Color Coding Folders, Subfolders & Files

New to this, and a bit stuck.

What I'm trying to do is this. I have a "sort" folder on my desktop. I have Hazel automatically filing images, pdfs, screenshots, etc. into subfolders. I also have random loose files in there as well as folders w/ more files and folders in them. This at least gets stuff off my desktop and already files the basic categories. It looks something like this.

Desktop/Sort
-- Photos (might have subfolders like jpg, raw, etc)
-- PDFs (might have subfolders)
-- Documents (might have subfolders)
-- Folder 1 (with files and/or more folders)
-- Folder 2 (with files and/or more folders)

I like the pre-packaged rules that came w/ the app: newly added turn blue, no longer new lose the blue, and old, but I want this to apply to the loose files, the top level folders, subfolders, as well as the interior files themselves.

So, If I throw something into the sort folder/subfolder manually or it automatically goes there, the sort folder would be blue for one day, and then red after 2 weeks if nothing else went in there. If something does go in there and I were to look inside the now blue sort folder, I would see where the new file went as the file or folder containing it would also now be blue (but the rest of the files/folders would either have no color or be red). I would like this to apply to nested folders as well, so that if, for example, under PDFs, I have a subfolder called invoices and a new invoice went in there, it'd look like this:

Sort (Blue)
PDFs (Blue)
Invoices (Blue)
Actual Invoice File (Blue)

The next day, the color would disappear for all, unless a new file/folder had a new file in it, which would turn Sort blue again.

What's the most simple way to achieve this?

p.s. I'd like to also add the ability to color an empty folder another color so that when I'm quickly scanning I dont have to look in every folder to see if something's in there...

I'm having a problem following you here. Can you provide a concrete example with a specific filename and type and show how you want it to go through this flow. Please use names instead of "there" and "sort folder" as those are a bit ambiguous here.

Last edited by romebot on Thu Feb 25, 2021 11:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ok, thanks, I'll try to be more clear... What I'm trying to do is create a workflow where I can always see when a new file is in a folder or a subfolder, as when files get moved around, it would be easier to find it. So for example, I have a folder on my desktop called "sort"... that folder has subfolders

Sort/Images/JPGs
Sort/Images/Screenshots
Sort/Images/Videos

Let's say I download a jpg to my desktop and it gets moved to the JPGs folder. I would like to glance at my sort folder on the desktop and see by its blue color that there's something new that got moved there. So I'd open up the sort folder and see that the "JPGs" folder has a color because that folder got the new content, so now I know the new file is in there vs. the other folders. But after a day, I'd like the blue folder colors disappear. But I'd also like to indicate when a folder is empty (or full) so I dont have to hunt in every folder to see if there are files to act on.

The same would go for the other folders. Maybe there's a more elegant way, but trying to envision a system that at a glance I know where my new files went and which folders need acting on, and which are empty.

let me know if I can further clarify or if someone has a better workflow.

thanks in advance!

I think in your example, you mean "JPGs" folder, not "screenshots"? Should the color only affect the folder immediately containing the file or should it travel up the hierarchy, and if so, how far?

You could have a rule match folders that contain a new file. You can do this using a nested condition with a target of "any of its subfiles". Depending on your answers to the above, you may need to limit which subfolders this rule will apply to.

yes, my mistake, I meant jpg folder, the color should travel all the way up/down so that at every level, I can see which folders have something in them and how old they are.I wasn't clear on your explanation, but maybe the new info helps?

Answer is still the same. Did you read the section on nested conditions? Using those, you can have a rule match a folder based on the files within it. So you can have a rule match a folder if any of it subfiles are blue, and then color the folder itself blue.

Ok, thanks. I'll play around with it, but so far wasn't able to get it work properly.