Folders
Oma only works in folders you let her into.
When you first open Omaculate, it asks which folder to look after. Downloads needs no permission. Desktop and any other folder open the standard macOS folder picker once, so you choose exactly what Oma can see. Omaculate is sandboxed: it never asks for Full Disk Access, Accessibility or control of other apps.
On the free version Oma looks after one folder. With Grand Oma she looks after as many as you like. If a folder is moved or access is lost, Home shows a card with Let Oma back in.
Recipes
A recipe is one rule, written as a sentence.
It says which files, in which folder, and what happens to them. You build it by tapping the words. For example: "Anything in Downloads that looks like an invoice or receipt is moved to Downloads/Invoices and Receipts, by year."
- Which files: kind (screenshot, image, RAW photo, video, audio, document, presentation, saved email, calendar invite, data file, 3D file, installer, zip), name, age, size, the website it came from, whether it looks like an invoice, statement or contract, whether it's an exact copy, an older version, a zip already unzipped, or has an unreadable name. Any condition can be turned around to leave files out.
- What happens: move it (into a folder per year, quarter or month if you like), rename it, tag it with your Finder tags, send it to the Trash, unzip it, or remind you about it later.
- Names: renames use the file's date, its name, the site it came from, or, with Grand Oma and smart naming, what's in it.
Recipes run top to bottom. Tags and renames stack, and the first recipe that moves or trashes a file claims it. Start from one of the thirteen ready-made recipes, or from scratch.
An installer in Downloads, older than 30 days, goes to the Trash.
Review and approve
Oma makes a list, and nothing happens until you approve it.
Each run collects everything Oma would do in one folder into a batch: "9 things ready in Downloads". Open Review to see every file with its before and after, untick any you'd rather she left, then press Approve. The number on the button is the number of ticked rows. Not ready? Not now leaves the batch waiting.
I found 23 things in Downloads. Shall I? Untick anything you'd rather I left be.
The Trash rule
Nothing is ever deleted. The most Oma does is move a file to the Trash, and only when you say yes.
Omaculate never removes a file for good and never empties your Trash. Trash rows are ticked in a batch because approving is the ask. A recipe that runs by itself never trashes anything: its trash rows wait in a separate batch for you. The first tidy, when you set the app up, never includes any Trash at all.
If you have turned on Finder's "Remove items from the Trash after 30 days", macOS empties trashed files after a month. Omaculate doesn't change that setting.
Undo and History
Every change is listed in History, and moves, renames and tags can be undone for 90 days.
Undo one file, or a whole run at once with Undo run. Oma only puts a file back if it's still as she left it; if you've changed it since, the row says so. Files sent to the Trash show Show in Trash, so you can put them back from there. If a file's old name is taken by then, Oma asks: keep both, or replace.
Ask first and Just handle it
Every recipe starts on Ask first. Just handle it lets Oma act without waiting, except for the Trash.
With Ask first, Oma prepares the batch and a number appears by her menu bar icon. With Just handle it (Grand Oma), she tidies and tells you afterwards, with an Undo button in the notification.
After three batches in a folder with nothing undone, Oma offers to just handle that folder from then on. "Not yet" means she won't offer again. Any undo starts the count from zero.
When Oma tidies
When you press Tidy now, or by herself on a schedule with Grand Oma.
- Tidy now runs every recipe on your folders. It works on every version.
- Tidy a folder… tidies any folder once, through Review, without adding it to your list.
- Schedules (Grand Oma): every evening, every morning, once a week, or as files arrive. Each recipe keeps its own. A run missed while the Mac was asleep happens once when it wakes.
Oma only tidies while Omaculate is open, so setup offers to open it at login, quietly in the menu bar. To take a break, use Pause: for an hour, until tomorrow, or until you say.
The menu bar panel
Click Oma's icon for the panel: Home, Recipes, Folders and Settings.
- Home shows what's waiting, this week's totals and recent changes with Undo.
- Drop a file on the panel to see what Oma would do with it. Drop a folder and she tidies it once.
- Right-click the icon for Tidy now, Pause, Open Omaculate and Quit. Option-click it to tidy now.
- Notifications let you approve a batch or undo a run without opening anything. A weekly summary is there if you want it.
Recent All history
What Oma skips
Anything that isn't finished or isn't really there yet.
- Files still downloading (.download, .crdownload, .part) and files changed in the last few seconds.
- Files that are only in iCloud and not downloaded to the Mac.
- Files a recipe higher up has already moved, and moves that need more space than the disk has.
- Hidden files.
Skipped files show greyed out with the reason, and Oma tries again next time. A file is never overwritten: if a name is taken, she adds " 2".
Keyboard shortcuts
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⌘↩ | Approve, Save or Unlock |
| Space | Quick Look the selected file |
| ↑↓ | Move between rows |
| ↩ | Tick or untick a row |
| ⌘Z | Undo the last run, on Home (asks first) |
| ⌘, | Settings |
| Esc | Back, then close the panel |
| ⌃⌥O | Open the panel from anywhere (off until you turn it on) |
⌘-click a row to show the file in Finder.
