FileSieve now lets you sort files based on a number of methods. The default option sorts all files by the first letter of their filename. A click on Method in the program interface lets you switch to a different sorting method.

The following sorting options are available:

• Attributes: Sort by file attribute, e.g. achive, hidden or read only.
• Biggest: Places the biggest source directory items in the destination directory.
• Consolidate: Moves files from all source directory folders into the destination root folder.
• Date Stamp: Sorts files by their creation time.
• Delimiter: Sorts items into directories based a delimited character within the items.
• Extension: Sort all files based on their extension.
• MP3 Tags: Sort mp3s into directories based on their album tag data.
• Owner: Sorts items into directories based on the file owner.
• Parent Rename:
• Renames the first file of the source directory to match the name of the parent directory.
• Smallest: Places the smallest items of the source directory into the destination directory.
• Standard A-Z: Sorts directories by first character.
• Substring: Sorts items into directories based on substrings.
• Words: Sorts items into directories based on words contained in their names.

Modifiers on the other hand allow you to modify paths, filenames or file extensions.

The program supports a simulation mode which runs a simulation of the process without actually copying or moving any files. It is highly recommended to use this mode to test the output before you start using the copy or move file modes. The program displays the original path and filename next to the new path and filename for each processed file.

You can then go back and change sorting methods and options if you are not satisfied with the result, or switch to the real processing modes if you are.

FileSieve by default processes all files that are stored in the selected source folder or one of its subfolders. You can change those options under step 5 in the program configuration.

Windows users can download the latest version of FileSieve from the developer website. The program crashed several times during tests, but only if very large source folders were selected. The application is compatible with all recent versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.

Extension Indexer is a free program for the Windows operating system that steps in and offers a working solution. The program adds missing functionality to work with files in a complex folder structure under Windows.

The software scans a selected root folder, the root folder’s sub-folders and all files contained within, and displays them listed by their extension in the program window. All file extensions and their count are displayed in the left sidebar.

The matching files are displayed once you click on a extension in the left sidebar. Each file is listed with its relative path, file name, extension and size. The program furthermore displays the total size of all files in the interface.

A double-click on a file opens it in the default file viewer. Sorting options are listed in the program footer. The available sorting options are by path, name or size which can be displayed in ascending or descending order.

Buttons at the top are available to delete or move selected files. Deleting selected files display them in a confirmation window again with options to proceed or cancel the operation. A folder browser is displayed if the move selected option is activated instead.

The remaining button updates all the files and folder listings in the program window. Extension Indexer is a handy program. It could benefit from interface improvements, for instance a folder browser displayed directly in the program window to make moving files more comfortably.

Windows users who would like to try the portable program can download it from the project website over at Sourceforge. The program is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

Extra large, large, medium and small icon view modes, as well as the list, extended tiles and content view modes are not showing the header when they are selected.

Only the details mode is showing headers. Why are headers considered important by some users? Because they can be used to sort files, for instance by name, size or file extension.

If you switch to another mode you will notice that the headers are not available so that files cannot be sorted by clicking on the header bar in Windows Explorer.

It is still possible to sort files with a right-click and the selection of a sort option under Sort by but that is not nearly as comfortable as clicking on one of the header columns in details view.

Vishal over at Ask VG has developed a solution that enables the header bar in all view modes of Windows Explorer.

The small program consists of a bat file and a dll that is registered on the system. This dll enables the header bar in all view modes.

A click on install.bat after download and unpacking runs a small batch file that registers the dll on the system. The program supports both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows 7 and Windows 7 SP1.

You may need to log off and on again or restart your PC before the changes become visible. You can alternatively kill and restart the explorer.exe process for the same effect.

If you do not want the header bar anymore in Windows Explorer, you can run uninstall.bat from the same directory to unregister the dll and revert Windows Explorer to its default state.

Please note that you need to run the batch file with administrative privileges, the dll cannot be registered otherwise. Windows Explorer looks like the following after registration.

You can use the header bar to sort files in Windows Explorer, regardless of the active view mode.

I usually waited until the folder “felt” like it was overcrowding with files before I used the next hour or so to move all the files that I wanted out of the file.

Then I discovered Digital Janitor and it changed a lot, for me. The free program can sort files stored in a root folder based on rules that are defined by the user.

Here is how it works in detail:

It begins with the selection of a root folder. Only files in that folder are included in the organizing and sorting by default. A checkmark into the Sort sub-directories checkbox at the bottom changes this so that subfolders are included in the process as well.

Files can be sorted by a combination of three rules: Extension, Keyword and Size. It is for instance possible to add a rule to move all mp3 files to the mp3 collection folder on another hard drive, files with the word SEO to the Internet Marketing folder or all files larger than 20 Megabytes to the hard drive with the largest amount of free space.

Multiple rules can be combined, and destination directories can be configured for each rule individually.

A click on Sort starts the process. All matching files are processed by the application and either moved or deleted automatically. Deleted? Digital Janitor has a special option to delete files instead of moving them to a new destination. This can be configured by clicking on Delete (Recycle Bin) after the file rules have been added.

