TidyBox User Manual

Keep your Downloads folder clean! Automatic file organizer for macOS

Table of Contents

1. What is TidyBox?
2. Getting Started
3. Using the Dashboard
4. Using the Menu Bar
5. Creating Rules
6. Using Presets
7. Cleaning Files
8. Undo
9. Activity Log
10. Auto-Clean Settings
11. Using Quarantine
12. Settings
13. Pricing Plans

1. What is TidyBox?

TidyBox is an app that automatically organizes files in your Downloads folder or Desktop according to your rules.

Who is this for?

• People whose Downloads folder is always messy
• People who don’t want to spend time organizing files
• People who want to manage files systematically

Basic Workflow

1. Select folders to organize (e.g., Downloads)
2. Set up rules (e.g., Move PDFs to Documents folder)
3. Click the Clean button
4. Done! Files are automatically organized

2. Getting Started

When you first launch the app, the setup wizard starts automatically.

Step 1: Welcome Screen

Click the Get Started button to begin.

Step 2: Select Folders to Organize

• Downloads — Downloads folder (selected by default)
• Desktop — Desktop
• Add Custom Folder… — Choose your own folder

You can select multiple folders at once. Click Scan Folders to proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Select Presets

Choose from pre-made rule collections:

• General — For general users (images, documents, videos, etc.)
• Developer — For developers (code, config files, etc.)
• Designer — For designers (PSD, Sketch, etc.)

You can skip this step by clicking Skip. If you select presets, click Apply & Continue to proceed. You can always change these later in Settings.

Step 4: Scan Results

Shows the current file status in your selected folders. Click Continue to proceed to the next step.

You can click Back to return to the previous step at any time.

Step 5: Choose Your Plan

• Start 14-Day Free Trial — Try all features for free
• Continue with Free Plan — Use basic features only

3. Using the Dashboard

The Dashboard is the main screen of TidyBox.

Opening the Dashboard

• Click the menu bar icon → Select Open TidyBox
• Or use shortcut ⌘O

Screen Layout

File Preview

Click the eye icon next to a file to preview its contents.

Warning Icons Guide

4. Using the Menu Bar

TidyBox is always visible in the menu bar.

Menu Items

5. Creating Rules

Rules define “which files go where.”

Adding a Rule

1. Settings → Rules tab
2. Click the + button
3. Enter rule name
4. Set conditions (e.g., extension is pdf)
5. Choose action (e.g., move to Documents folder)
6. Click Save

Available Conditions

Basic Conditions (Free)

Advanced Conditions (Pro)

Available Actions

Rule Order

• Rules at the top are applied first
• Drag to reorder rules

6. Using Presets

Presets are pre-made collections of rules.

General Preset

Basic rules for general users:

• Installers (dmg, pkg) → Installers folder
• Archives (zip, rar) → Archives folder
• Images → Images/Year-Month folder
• Documents (pdf, docx) → Documents folder
• Videos/Music → Media/Year-Month folder
• Screenshots → Screenshots/Year-Month folder
• Large files (500MB+) → Large Files folder

Developer Preset

Rules for developers:

• Code files → Dev/Code folder
• Config files (json, yaml) → Dev/Config folder
• Log files → Dev/Logs/Year-Month folder
• Database files → Dev/Database folder
• Shell scripts → Dev/Scripts folder

Designer Preset

Rules for designers:

• Design sources (psd, sketch, fig) → Design/Sources folder
• Exports (png, svg) → Design/Exports/Year-Month folder
• Font files → Design/Fonts folder
• 3D/Motion files → Design/3D & Motion/Year-Month folder

Applying Presets

1. Settings → Rules tab
2. Click Load Preset button
3. Select desired preset
4. Rules are automatically added

Existing rules are kept; only new rules are added.

7. Cleaning Files

Running a Clean

1. Review the file list in the Dashboard
2. Click Clean Now button
3. Select Clean in the confirmation dialog

Or from the Menu Bar

• Click menu bar icon → Clean Now (⌘K)

Clean Results

When cleaning is complete:

• System notification with results
• Detailed results available in Dashboard

File Conflicts

If a file with the same name exists, a number is automatically added:

report.pdf → report (1).pdf → report (2).pdf

8. Undo

You can undo if you accidentally organized files incorrectly.

