# Organize Your Downloads Folder on Mac, Windows and Linux

> Organize a folder sorts Downloads, the Desktop or any folder into tidy subfolders: by kind, by year and month, or photos by the town where they were taken. You see every folder and every file in the plan before anything moves, nothing is deleted, and one Undo puts it all back.

Canonical: https://bytesweep.app/organize-folder.html
Last updated: 2026-10-28

Organize a folder

## Tidy a messy folder, and see the plan before anything moves

Downloads fills up with installers, PDFs, photos and things you meant to sort later. Organize a folder sorts it for you, but only after it has shown you exactly where every file would go.

[Try it free for 3 days](https://bytesweep.app/download.html) [Buy · $29.99](https://bytesweep.app/pricing.html)

**Mac, Windows and Linux.** Free to try for 3 days. One licence, $29.99 once per computer, unlocks every tool. No subscription, no account.

Updated 28 October 2026

### Choose a folder and a way to sort it

Pick Downloads, the Desktop, Documents, or choose any other folder. Then choose how it should be sorted. ByteSweep shows the plan straight away: every folder it would make and every file that would go into it, with sizes.

Folders that are already there are used rather than made twice, and a file whose name is already taken in its new folder gets a number, such as “report (2).pdf”. Nothing is ever overwritten and nothing is deleted.

- By kind: Pictures, Documents, Videos, Music, Archives, Installers, Code and Other
- By date: one folder per year, then per month
- Kind, then date: Pictures › 2026 › October
- By place: photos in one folder per trip, everything else by kind

### Change the plan before it runs

Untick any file, or a whole folder, to leave it where it is. Click a new folder’s name to call it something else. Only files lying loose in the folder move; the folders already inside it stay as they are, unless you switch on “Also sort files inside folders”.

App bundles and project folders are never opened: a folder with a .git folder, a package.json or an Xcode project inside stays exactly as it is, and so does the Photos library.

### Busy files stay where they are

A file that is open in an app, still downloading or changed a moment ago is left out of the plan. Just before each file moves, ByteSweep checks it once more: still there, the same size and date, not open anywhere. Anything that fails that check stays put and is listed afterwards, never forced.

### Photos by the place they were taken

With By place, pictures go into one folder per trip, named after the town and the month, such as “Lisbon, October 2026”. Everything without a location is sorted by kind as usual.

The location is read from the photo itself, and the town comes from a list of more than 30,000 places that ships with ByteSweep, so nothing about your photos goes over the internet. A big city nearby names the place rather than a suburb. On a Mac, videos are placed too. Place names come from GeoNames, under the CC BY 4.0 licence.

### Keep it organized

Once a folder has been organized by hand, switch on “Keep it organized”. Each time the automatic check you turn on in Settings runs, new files are filed the same way, into the same folders, including the ones you renamed. You get one notification, with Undo.

### One Undo puts it all back

Every organize, by hand or automatic, is one entry in Undo & history. Undo moves every file back to where it was and removes the folders ByteSweep made, once they are empty. Undo always works, with or without a licence.

### On each computer

|  | Mac | Windows and Linux |
| --- | --- | --- |
| See the plan, untick and rename | Yes | Yes |
| By kind, by date, kind then date | Yes | Yes |
| Photos by place | Photos and videos | Photos |
| Keep a folder organized | Yes | Yes |
| Undo | Always | Always |

### Questions

#### Does it delete anything?

No. Organize a folder only moves files into subfolders of the same folder. Nothing is deleted, nothing is overwritten, and Undo puts every file back.

#### What happens if two files have the same name?

The one that moves gets a number, such as “invoice (2).pdf”. The file that was there first is never replaced.

#### Will it break my apps or projects?

No. App bundles and folders that belong to a software project, such as ones with a .git folder, a package.json or an Xcode project inside, are never opened, and on a Mac the Photos library is left to Photos.

#### Do my photos leave my computer for By place?

No. The location is read from each photo on your computer and looked up in a list of places that comes with ByteSweep. Nothing is sent anywhere.

#### Is it free?

Looking at a folder and seeing the plan is free. Organizing comes with the ByteSweep licence, or during the 3-day free trial. Undo always works, with or without a licence.

#### How is this different from the Downloads page?

The Downloads page is for clearing: old installers, duplicates and leftovers, with rules that can also file Downloads by kind. Organize a folder works on any folder, shows the whole plan first, sorts by date or by place as well, and never removes anything.

### See it on your own computer.

Download Bytesweep and look at everything free for 3 days. A licence unlocks organize a folder and every other tool below.

[Download free](https://bytesweep.app/download.html) [Buy a licence · $29.99](https://bytesweep.app/pricing.html)

### The same licence also gets you

Organize a folder is one of 23 tools in Bytesweep. One $29.99 licence covers all of them, once, with no subscription. That is about 48 separate apps you do not need to buy, update or trust with your files.

[See every feature](https://bytesweep.app/features.html)

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