Rules: moving folders automatically

Rules let Storage Studio move files to your external drive for you. Each rule names a folder and an age, for example move things in Downloads that are older than 30 days. Matching files are moved to the drive with a shortcut left behind, so they still open from the same place. Rules run once a day on their own, and whenever you run Free Up Space or Smart Care.

Where the rules live

Open Settings → Rules. Under Default & Manual Rules, each rule shows what it does, which folder it watches and its age, which you can change:

The default rules move old items from Downloads, Desktop and Documents, move very large files from those folders, and move device backups that haven't been updated for about six months. Default Delete rules clear old crash reports, old Mail attachments, the preview thumbnail cache and items that have been in your Trash for more than 30 days. Rules that Auto Rules creates for your Mac appear in the Auto Rules section below.

When rules run

• Once a day. If automatic tidy-ups are on (they are after setup), rules run once a day at or after the scheduled hour, by default 3 am. If your Mac was asleep then, the run happens the next time it's awake and you're not busy. It respects your Quiet Hours, and doesn't run while Storage Studio is paused or the drive isn't connected.
• On demand. More menu (•••) → Run Moves Now, or Free Up Space.

What rules will never move

%% caption: The checks every file passes before a rule moves it
flowchart TD
  A[File matches a rule] --> B{Changed in the last 7 days?}
  B -->|Yes| K[Kept where it is]
  B -->|No| C{Opened recently?}
  C -->|Yes| K
  C -->|No| D{In use by an app?}
  D -->|Yes| K
  D -->|No| E{In iCloud, or a cloud placeholder?}
  E -->|Yes| K
  E -->|No| F[Copied to the drive and checked]
  F --> G[Original replaced by a shortcut]

• The hard floor. Nothing changed in the last 7 days is moved or deleted, whatever a rule says. You can change this under Global overrides, and lowering it below 7 days asks you to confirm.
• Files you still use. A file you've opened recently is kept even if it's old, using macOS's own record of what you open.
• Files in use, lock files and editor scratch files are skipped.
• iCloud. If your Desktop and Documents folders are kept in iCloud Drive, rules leave them alone, because moving them would fight with iCloud's own syncing.

If a rule for Documents or Desktop never seems to move anything, see My rules don't move anything from Documents or Desktop.

Previewing a run first

To see exactly what the next run would do without changing anything, choose More menu (•••) → Automatic Moves…. The window shows your settings file at the top and a Dry run preview below. Click Run preview: each line says what would happen, such as WOULD MOVE or WOULD KEEP (you've opened it recently). See Dry run.

Keeping a moved folder clear: auto-sync

When you move a folder from Storage Inspector, you can turn on Keep auto-syncing new files to NVMe. Storage Studio then checks that folder every minute and moves new files that apps write there to your drive, so the folder doesn't fill your Mac up again. It skips files that are in use, files changed in the last few seconds, very small files and hidden files.

If the same file fails to move three times, it's left alone for six hours rather than retried every minute, and you get one notice in Job Insights under Auto-sync instead of a stream of errors. Your originals stay where they are. If a folder keeps failing, the notice suggests turning auto-sync off for it.

See also: Auto Rules · Reviewing, stopping and checking a clear-up · Moving folders safely · When your drive is disconnected · Pausing or stopping everything