File Organizer

File Organizer (Claude Code - PARA Method)

Organizes files using the PARA methodology with bash commands. Intelligent categorization and audit trails.

What is PARA?

Workflow

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Phase 1: Discovery     → ls, find, file commands to scan and assess
Phase 2: Analysis      → Read file contents for poor names (use Read tool for PDFs)
Phase 3: Triage        → Create categorization table, flag sensitive/scam files
Phase 4: Preparation   → mkdir -p to create PARA structure, get approval
Phase 5: Execution     → mv commands with logging
Phase 6: Cleanup       → Remove empty folders, delete temp files
Phase 7: Completion    → Generate summary, verify PARA folder roots are clean

0-Review Staging Workflow

For large batches of poorly-named files, use a staging folder:

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# Create staging folder for files needing content analysis
mkdir -p ~/Downloads/0-Review

# Move cryptic/poorly-named files to review
mv ~/Downloads/U0BPA6*.pdf ~/Downloads/0-Review/
mv ~/Downloads/[0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9].pdf ~/Downloads/0-Review/

# Analyze each file, then move to proper PARA location
# Remove staging folder when empty
rmdir ~/Downloads/0-Review

Quick Start

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# 1. Create PARA folder structure
mkdir -p ~/Downloads/{0-Inbox/_REVIEW,1-Projects/{Work,Personal},2-Areas/{Finance,Health,Legal,Career},3-Resources/{Media/{Images,Videos,Audio,Screenshots},Tools/{Installers,Utilities},Learning/{Articles,Books,Courses}},4-Archive/{Completed-Projects,Past-Years},_ORG}

# 2. Scan target directory
find ~/Downloads -maxdepth 1 -type f | wc -l
ls -la ~/Downloads | head -50

# 3. Move files (log each operation)
mv "~/Downloads/file.pdf" "~/Downloads/2-Areas/Finance/"

PARA Folder Structure

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# One-liner to create full PARA structure
mkdir -p ~/Downloads/{0-Inbox/_REVIEW,1-Projects/{Work,Personal},2-Areas/{Finance,Health,Legal,Career,Home},3-Resources/{Media/{Images,Videos,Audio,Screenshots},Tools/{Installers,Utilities},Learning/{Articles,Books,Courses},Templates},4-Archive/{Completed-Projects,Past-Areas,Old-Resources},_ORG}

Visual structure:

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Target-Directory/
├── 0-Inbox/                    # New files land here first
│   └── _REVIEW/
├── 1-Projects/                 # Active work with deadlines
│   ├── Work/
│   └── Personal/
├── 2-Areas/                    # Ongoing responsibilities
│   ├── Finance/
│   ├── Health/
│   ├── Legal/
│   └── Career/
├── 3-Resources/                # Reference materials
│   ├── Media/
│   ├── Tools/
│   └── Learning/
├── 4-Archive/                  # Inactive items
│   └── Completed-Projects/
└── _ORG/                       # Tracking files

Inbox Review Workflow

Daily Review (5 min)

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# List inbox contents
ls -la ~/Downloads/0-Inbox/

# For each file, determine PARA destination:
# Actionable with deadline? → 1-Projects
# Ongoing responsibility?   → 2-Areas
# Reference material?       → 3-Resources
# Completed/inactive?       → 4-Archive

Weekly Review (15 min)

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# 1. Check for remaining inbox items
ls ~/Downloads/0-Inbox/

# 2. Find completed projects (no recent modifications)
find ~/Downloads/1-Projects -maxdepth 2 -type d -mtime +30

# 3. Archive completed projects
mv ~/Downloads/1-Projects/old-project ~/Downloads/4-Archive/Completed-Projects/

File Naming Convention

Format: [DATE]_[CODE]_[description].[ext]

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# Examples
mv "Document.pdf" "2025-01_FIN_tax-statement.pdf"
mv "IMG_1234.jpg" "2025-01_REF_vacation-photo.jpg"
mv "Screenshot 2025-01-13.png" "2025-01-13_PROJ_meeting-notes.png"

