SortMeOut Documentation

Welcome to SortMeOut — the intelligent file automation tool for macOS. This documentation will guide you through everything from installation to advanced rule configuration.

Installation

Download & Install

1. Download SortMeOut
   Visit sortmeout.saidborna.com and download the latest DMG file.
2. Open the DMG
   Double-click the downloaded SortMeOut.dmg file.
3. Drag to Applications
   Drag the SortMeOut icon to your Applications folder.
4. Launch SortMeOut
   Open SortMeOut from your Applications folder or Spotlight.
5. Grant Permissions
   Follow the prompts to grant necessary system permissions.

Required Permissions

SortMeOut requires specific permissions to monitor and organize your files:

Granting Permissions

1. Open System Settings (or System Preferences on older macOS)
2. Navigate to Privacy & Security
3. Select the permission category (e.g., Full Disk Access)
4. Click the lock icon and authenticate
5. Enable the toggle for SortMeOut

Quick Start Guide

Get your first rule running in under 2 minutes:

1. Add a Watched Folder
   Click the menu bar icon → Preferences → Folders → + button.
   Select your Downloads folder.
2. Create Your First Rule
   Go to Rules tab → Click + to create a new rule.
   Name it "Organize PDFs".
3. Add a Condition
   Click "Add Condition" → Select "Extension" → "equals" → type "pdf"
4. Add an Action
   Click "Add Action" → Select "Move to" → Choose ~/Documents/PDFs
5. Activate
   Save the rule and toggle it to enabled. Done!

AI Assistant

SortMeOut includes an intelligent AI assistant powered by Anthropic's Claude to help you organize files more efficiently.

What Can the AI Do?

• Smart Suggestions: Get personalized file organization recommendations based on your folder contents
• Natural Language Rules: Describe what you want in plain English, and the AI creates the rule for you
• File Analysis: Ask questions about your files like "What are the largest files in Downloads?"
• Email Management: Read, search, compose, and send emails directly through chat
• Calendar Access: View and create calendar events from natural language
• Contact Lookup: Search and browse your contacts
• Presentation Builder: Create PowerPoint presentations from a single prompt
• System Control: Adjust volume, brightness, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Dark Mode, and 30+ system functions
• Spotlight Search: Search files across your Mac using Spotlight integration
• Notes & Reminders: Create Apple Notes and Reminders from chat
• Cleanup Recommendations: Identify duplicates, old files, and suggest cleanup actions

How to Use

1. Click the menu bar icon and select AI Assistant
2. Type your question or request in natural language
3. Review the AI's suggestions
4. Click to apply recommended actions or create suggested rules

AI Usage & Limits

AI requests are subject to daily limits based on your subscription plan.

You can check your remaining AI requests by clicking the AI Assistant menu item—the remaining count is shown in the chat window.

Image Studio

SortMeOut includes a built-in Image Studio powered by OpenAI's DALL·E 3 for generating images from text prompts, plus a full suite of image editing tools.

Image Generation

• Text-to-Image: Describe what you want and DALL·E 3 creates it
• Multiple Sizes: Square (1024×1024), Landscape (1792×1024), Portrait (1024×1792)
• Quality Options: Standard and HD quality modes
• Gallery: All generated images are saved locally with full browsing history

Image Editing Tools

• Resize & Crop: Adjust dimensions with custom or preset sizes
• Filters: Blur, sharpen, grayscale, sepia, edge detection, emboss, and more
• Watermark: Add text or image watermarks
• Format Conversion: Convert between PNG, JPEG, WebP, BMP, TIFF
• Batch Processing: Apply edits to multiple images at once

Image Generation Limits

How to Use

1. Click the menu bar icon and select Image Studio
2. Enter a text description of the image you want
3. Choose size and quality settings
4. Click Generate — your image appears in seconds
5. Use the editing tools to adjust, or save directly

Plans & Pricing

SortMeOut offers a generous trial and an affordable Pro subscription.

