{"id":12036,"date":"2017-05-13T10:21:09","date_gmt":"2017-05-13T04:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/?p=12036"},"modified":"2017-05-13T10:21:09","modified_gmt":"2017-05-13T04:51:09","slug":"use-hazel-rules-increase-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/use-hazel-rules-increase-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Use Hazel Rules to Increase Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

The basic premise of the personal laptop is to make its person\u2019s existence easier. however, the mundane and repetitive computer responsibilities, along with sorting and shifting documents from the download folder, do exactly the opposite. They sluggish us down and distract us. thankfully, there are programs to assist us automate those responsibilities within the heritage and allow us to recognition on what\u2019s vital. For Mac users, Hazel is the first-rate of that bunch.<\/p>\n[ad type=”banner”]\n

Hazel Rules Aren\u2019t Meant To Be Broken<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Hazel is a Mac system alternatives pane that watches a folder and does distinct units of moves each time positive sets of conditions are met. you can add as many folders, conditions, and moves as you need. Add the ability to run scripts to that and you’ve unlimited possibilities of what you could reap with Hazel.<\/p>\n

To begin using Hazel, you need to create guidelines. Open Hazel in machine alternatives and add a folder to look at the left pane.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Then while selecting that folder, add\u00a0Rules<\/strong>\u00a0on the right pane. Rules are listed in order of importance, the first rule on the list will be run before the second, and so on. So, if you want to run A before B, put A above B on the list. You can drag and drop them to create the order.<\/p>\n

Creating basic rule should be simple enough:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Give the rule a name.<\/li>\n
  2. Set the\u00a0Conditions\u00a0<\/strong>(and\u00a0Nested conditions<\/strong>by holding the\u00a0Option<\/strong>\u00a0key while clicking the\u00a0Plus\u00a0<\/strong>button).<\/li>\n
  3. Set the\u00a0Actions<\/strong>to do when the conditions are met.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"How<\/p>\n

    To create similar rules, you can duplicate another existing rule and modify the content.<\/p>\n

    Diving Deep into SubFolders<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

    One of Hazel\u2019s cool features is its ability to watch subfolders. For example, instead of adding ten folders inside Folder A to Hazel and create similar rules for each of them, you can create master rules for Folder A and ask Hazel to apply these rules to all subfolders inside Folder A.<\/p>\n

    To do that, simply add a rule to watch subfolders at the top of Rules list for Folder A. The steps are:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Create a rule and give it name \u201cWatch Subfolders\u201d or something like that.<\/li>\n
    2. Set the condition to:\u00a0Kind \u2013 is \u2013 Folder<\/strong><\/li>\n
    3. Set the action to:\u00a0Run rules on folder contents<\/strong><\/li>\n
    4. Put that rule at the top.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \"How<\/p>\n[ad type=”banner”]\n

      After that, any rule that you add to Folder A will also be applied to all the folders inside it.<\/p>\n

      Adding Super Power with Spotlight and Scripts<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

      To create more advanced rules, Hazel allows users to integrate Spotlight and scripts to its rules.<\/p>\n

      When you are editing a rule, you can use\u00a0Spotlight attributes in rule\u2019s condition by going to the very bottom of the list and choose\u00a0Other.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \"How<\/p>\n

      The list of\u00a0Spotlight<\/strong>\u00a0attributes will pop up. You can select one of them to be the condition.<\/p>\n

      \"How<\/p>\n

      For example, you can set the condition to be valid if the item uses Verdana\u00a0font.<\/p>\n

      Spotlight support means that you can use anything that can be identified by Spotlight as a condition \u2013 and it covers almost everything.<\/p>\n

      While Spotlight attributes go to the conditions,\u00a0scripts<\/strong>\u00a0supports belong to the actions part. You can use Apple Script, Java Script, Shell Script, and Automator Workflow.<\/p>\n

      Translation:<\/strong> you can ask Hazel to do almost everything that your Mac can do.<\/p>\n

      \"How<\/p>\n

      To add a script, choose one of the script support from the drop down list, and use a ready-made script or compile it directly in Hazel.<\/p>\n

      Sneaking in Several Sample Rules<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

      Using Hazel should be tailored to individual needs. But here are few\u00a0examples of\u00a0personal usage to show you the possibilities. Please refer to this\u00a0Hazel forums<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0for more case studies.<\/p>\n

