Sweepr
Folder sweeper for macOSPreview first, undo anything100% on device
Sweepr: Downloads folder cleaner for Mac. Sort the mess automatically.
Sweepr scans one folder, sorts what it finds into obvious piles, and shows you the entire plan before a single file moves. One click sweeps it, one click puts it all back, and it never deletes anything.
v1.2.4 · macOS 13+, including 27 Golden Gate · Apple Silicon & Intel · Signed & notarized by Apple · No account
01 How it works
Look. Sweep. Undo if you want.
Point it at the mess
Sweepr opens on ~/Downloads because that's where the problem usually is. Drop any other folder on the window (Desktop is the other disaster zone) or pick one with Change….
Read the plan
Everything lands in obvious piles with real counts and sizes. Nothing has moved yet. Expand a pile to see every file, untick anything you want left where it is, or switch a whole pile off.
Sweep
One click. Sweepr writes the undo journal to disk before it touches the first file, then moves each one into its folder, never overwriting anything on the way.
Change your mind
Every sweep stays in History. Undo puts each file back exactly where it came from, and it's collision-safe on the way home too, even if something new has taken the old name.
02 Safe by design
It moves files. That's all it can do.
A tool that reorganizes your Downloads folder is trusted with a lot, so Sweepr is built so the worst case is "some files are in the wrong folder for a minute", never "some files are gone".
See where a file came from
Downloads remember the site they came from, and the Finder never shows it. Expand a pile and every file has a Source column (
Already on the file
github.com, dropbox.com), which is usually the fastest way to work out what a six-week-old installer actually is. The column sorts, and files with no known source say so rather than being quietly shuffled to the end.Dated sub-folders, if you want them
File each pile into
Off by default
Images/2026, or right down to Images/2026/08-August. Off unless you turn it on: the board is still the plan, and it shouldn't quietly grow a tree you didn't ask for.Your filing, your rules
Hover any file row and its type appears as a small chip; click it and every
No rule builder
.sketch goes to Documents, every .csv to Code & Data, here and in every folder you sweep afterwards. It stays a simple this-goes-there mapping on purpose: conditions and nesting would turn the board into something you read instead of glance at.Nothing of yours is deleted
Not "deletes carefully." Sweepr only ever moves your files, and it cannot empty your Trash. A pile pointed at another disk is a copy first: the original goes only once the whole copy has landed.
Moves only
It never overwrites
If a file with the same name is already in the destination, the arriving one becomes
invoice (2).pdf, the same rule Finder uses. The destination name is reserved atomically, so two files can never collapse into one.Nothing is replaced
Journaled before the first move
The undo record is written and flushed to disk before a single file moves, and each completed move is appended before the next one starts. Pull the plug mid-sweep and every file that actually moved is still on record, and still undoable.
Crash-safe
One-click undo, any time
Not just the last one. Every sweep on record can be reversed from History (days later, after a restart), and undo is collision-safe in the same way the sweep was.
Any sweep, any time
Recent files stay put
You're probably still using what you downloaded this morning, so by default anything from the last 24 hours is held back, and the app tells you how many. Dial it to a week, 30 days, or off.
24h by default
Left alone, and told so
Downloads still in flight (
.crdownload, .part, torrent temp files), anything written in the last minute, hidden files, symlinks, and your own subfolders are never swept. The window reports what it left, rather than quietly skipping it.Nothing silent
03 Features
The plan is the interface.
No rules to write, no syntax to learn, no cloud service reading your filenames. Open it, look at what it's about to do, and decide.
Eleven obvious piles
Screenshots, Images, Documents, Installers, Archives, Audio, Video, Code & Data, Fonts, Apps, and Everything else. Screenshots are pulled out before the extension rules run, because that's the pile a human actually wants.
The headline
Per-pile switches, per-file opt-out
Flip a whole pile off and it stays exactly where it is. Expand one and untick the single file you want to keep at hand. The summary updates as you go, so the number on the Sweep button is always the truth.
Retarget any pile, any disk
Images can file straight into
~/Pictures, or onto an external drive, via the → chip. Everything else defaults to tidy subfolders inside the folder you're sweeping. Cross-volume moves keep Finder tags and where-from intact.Any folder
Sweep history
Every sweep on record, newest first, naming the folder it was of and how many files and how much it moved, each one reversible on its own. Undo the sweep from last Tuesday without touching yesterday's. A sweep where some files couldn't move is undoable too, not just a clean one.
All of them
Works on any folder
Downloads is the default, not a limit. Drop your Desktop, a scratch folder, or a shared drive onto the window and it works the same way. Sweepr never recurses into your subfolders, so it can't reorganize a project you'd carefully laid out.
