My favorite usage is that I have it watch certain folders and when the files within get stale, it moves them to my network attached storage (a Synology Disk Station). I do use Hazel for scanning documents but that’s actually not its primary purpose for me. My use cases for Hazel Complex NosillaCast Audio File Rule I eventually broke down and watched David Spark’s Hazel guide and I finally “got” it.

Why would I want an app that watched folders? The early examples were for people who were scanning in documents and I wasn’t scanning in documents at the time. When I first heard about Hazel, I didn’t “get” it. Hazel’s mission in life is to watch folders for you and take action on the files within. I’d find it very hard to work without a clipboard manager now, using it several times a day.

And then I got Copy ‘Em and I’ve never looked back. I was in the second camp for a very long time because I simply couldn’t understand why I would ever need to go back to my clipboard history to get something. There is a category of apps that provide a unique functionality and for which the user community is split into two camps: Those who are zealous about the functionality and really “get” why it’s awesome, and those who don’t get why they would ever need the functionality.Ī perfect example of this is clipboard managers.

Hazel app guide