      1. Managing Desktop and Downloads Folder<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

      Both\u00a0Desktop<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Downloads<\/strong>\u00a0folder are the convenient places to drop everything, and they can be cluttered in no time. You can use Hazel to sort their contents and move the files to appropriate location automatically.<\/p>\n

      For example, you want to move downloaded TED movies files from Downloads folder to TED Talks folder inside the Movies folder. Here are the steps to create the rule:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Add folder Downloads to the list.<\/li>\n
      2. While the Downloads folder is selected, add a rule in the right pane.<\/li>\n
      3. Give the rule a name.<\/li>\n
      4. Under\u00a0Conditions<\/strong>, set\u00a0Kind \u2013\u00a0is \u2013 Movie<\/strong>and\u00a0Source URL\/Address \u2013 is \u2013\u00a0http:\/\/the_root_source_address_of_the_video.com\/<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n
      5. To find out the source address,\u00a0right click<\/strong>on\u00a0one of the videos from Finder and choose\u00a0Get Info<\/strong>\u00a0(or select and use\u00a0Command + I<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \"How<\/p>\n[ad type=”banner”]\n

        Every TED video has different download address but same root source. Don\u2019t use the full address.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Under the\u00a0Actions<\/strong>, set\u00a0Move \u2013 to Folder \u2013 TED Talks<\/strong>. You can set different destination folder if you want to.<\/li>\n
        2. You can also add more actions, such as\u00a0Add Tags<\/strong>and\u00a0Display notification.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          \"How<\/p>\n

          To do similar things to different kinds of files, create other rules. You can duplicate this rule and modify the conditions and actions, or create similar rules for different folders.<\/p>\n

          2. Processing Screenshots<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

          I take a lot of screenshots for my writing. Before using Hazel, I took screenshots, crop\/resize them to the required size, interpret them, optimize them for the web, and move them to a particular folder according to their projects. That is a very time-consuming process.<\/p>\n

          Hazel can\u2019t take over all the steps, but it sure can streamline them. But first, I set a new workflow to support Hazel:<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. I still have to take the screenshots. I use a dedicated app\u00a0to get screenshots\u00a0within the required size limit.<\/li>\n
          2. I also still have to annotate the images with boxes, arrow, and text as needed.<\/li>\n
          3. But now I added an extra step when saving the image. I add a\u00a0tag<\/strong>related to the project. For example, screenshots for project A will be tagged \u201cA\u201d, project B will be tagged \u201cB\u201d, project Wikitechy will be tagged \u201cWikitechy\u201d, etc. I also set a dedicated folder to save all the screenshots.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Now this is where Hazel kicks in. We create two rules for the screenshots folder. The\u00a0first rule<\/strong>\u00a0is to optimize the image:<\/p>\n

            In the\u00a0Conditions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Kind \u2013\u00a0is\u00a0\u2013 image \u2013<\/strong>clear enough<\/li>\n
            2. Tags \u2013\u00a0does not contain \u2013 optimized\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 to make sure that Hazel will process unoptimized image only.<\/li>\n
            3. Date last modified \u2013 is in the last \u2013 1 \u2013 hour<\/strong>\u2013 so that the rule won\u2019t be applied to old screenshots.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              In the\u00a0Actions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

                \n
              1. Open \u2013 with application \u2013 ImageOptim\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 this is the application to optimize image size in the background.<\/li>\n
              2. Add tags \u2013 optimized\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0to tell Hazel that this image has been optimized.<\/li>\n
              3. Display notification \u2013 file, time<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 this is optional.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                \"How<\/p>\n

                The\u00a0second rule<\/strong>\u00a0is to move the optimized images to the right folder. Create as many variations of second rule as you need, each one adjusted to fit a particular project.<\/p>\n

                In the\u00a0Conditions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. Kind \u2013 is \u2013 image<\/strong><\/li>\n
                2. Tags \u2013 contain tags \u2013 optimized,\u00a0Wikitechy<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 to make sure that the rule will only be applied to optimized images belong to Wikitechy project.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  In the\u00a0Actions:<\/strong><\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. Move \u2013 to folder \u2013 Wikitechy Projects<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    \"How<\/p>\n

                    The combination of these two rules will ensure that all the images I save from the screenshot application will be optimized and ready in the project folder without me having to do anything else.<\/p>\n

