Getting Started

Your first run

1. Start Simple Organizer. The last folder you used is selected automatically (the first time: your Downloads folder — also when it was moved to another drive or has a localised name). If the last folder is on a drive that is not connected, it stays selected; the log and Scan tell you that it was not found.
2. Choose a folder with Browse… at the top. If drag-and-drop is available, you can also drop a folder on the path field (see Building from Source).
3. Scan (Ctrl+R). Nothing is moved yet. The Preview tab lists every file that would move and its destination folder.
4. Check the preview — see Working with the Preview below.
5. Organize (Ctrl+O). A confirmation shows how many files and how much data will be moved. Confirm, and the files are moved into category folders inside the scanned folder.

Changed your mind? Undo last (Ctrl+Z) puts every file back where it was — see Undo and History.

Working with the Preview

Action	How
Keep a file where it is	Select it (or several with Ctrl/Shift+click) and press Space or Delete, or right-click → Don't move. The row turns grey; do the same again (Move again) to undo. Organize moves only the other files. The choice is kept for later scans of the folder — automatic runs leave those files alone too, also after a restart — until you pick another folder.
Find files	Type into the search field above the list (Ctrl+F). It matches the file name, category and destination; Esc clears it. Filtering only changes what you see — Organize still moves every file not set to Don't move.
Sort	Click a column heading; click again to reverse.
Export	Export CSV… saves the scan result (status, file, category, source and destination folder, size). It opens directly in Excel or LibreOffice.
Open or copy	Right-click a row to open the source folder (or the destination folder once it exists) or to copy a path.

If you change a scan option (sub-folders, hidden files, sub-categories, limits) or a rule after scanning, the preview is cleared — scan again so Organize never works with an outdated plan.

The window

Area	What it does
Top bar	Folder to organise, Browse…, light/dark theme
Sidebar → Scan	Scan subdirectories, include hidden files, use sub-categories, limits — see Scanning
Sidebar → Staging	Staging mode, Commit, Revert — see Staging Mode
Sidebar → Auto-organize	Run on a schedule — see Auto-Organize
Buttons	Scan, Organize, Undo last, History…
Preview tab	Planned moves of the last scan
Duplicates tab	Byte-identical files — see Duplicates
Log tab	Everything that happened, colour-coded; keeps the newest 5 000 lines
Rules tab	Your own sorting rules — see Rules
Status bar	READY / WORKING, progress, shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+R or F5	Scan
Ctrl+O	Organize
Ctrl+Z	Undo last run (not while typing in a field)
Ctrl+F	Search field of the Preview
Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+4	Preview, Duplicates, Log, Rules tab
Space / Delete	Don't move / move again the selected Preview rows
Ctrl+Q	Quit (waits for a running task)

Shortcuts also work with Caps Lock on. They do nothing while a task is running or a dialog is open.

Good to know

• Nothing is deleted or overwritten. If a file with the same name already exists in the destination, the moved file gets a _1, _2 … suffix.
• One task at a time. While a scan or move is running, all other buttons are disabled.
• Closing during a task waits until the task has finished, so no file is left without an undo record.
• Some files are never moved: system files, shortcuts, Office and LibreOffice lock files and downloads that are still running — see Categories and File Types.