Top level only
The odometer
Lifetime files swept and bytes organized, kept locally, purely for the dopamine. Undo a sweep and it counts back down again.
App bundles move as one thing
A
.app you downloaded is a folder, but it's obviously one item, so Sweepr treats it as one, files it under Apps, and moves it whole.Keyboard all the way through
⌘R rescan, ⌘↵ sweep, ⌘Z undo the last one, ? for the shortcut sheet. Every control is reachable by Tab, every dialog traps focus and closes on Esc.
WCAG 2.1 AA
Thirteen languages
German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Turkish and Simplified Chinese, alongside English: every window, every message, every VoiceOver label. The button in the header starts on Auto (match macOS) and switching is instant, with no relaunch. Files sort by the language you picked, so you get the same order on anyone's Mac.
13 languages
Light or dark, your choice
The button beside the language picker cycles System → Light → Dark, and pins the native window chrome with it so the glass behind the header and footer matches the board. It is remembered the next time Sweepr opens.
Not just the system
It says so when macOS is in the way
Downloads, Desktop and Documents sit behind a privacy permission, and when it is missing or has been revoked macOS says nothing: the folder simply reads as unreachable. Sweepr names the folder, confirms that nothing was moved, and gives you a button that opens the right page of System Settings.
Your files stay on your Mac
No cloud sorting service, no filenames sent anywhere to be classified, no account. The competition charges a subscription to upload your file names to a language model; Sweepr just reads the extension.
Local
Stop a sweep partway
The Sweep button counts up as it works (412 of 2,806, with the file it is on) and becomes Stop. Esc or ⌘. stops it too. Every file already moved is on record, so a stopped sweep is just a shorter one, and it undoes in one click.
Safe to interrupt
Filter the board by name
Press ⌘F and type part of a filename; the piles narrow to what matches, with a count of how much you are looking at. It is a view, not a selection: the sweep still moves everything you ticked.
⌘F
Quick Look any file
Press Space on a row, or use its button, to preview a download before deciding where it goes, without opening the app that owns it.
Space bar
A menu on every file row
Right-click a row, or press Shift+F10: Quick Look, Reveal in Finder, leave this one out of the sweep, or send its whole file type somewhere else. The up and down arrow keys walk the rows, so the whole board works without a mouse.
Right-click or Shift+F10
Recent folders
Sweepr remembers the last few folders you pointed it at and lists them beside the folder bar. ⌘⇧O jumps straight to the list, so a weekly project folder is one pick away.
⌘⇧O
The preview admits when a file will be renamed
When a pile already holds that name, the row carries lands as invoice (2).pdf, the toolbar counts how many, and a screen reader announces it with the file. The board no longer shows a name that will not exist.
No surprises
Open a folder from Finder or the Dock
Right-click any folder in Finder, choose Open With, then Sweepr, or drop the folder on Sweepr's Dock icon. Only folders are offered, so no file's Open With menu grows a Sweepr it cannot use.
Finder hand-off
A sweep that half worked tells you why
If some files could not move, a marker stays on the toolbar and opens a list naming each file with the reason in plain words (locked, disk not connected, disk full, disk read-only, already gone), with Reveal in Finder for each.
Nothing vanishes
Files Sweepr could not read are counted
If macOS refuses a file, or a network drive stops answering, the board counts it and names it in its own marker. A folder Sweepr could only half read never looks like a tidy one.
Reported, not hidden
An unplugged disk is flagged before you sweep
If a pile points at an external drive that is not connected, its destination turns amber on the board, before anything moves.
Heads-up first
Settings, at ⌘,
Appearance (System, Light or Dark), the language picker, and an About group with the version and links to the app page, privacy policy and terms.
⌘,
A damaged settings file does not reset you
If the settings file is ever left half written, Sweepr sets it aside as
Self-healing
prefs.corrupt.json and keeps going, instead of quietly returning to factory defaults. One bad value only resets that one setting.05 Pricing
Free for everyone.
Personal use is free forever: the full app, unlimited sweeps, no account, no nag screens. Free for commercial use at work too, no license required.
Sweepr for macOS
Free forever
Personal and commercial use included
- Every feature, no locked piles
- Unlimited sweeps, any folder or disk
- Full undo history, every sweep reversible
- 100% on-device, no filenames uploaded
- No account, no nag screens
- Free updates forever
- Personal and commercial use, no license required
06 Download & install
Get set up in seconds.
Download the app and drag it into Applications. That's it. No Terminal, no Homebrew, no sign-up.
