Photoshop User - USA (2021-01)

 File Management Automation with Lists and Tables | Review by Erik Vlietinck

Hazel 5 for Mac

Hazel 5 is the newest version of Noodlesoft’s file and folder automation tool for the

Mac that organizes files based on rules you create. It is, of course, now compatible

with Big Sur, but there’s a lot more to enjoy in this upgrade. It has become a stand-

alone app with a detachable rule editor so that you can see two or more rules at once.

Two new features are making Hazel even more powerful: custom list and custom

table attributes. With those, Hazel can do things to your files automatically which you

could only dream of before.

The interface improvements are welcome: for example, you can now group rules

together for organization purposes. The detachable rule editor makes creating and

editing rules a whole lot more efficient too.

But the main reason why you’d want to buy (or upgrade) Hazel is because of those

two new custom attributes. It’s insane what you can do with them! For instance,

with a table you can query a file for text in one or more columns and act upon that

complex condition. Or, for example, you can command Hazel to find files that have in

its filename one of a list of terms from the first column, as well as a text snippet that

appears in the second column, and replace that text snippet with text from a third

column. As with the list, the table can be a linked CSV (or tab-delimited) file, or you

can create it right in Hazel’s attributes panel.

Using lists and tables is much more productive than creating many different rules

to achieve the same result. It’s more efficient in terms of processor time and in terms

of avoiding mistakes.

Finally, here’s a boon for people who already use Hazel: You can now preview a

rule, then select another rule within the same folder, and instantly see the results for

that rule, as well. n

Company: Noodlesoft, LLC

Price: $42 (Upgrade $20)

Hot: Branching capability

thanks to tables, lists;

detachable rule editor

Not:

 REVIEWS

KELBYONE.COM