PARA Category Codes

Content Analysis (Bash)

For poorly-named files, extract content to determine proper naming:

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# PDFs - extract text
pdftotext "Document.pdf" - | head -50

# If pdftotext unavailable, try:
strings "Document.pdf" | head -100

# Images - check EXIF data
file "IMG_1234.jpg"
exiftool "IMG_1234.jpg" 2>/dev/null | grep -E "Date|Title|Description"

# Office docs - unzip and read
unzip -p "document.docx" word/document.xml | head -100

Files to Analyze

Trigger content analysis for:

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# Generic names
ls ~/Downloads | grep -iE "^(document|untitled|copy of|new )"

# Camera defaults
ls ~/Downloads | grep -iE "^(IMG_|DSC_|DCIM|scan[0-9])"

# Screenshots
ls ~/Downloads | grep -iE "^(screenshot|screen shot|capture)"

# Numbered duplicates
ls ~/Downloads | grep -E "\([0-9]+\)\."

# Random alphanumeric strings (auto-generated filenames)
ls ~/Downloads | grep -iE "^[A-Z0-9]{16,}\.[a-z]+$"

# Numeric-only filenames (e.g., 65440.pdf)
ls ~/Downloads | grep -E "^[0-9]+\.[a-z]+$"

# Scan prefixes with timestamps
ls ~/Downloads | grep -iE "^scan_.*[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}"

# Gmail exports
ls ~/Downloads | grep -iE "^Gmail.*\.pdf$"

Auto-Categorization by Type

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# Move images to Resources/Media
find ~/Downloads/0-Inbox -maxdepth 1 \( -name "*.jpg" -o -name "*.png" -o -name "*.gif" \) -exec mv {} ~/Downloads/3-Resources/Media/Images/ \;

# Move installers to Resources/Tools
find ~/Downloads/0-Inbox -maxdepth 1 \( -name "*.dmg" -o -name "*.exe" -o -name "*.pkg" \) -exec mv {} ~/Downloads/3-Resources/Tools/Installers/ \;

# Move PDFs with financial keywords to Areas/Finance
for f in ~/Downloads/0-Inbox/*.pdf; do
  if pdftotext "$f" - 2>/dev/null | grep -qiE "invoice|receipt|statement|tax"; then
    mv "$f" ~/Downloads/2-Areas/Finance/
  fi
done

Logging Template

Create _ORG/_LOG.md:

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cat > ~/Downloads/_ORG/_LOG.md << 'EOF'
# Organization Log (PARA Method)
**Started**: $(date '+%Y-%m-%d %H:%M')

## Operations
| Time | Action | File | From | To (PARA) |
|------|--------|------|------|-----------|
EOF

# Log each move
echo "| $(date '+%H:%M') | MOVE | file.pdf | 0-Inbox | 2-Areas/Finance/ |" >> ~/Downloads/_ORG/_LOG.md

Safety Rules

1. Never delete - only move to 0-Inbox/_REVIEW if uncertain
2. Log everything - append to _LOG.md before each mv
3. Approval checkpoints - pause and confirm before bulk moves
4. Preserve dates - use mv (not cp+rm) to keep timestamps
5. Sensitive files - flag anything in 2-Areas/{Finance,Health,Legal}

Security & Scam Detection

Flag and quarantine potential scam/phishing files:

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# Common scam patterns in PDFs (fake invoices, tech support scams)
# Keywords to search: "Norton", "McAfee", "Microsoft Support",
# "Your account", "Payment required", "Call immediately"

# Check PDF content for scam indicators
for f in ~/Downloads/*.pdf; do
  if pdftotext "$f" - 2>/dev/null | grep -qiE "norton|mcafee|geek squad|call.*1-[0-9]{3}"; then
    echo "⚠️  POTENTIAL SCAM: $f"
    mv "$f" ~/Downloads/0-Inbox/_REVIEW/
  fi
done

Scam indicators:

• Random alphanumeric filename (e.g., U0BPA6IUWL6FUQRUHYCZ.pdf)
• Fake invoice from security software companies
• "Call this number" with toll-free numbers
• Urgent payment demands

Action: Move to _REVIEW folder, flag for user, recommend DELETE

Sensitive Document Handling

Flag and secure sensitive documents:

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# Tax documents (W-2, 1099, tax returns)
ls ~/Downloads | grep -iE "(w-2|w2|1099|tax.*(return|form))"

# Documents with SSN patterns
grep -l "[0-9]\{3\}-[0-9]\{2\}-[0-9]\{4\}" ~/Downloads/*.pdf 2>/dev/null

# Financial statements
ls ~/Downloads | grep -iE "(statement|account.*summary|routing.*number)"

Sensitive file types:

Action: Flag in categorization table, confirm with user before moving

Duplicate Detection

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# Find duplicates by name pattern
ls ~/Downloads/0-Inbox | grep -E "\([0-9]+\)\." | while read f; do
  original="${f/ ([0-9])/}"
  echo "Duplicate: $f -> Original: $original"
done

# Find duplicates by content (md5)
find ~/Downloads -maxdepth 1 -type f -exec md5sum {} \; | sort | uniq -d -w32

Large File Handling

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# Find files > 100MB
find ~/Downloads -maxdepth 1 -type f -size +100M -exec ls -lh {} \;

# Large media files typically go to Resources
find ~/Downloads/0-Inbox -maxdepth 1 -size +100M \( -name "*.mp4" -o -name "*.mov" \) -exec mv {} ~/Downloads/3-Resources/Media/Videos/ \;

Session Resume

If interrupted, check last operation:

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tail -5 ~/Downloads/_ORG/_LOG.md

Temp File Cleanup

Remove common junk files before organizing:

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# Office temp files (~$...)
find ~/Downloads -name "~\$*" -delete

# macOS metadata
find ~/Downloads -name ".DS_Store" -delete
find ~/Downloads -name "._*" -delete

# Empty files
find ~/Downloads -maxdepth 1 -type f -empty -delete

PARA Root-Level Audit

After initial organization, check for loose files at PARA folder roots:

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# Files should be in subfolders, not at PARA root level
echo "=== 2-Areas root files (should be in subfolders) ==="
find ~/Downloads/2-Areas -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -name ".DS_Store"

echo "=== 3-Resources root files ==="
find ~/Downloads/3-Resources -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -name ".DS_Store"

echo "=== 4-Archive root files ==="
find ~/Downloads/4-Archive -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -name ".DS_Store"

Empty Folder Cleanup

After processing, remove empty staging folders:

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# Remove empty review/staging folders
rmdir ~/Downloads/0-Review 2>/dev/null
rmdir ~/Downloads/0-Inbox/_REVIEW 2>/dev/null

# Find and remove empty subdirectories
find ~/Downloads -type d -empty -delete

Categorization Table Format

Present recommendations in a clear table before executing:

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### 🚫 DELETE (scam/junk)
| File | Reason |
|------|--------|
| `U0BPA6...pdf` | SCAM - Fake Norton invoice |

### ⚠️ SENSITIVE → 2-Areas/Finance
| File | Content |
|------|---------|
| `65440.pdf` | W-2 Tax Form 2024 |

### 📁 4-Archive
| File | Suggested Rename |
|------|------------------|
| `old-project.pdf` | `2023-01_PROJ_project-name.pdf` |

### 📚 3-Resources
| File | Destination |
|------|-------------|
| `manual.pdf` | 3-Resources/Tools/ |

Emoji flags:

• 🚫 DELETE - Scam, junk, or duplicate
• ⚠️ SENSITIVE - Tax, legal, medical, credentials
• 📁 ARCHIVE - Old/completed items
• 📚 RESOURCES - Reference materials
• 📂 AREAS - Ongoing responsibilities
• 📝 PROJECTS - Active work

Reference Files

• references/config.md: Customize PARA structure and detection keywords
• references/templates.md: Tracking file templates