After Trial Expires

When your 7-day trial ends:

• Automation continues: Your rules and file watching keep working
• AI becomes limited: AI Assistant features require Pro subscription

License Activation

Activating Pro

1. Click the menu bar icon → Upgrade to Pro
2. Complete the purchase on our secure checkout
3. Enter the license key you receive via email
4. Click Activate—your Pro features unlock instantly

Managing Your License

• View status: Menu bar → About shows your current plan
• Cancel subscription: Manage through your payment provider account
• Transfer license: Contact support to move your license to a new Mac

Watched Folders

Watched folders are directories that SortMeOut monitors for new or changed files.

How Monitoring Works

• SortMeOut uses macOS FSEvents for efficient, low-overhead monitoring
• New files trigger rule evaluation within seconds
• Subfolders are optionally included based on your settings
• Multiple folders can be watched simultaneously

Recommended Folders to Watch

Understanding Rules

Rules are the heart of SortMeOut. Each rule defines when to act (conditions) and what to do (actions).

Rule: "Organize PDFs"
├── Conditions (IF)
│   └── Extension equals "pdf"
│   └── Size greater than "1MB"
│
├── Actions (THEN)
│   └── Move to ~/Documents/PDFs/
│   └── Add tag "Archived"
│
└── Options
    └── Continue processing: No
    └── Priority: 10

Rule Evaluation

• Rules are evaluated in priority order (lower number = higher priority)
• By default, processing stops after the first matching rule
• Enable "Continue processing" to allow multiple rules to match

Match Modes

Condition Reference

Complete list of available conditions for matching files.

File Name Conditions

Size Conditions

Supported units: B, KB, MB, GB, TB

Date Conditions

macOS Specific

Action Reference

Complete list of available actions to perform on matching files.

File Operations

macOS Actions

Script Actions

Variables & Patterns

Use variables in rename patterns and destinations to create dynamic paths.

Available Variables

Pattern Examples

# Rename with date prefix
{date} - {name}.{ext}
→ 2026-02-04 - document.pdf

# Organize by year/month
~/Documents/{year}/{month}/{name}.{ext}
→ ~/Documents/2026/02/document.pdf

# Add counter for duplicates
{name}_{counter}.{ext}
→ document_001.pdf

Keyboard Shortcuts

Configuration

SortMeOut stores configuration in ~/.config/sortmeout/

Configuration Files

Settings Reference

{
  "start_at_login": true,
  "check_interval": 5,
  "show_notifications": true,
  "preview_mode": false,
  "log_level": "info",
  "theme": "system"
}

Command Line Interface

SortMeOut includes a CLI for advanced users and scripting.

Basic Commands

# Start the daemon
sortmeout start

# Stop the daemon
sortmeout stop

# Check status
sortmeout status

# Run rules once on a folder
sortmeout run ~/Downloads

# List all rules
sortmeout rules list

# Enable/disable a rule
sortmeout rules enable "Rule Name"
sortmeout rules disable "Rule Name"

# Process a specific file
sortmeout process /path/to/file.pdf

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Getting Logs

For debugging, check the log file:

# View recent logs
tail -f ~/.config/sortmeout/sortmeout.log

# Or open in Console.app
open -a Console ~/.config/sortmeout/sortmeout.log

Rule Examples

Ready-to-use rule templates for common scenarios.

Folder: ~/Downloads
Conditions: Extension is in [pdf, doc, docx, txt]
Actions: Move to ~/Documents/{ext}/

Folder: ~/Pictures
Conditions: Kind is "Image"
Actions: Move to ~/Pictures/{year}/{month}/

Folder: ~/Downloads
Conditions: Date added more than 30 days ago
Actions: Move to Trash

Folder: ~/Desktop
Conditions:
  - Name starts with "Screenshot"
  - Extension is "png"
Actions:
  - Move to ~/Pictures/Screenshots/
  - Rename to "{created} - Screenshot.png"

Folder: ~/Downloads
Conditions: Downloaded from "company.sharepoint.com"
Actions:
  - Move to ~/Documents/Work/
  - Add tag "Work"

Frequently Asked Questions

Support

Need help? We're here for you.

SortMeOut v1.0.1 • © 2026 Said Borna. All rights reserved.
This documentation is proprietary. Unauthorized distribution is prohibited.