How to search everywhere?

Hello! I am brand new to Hazel, as of about 45 minutes ago. I have never used Hazel and have an overwhelming and \ immediate need is to organize related documents into one folder per client, instead of having these files scattered all over the place. I tried to find a rule to copy here in the Support section but was not successful. I am hoping someone can get me started by telling me what rule I might use to do this, or pointing me in the right direction. My set up is as follows:

Each file is named with the client's name plus info on the document. For example, for client Smith, files would be named:

Smith analysis
Smith cost estimate
Smith invoice 9-3-2012
Smith contact info

Some clients have hundreds of files. And some clients have folders resulting from various efforts to organize related documents, such as folders like:

Smith 10-2012 documents
Smith 11-2012 documents
Smith 12-2012 documents
Smith 1-2013 documents

What I want is a rule that will search everywhere on my hard drive for a file that starts with Smith or a folder that starts with Smith, and for all of that to be dumped into one folder on my desktop (Smith Main Folder). But I want the documents I've already organized into folders (such as Smith 10-2012 documents) to remain inside those folders before the folders are moved to the main folder.

I can further refine the search by year because most projects last only one to four years, so Hazel won;t have to reach back to the 1930s to find what I am looking for.

Can anyone help me? Thank you (more than you will ever know!)

One answer at a time:

(1) Searching the entire hard drive is entirely possible, however NOT RECOMMENDED (huge resource suck). Think about what you're trying to do: you're trying to do a one shot mass re-ogranization with a tool that does live reorganization. Can Hazel do this? Sure, but it isn't the ideal design.

Recommendation: Create sorting rules for a 'drop folder' such as the desktop. Then, you can easily test the rules to see if they work (since you're only monitoring one folder), but you're also allowing yourself to keep these rules for the future. Create a file on your desktop, it'll get properly sorted when you close it. Simple as that.

My organization is like this:

Downloads folder (always empty) -> [move all files to desktop]
Desktop (always empty) -> [All my sorting rules move files to different folders]

If you set up your rules like this, your one shot organization could be an afternoon where you just drag files to the desktop. Then, Hazel would organize in everything for you in the future.

(2) Matching the client name in the filename is very simple - search for 'Custom Matching' on the forum and you'll find how to use it. However, you will run into trouble if you have a client with a name that is more than one word. From your Smith example, the custom token would be:

Code: Select all: (client name •) space (...)

Where space is actually a space character and client name is: (word). I'm sure you can see how this will get complicated if you have a client with a two-word name.

Report back with a few more details about the possible client names and we'll be ready to rock. If you find that you want to change your naming structure, I suggest a mass rename too like Name Mangler.