Another interesting option is the ability to save rules to load them again at a later time. It speeds up the process of moving and deleting files from select directories. Digital Janitor makes it even more comfortable by offering scheduling and automation options.

The Scheduler basically offers to run saved configurations regularly which would fully automate the process.

Automate on the other hand is a dumped down version of the tool that requires less input. You basically select the folder that you want to sort, the destination folder and one of the available automation options. Available for selection are to group files by name, extension or type with the option to configure types separately. A type consists of one or multiple file extensions. This is for instance helpful to move all music files or documents, regardless of their extension, to a specific directory.

Digital Janitor has one final option. It offers to sort downloaded music by tags. It can sort by artist or album, and rename files to the song title.

While that may not be as sophisticated as Mp3 Folder Structure Maker it certainly can aid the user in moving and organizing music files effortlessly.

Digital Janitor is available at the developer homepage. The program ran fie on a 64-bit Windows 7 test system. It is compatible with all Windows versions from Windows XP to Windows 7, and requires the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0.

FileMess is a free software for Windows that can sort files based on patterns defined by the user. The program scans and processes both the root folder and subfolders.

New rules are configured with a click on the Add button in the program interface. Here it is possible to select the desired action (move, copy or delete), the source and target path on the computer system and the pattern that is used to identify the files.

The above screenshot shows a rule that moves all executable files from the downloads folder to a temp folder. The program scans the selected folder automatically once a new rule has been created and displays the amount of files discovered in the main interface. The selected action is automatically performed on files matching the patterns, a refresh button is available to repeat the process in the future.

The program supports wildcards and substitutions, there is however no help file or tooltip listing all of them.

File Mess is a handy tool for users who need to copy, move or delete files based on their name or type. The application could use a preview window to display the affected files before the action is carried out and instructions on how to create advanced patterns.

The open source application is available for download at the developer website. It is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows, it was tested on a 64-bit edition of Windows 7 Professional.

Manually sorting the files into different folders on the other hand can take quite some time. The free tool DropIt aids the user by automating much of the process.

dropit

The software can be configured to move files to designated directories based on their names and extensions. Folders and their linked file extensions are configured in the DropIt interface. Wildcards are supported as well as multiple file matches that need to be separated with a “;”.

It is for instance possible to configure all document formats to be copied into a documents folder or all media formats into a media folder. Wildcards can be used to specify file names or extensions, *.doc* would for instance move all .doc and .docx files into the folder while a*.mp3 would move all mp3 files beginning with a into that folder.

Two options are available to copy the files into the selected folders. DropIt can be configured to add a shell extension to Windows Explorer. That’s probably the easiest option, any right-click on a folder or files and the selection of Sort with DropIt will start the process.

The second option is to drag and drop folders or files on the program icon that is automatically created during installation.

The tested program version has a small bug. It is not possible to close the configuration window. Both the close button and the window X button are not working properly. Killing the application in the Windows Task Manager is the only option to close it. The changes on the other hand are saved automatically. DropIt works only if the configuration window is closed.

Users who want to give DropIt a chance can download the latest version from Sourceforge. The Open Source software is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system and available as a portable version and setup.

Whatever it is sorting them automatically is probably the wiser choice than performing that task manually. I Like To Move It is a small portable software program for the Windows operating system that can automatically move files and folders to another location. A ini file is used to define the rules. Thankfully it is usually only once necessary to edit the ini files to suit individual needs. Files and folders will be separated by default. All folders are moved with the files they are containing to the location and placed into a main _folders directory. The files on the other hand are moved based on rules defined in the ini of the program.

About 20 different file extensions are already defined in the ini files. It will for instance move multimedia files into appropriate folders. This includes audio files like mp3 or ogg into the audio folder or doc and pdf files into the document folder. Executable files are handled differently as the program recognizes files like ini or cmd files that belong to that executable file. These will also be moved.

It is possible to add additional extensions easily in the ini that can either be placed in one of the existing folders or into a new one. Files will be overwritten by default if they are found in the destination folder. This can also be changed in the ini. The process of moving does not take long and the application can be closed after the process has finished.

Filesort is the freeware that I was looking for. Once downloaded and installed (it is only 100k) you simply pick a folder which files you want to sort and define some sorting rules. Filesort offers three different types of rules: File Name Rules, File Age Rules and File Size Rules. Click on new rule to add a new rule in one of the categories. If you wanted to move all mp3 movies you would add *.mp3 in the second tab of the new rule and enter a directory where those files should be placed instead.

Simple and effective. The same rules can be defined for file ages and file size. This could be nice for p2p incoming folders for instance as well. The only thing that bothers me is that you can’t define more than one rule to work together. For instance I could not move all mp3 files that are older than seven days to the new folder. It is either all mp3 files or all files that are older than seven days.

Maybe this will be added to the tool in the future. You may even schedule Filesort that it sorts files automatically every XX minutes.

Thanks to my reader P5chin for this nice tip.