Clean up a messy Downloads folder into sorted groups
Idea + starter prompt, not run by us yet
For: Anyone whose Downloads folder has thousands of loose files
Karen Spinner let Cowork into her Downloads folder of about 2,200 files and asked it to group them by type and summarise each group. It proposed 11 folders, she approved, and it sorted files, suggested subfolders and set aside old installers and duplicates for review. It asked before deleting. About 20 minutes later 2,101 files were filed. Rename ideas were about 70% right, and a commenter's rollback failed.
Steps
- Back up the folder before you start.
- Keep passwords and sensitive files out of the folder you share.
- Ask Cowork to list what is there and propose folders, then approve the plan.
- Have it move doubtful files into a review folder instead of deleting.
- Check renamed files by hand, since about 30% of suggestions were off.
Starter prompt
Look through my [folder name] folder and list the types of files you find, with counts. Propose a set of folders to sort them into and wait for my approval. After I approve, move files into those folders. Put old installers and likely duplicates into a folder called [review folder] instead of deleting them. Do not delete anything. Before renaming any file, show me a list of old and new names.
Original post: Substack · found via agentusecases.ai. Written up in our own words. We haven't run it, so test it on made-up data first.