                    3. Remote-Triggering Downloads<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

                    If you\u2019re working with multiple computers, for example, one at home and one at the office, you can set your office computer to download a file that you find at your home computer.<\/p>\n

                    On your home computer, copy and paste the download link into a text file. Then\u00a0save the document with a unique name (e.g.:\u00a02bdld) in a Dropbox folder (e.g.: List of Downloads).<\/p>\n

                    On the office computer, create a Hazel rule that watches \u201cList of Downloads\u201d folder in Dropbox. Set the rule to open the 2bdld text file, without the\u00a0downloaded<\/strong>\u00a0tag, using a download manager that can accept URL input from a text file. Most download managers can do that.<\/p>\n

                    Add another action in the rule to tag the note: downloaded after the download manager opens it. This action is to make sure that one text file will be opened just once.<\/p>\n

                    \"How<\/p>\n

                    To keep the folder clean, you can create another rule to delete text files older than one day.<\/p>\n

                    4. Filing Bills into Evernote<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

                    Sometimes, living paperless means that you move your clutters from the real world to digital world.\u00a0But you can file your digital bills to Evernote using Hazel and AppleScript.<\/p>\n

                    Create a rule to watch the folder where you keep all your digital bills. Set the conditions to match the type of bills that you want to save. For example, if your cable TV\u2019s bills are PDF documents from XYZ Co., set the conditions to work only for PDF files from XYZ Co.<\/p>\n

                    Then add this script to the Actions pane:<\/p>\n

                    tell application \u201cEvernote\u201d
                    \nactivate
                    \ncreate note from file theFile notebook {\u201cNotebook_Name\u201d} tags {\u201cTag_Name1\u201d, \u201cTag_Name2\u201d, \u201cTag_Name3\u201d, \u201cTag_Name4\u201d}
                    \nend tell<\/code><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

                    Be sure that the Notebook_Name and all the Tag_Names are already created in Evernote.<\/p>\n

                    \"How<\/p>\n[ad type=”banner”]\n

                    You can create as many variations of this rule as you need for other billings or other documents.<\/p>\n

                    5. Saving and Sorting Email Attachments into Mac Folders<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

                    What if your bills come via emails? Can you file sort them into Evernote without lifting a finger? Absolutely, with a little help from Dropbox,\u00a0Gmail, and IFTTT.<\/p>\n

                      \n
                    1. First, create\u00a0a\u00a0filter rule in Gmail<\/strong>so that any billing email from XYZ with attachment(s) will be labeled \u201cBillings\u201d \u00a0(or any other label of your choice.<\/li>\n
                    2. After that,\u00a0create\u00a0a folder in Dropbox<\/strong>called \u201cBillings\u201d (or any other name that you choose). You can use existing Dropbox folder for this purpose.<\/li>\n
                    3. Create\u00a0an IFTTT rule<\/strong>to connect Gmail with Dropbox. Set it to save any email with the label \u201cBillings\u201d to Dropbox \u201cBillings\u201d folder.<\/li>\n
                    4. Apply the tips from number 4 above to this folder.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                      These five examples\u00a0are just the tip of the iceberg\u00a0of what\u00a0you\u00a0can do with Hazel. We hope you can see that your automation horizon is as far as your imagination can go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      How To Use Hazel Rules to Increase Productivity – PC – Hazel is a Mac system alternatives pane that watches a folder and does distinct units of moves<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5739],"tags":[36683,36679,36680,36671,36673,36672,36675,36677,36674,36681,36678,36688,36691,36685,36670,36676,36682,36690,36689,36686,36687,36684],"class_list":["post-12036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pc","tag-asian-torrent","tag-best-cleaner-for-pc","tag-c-drive-cleaner","tag-clean-mac","tag-clean-my-mac","tag-clean-my-mac-torrent","tag-clean-my-pc","tag-clean-pc","tag-clean-up-mac","tag-cleaner-app-for-pc","tag-computer-cleaner","tag-duplicate-movie-download","tag-hassle-free","tag-hazel","tag-how-to-clean-computer","tag-how-to-clean-pc","tag-how-to-clean-your-laptop","tag-how-to-delete-unwanted-files-in-windows-7","tag-sabnzbd","tag-useful-apps","tag-useful-software","tag-witch-hazel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wikitechy.com\/technology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}