Version 1.2.4 · Released October 16, 2026 · Free updates forever
macOS 13 Ventura or later, including macOS 27 Golden Gate · Apple Silicon or Intel
Everything Sweepr needs is bundled in the app: nothing to install, no Homebrew, no Python to set up. One universal build runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel.
Opens with a double-click
Sweepr is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens cleanly the first time: no
Open Anyway trip through System Settings, no Terminal. Open the DMG, drag Sweepr into Applications, and launch it.The worst case is a file in the wrong folder
Sweepr only ever moves files: it never deletes anything of yours, it never overwrites, and every sweep is journaled to disk before it starts so any of them can be undone later. Your filenames never leave your Mac.
Check the file you downloaded
Sweepr is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, and macOS checks that every time you open it. That is the check that catches a file altered on its way to you. To confirm it yourself, compare the SHA-256 of your copy with the one published for the
Sweepr.dmg this page serves.SHA-256 checksum
Published checksum
Run this on your download and compare
shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/Sweepr.dmg
Or have your Mac compare them for you: save Sweepr.dmg.sha256 beside the download and run shasum -a 256 -c Sweepr.dmg.sha256.
07 FAQ
Common questions.
Is Sweepr really free?
Personal use is free forever: the full app, unlimited sweeps, no account, no trial timer, no nag screens. If you use Sweepr at work, free for commercial use at work too, with no license to buy.
Can Sweepr delete my files?
No. Sweepr only ever moves files from one folder to another, it never overwrites (a name clash becomes
invoice (2).pdf), and it cannot empty your Trash. A pile pointed at another disk is a copy first: the original goes only once the whole copy has landed. The worst thing a sweep can do is put a file in a folder you didn't want it in, which one click undoes.What if something goes wrong mid-sweep?
Sweepr writes the undo journal to disk and flushes it before the first file moves, then appends each completed move before starting the next. If the app crashes, the power goes out, or you force-quit halfway, every file that actually moved is on record. Reopen Sweepr and Undo puts them back. If a move can't be journaled, Sweepr puts that file back and stops the sweep rather than move files it can't promise to restore.
What does it leave alone?
Downloads still in flight (
.crdownload, .part, .download, and the torrent clients' temp names), anything modified in the last minute, hidden files, symlinks and aliases, and your own subfolders. By default it also holds back anything from the last 24 hours. Sweepr reports everything it left: it never quietly skips something.Will it reorganize folders I've already sorted?
No. Sweepr only ever looks at the top level of the folder you point it at, and it never recurses into your subfolders. A project folder sitting in Downloads is left exactly as it is. The one exception is a
.app bundle (technically a folder, obviously one thing), which is moved whole into Apps.Can I send a pile somewhere other than Downloads?
Yes. Use the → chip on any pile to point it at any folder on any disk: Images into
~/Pictures, Installers onto an external drive. Cross-volume moves are handled properly: the file keeps its Finder tags, its "where from" and its timestamps.Does Sweepr upload anything?
Your files don't go anywhere: no filenames, paths, or contents are ever uploaded, and there's no cloud sorting service in the loop. Sweepr does make two requests to us: a weekly check for a new version, which we count as an install (you can switch it off), and (only if you buy a business license) a check that your key is valid. Nothing about your files is in either. See the privacy policy.
What permission does it need?
Just the standard macOS prompt for the folder you're sweeping (Downloads, usually) the first time you scan it. That's the only permission Sweepr asks for. It doesn't need Full Disk Access and doesn't ask for it.
Will macOS warn me about an unidentified developer?
No. Sweepr is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it opens with a normal double-click the first time: no Open Anyway trip through System Settings, no Terminal.
How do I update Sweepr?
It updates itself. Sweepr checks about once a week, and when there's a new version it offers to install and relaunch. Updates are signature-checked, so one that isn't signed by us is refused. You can also check on demand from the Updates button in the footer, or turn automatic checks off and re-download the DMG yourself.
Can I stop a sweep partway?
Yes. While a sweep runs, the Sweep button counts up and becomes Stop; Esc or ⌘. stops it too. Every file that already moved was written to the undo journal first, so a stopped sweep is just a shorter one. It shows up in History and undoes in one click.
Can I open a folder with Sweepr from Finder?
Yes. Right-click any folder in Finder, choose Open With, then Sweepr, or drop the folder on Sweepr's Dock icon. You can also drop a folder on the window, or press ⌘O to choose one, and ⌘⇧O lists the folders you swept recently.
What if a file can't be moved?
Sweepr finishes the rest and keeps a marker on the toolbar. It opens a list naming each file that stayed put and why (locked, disk not connected, disk full, disk read-only, or already gone), with Reveal in Finder for each. Files Sweepr couldn't read at all are counted separately on the board.