Undo Methods

• Dashboard → Undo button
• Menu Bar → Undo Last Action (⌘Z)
• Activity Log → Undo individual files

Undo Period

When Undo is Not Possible

• File has been deleted or moved
• File contents have changed
• Undo period has expired

9. Activity Log

View all cleaning history.

Opening Activity Log

• Menu Bar → Activity Log… (⌘L)
• Dashboard → Activity History button

Information Available

Each cleaning record shows:

• Date and time of cleaning
• Number of files moved
• Number of failed files
• How it was triggered (manual/auto/scheduled)

Individual File Undo

Expand a record to see undo buttons for each file.

CSV Export (Pro)

Save activity log as CSV file:

• Today / Last 7 days / Last 30 days / All time

10. Auto-Clean Settings

Pro version allows automatic file cleaning.

Scheduled Cleaning

Automatically cleans at set intervals.

How to set up:

1. Settings → General tab
2. Enable Scheduled Cleaning
3. Select interval (15min / 30min / 1hr / 2hr / 4hr / Daily)

Quiet Hours

Stop auto-cleaning during specific times.

How to set up:

1. Enable Quiet Hours
2. Set start/end times (e.g., 22:00 ~ 08:00)

Battery Options

• Skip on Battery — Only auto-clean when charging
• Skip on Low Battery — Skip when below 20%

File Watcher

Automatically cleans when new files are created.

How to set up:

1. Settings → General tab
2. Enable File Watcher

New downloads are automatically cleaned after 2 seconds.

Clean on Startup

Automatically runs cleaning when the app starts.

How to set up:

1. Settings → General tab
2. Enable Run on Startup

11. Using Quarantine

Quarantine temporarily holds files instead of deleting them immediately.

Creating Quarantine Rules

1. In rule edit, select Move to Quarantine as action
2. Set retention period (7 days / 30 days / 90 days)
3. Choose expiration action:
   • Move to Trash — Safe deletion
   • Permanent Delete — Complete deletion (not recoverable)
   • Keep Forever — Keep without deleting

Managing Quarantined Files

1. Settings → General tab
2. Click Manage Files… in Quarantine section

What You Can Do

• Search — Find by filename
• Restore — Return to original location
• Check remaining days — Green (plenty), Orange (expiring soon), Red (expiring)

Empty Quarantine

To delete all quarantined files:

1. Settings → General tab
2. Click Empty Quarantine…

This action cannot be undone.

12. Settings

General

Folders

Add or remove folders to organize.

• + button to add folder
• - button to remove folder

Rules

Create and manage rules.

• Add/edit/delete rules
• Load presets
• Set exclude patterns

Account

View current plan and manage purchases.

13. Pricing Plans

Free Plan

• Maximum 2 rules
• Basic conditions only
• 24-hour undo

Pro Plan ($9.99, one-time purchase)

• Unlimited rules
• All conditions available
• 30-day undo
• Scheduled cleaning
• File watcher
• Quarantine feature
• CSV export
• Launch at login

14-Day Free Trial

• Start without credit card
• Full Pro features for 14 days
• Automatically converts to Free plan after expiration

How to Purchase

1. Settings → Account tab
2. Click Upgrade to Pro
3. Complete purchase in App Store

Restore Purchases

If you already purchased on another Mac:

1. Settings → Account tab
2. Click Restore Purchases

FAQ

Q: Files are not being organized

• Check if the rule is enabled
• Check if the file matches the rule conditions
• If you see the 🔒 icon, it’s a permission issue

Q: Undo is not working

• Check if the undo period has passed (Free: 24 hours, Pro: 30 days)
• Check if the file has been moved or deleted

Q: It says folder access permission is required

Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access and allow TidyBox.

Q: Auto-cleaning is not working

• Check if you have Pro or Trial status
• Check if it’s during Quiet Hours
• Check battery option settings

Keyboard Shortcuts

Start your clean Mac life with TidyBox!