I am biting the bullet and moving my document storage away from Evernote to a system folder structure. My plan is to start setup the system with all new files and overtime move the archive from Evernote.
I bought the latest paperless field guild which was great, but I’m still looking for some guidance on using Hazel which looks very powerful.
My initial workflow plan looking something like this:
- Files collect in the inbox for me to action on (e.g., read the document, pay the bill, etc.)
- Move into the action folder which Hazel monitors
- Hazel renames the file and files in the correct place.
Seems simple enough, but I am stuck on the logic/best practices for step #3. Starting from scratch I figured I would build the rules over time as unknown files came into the workflow.
What is the best way to set this up?
a) should the first rule try to rename/add the date format to all files that come in (assuming it can match) and then let subsequent rules find the dates that fail the first match? I think this would mean the subsequent rules would only look for another identifier and add any other remaining conventions and move (e.g., AMEX -> Finance/[year]). Or should each rule rename (both date and any other convention) and then move?
b) For one-off files that don’t warrant building a rule to move, how do you effectively move (would this be something like Alfred or something else) and add at least a consistent date convention to the file name?
c) Through some other automation (which I dont control the detail of) I have a number of files that get automatically delivered into dropbox folders (e.g., File/[Account 1], File/[Account 2], etc.). It’s great that I already have a folder structure around this by account, but what I want to accomplish is 1) moving from dropbox to my inbox so I can easily review and then 2) once I move into the action folder have it auto filed into the right folder in the my new file structure (which is not in dropbox).
Presumably for #1 Hazel can look into sub folders and move all files so I dont have to setup a rule for each account folder? In this case, should I have hazel rename files on the initial move or once I’ve added into the action folder? Obviously I could do it either way, but would one be easier than then other?