions, actions and runs.

Run, pause or change a rule

  • The switch on a rule pauses it or turns it back on.
  • Right-click a rule for Execute, Edit, Duplicate or Delete.

Execute runs the rule now on all your files, whatever its trigger, then shows the files it matched. Check your conditions first: a Move to action moves every matching file.

The History tab lists what your rules did. Clear history empties it.

If the target folder of a rule disappears, Filarr turns the rule off and tells you. Open the rule and pick another folder in the Actions tab.

Limits