DownLSort

Organize a cluttered Downloads folder — preview, sort by type, and undo with one click.

Quick start

Windows (no Python needed)

Download DownLSort.exe from the Releases page and double-click it. If no release is available yet, build the EXE.

The build is unsigned, so SmartScreen may appear: choose More info → Run anyway.

From source (Python 3.10+)

git clone https://github.com/Cosmosynth/DownLSort.git
cd DownLSort
python -m venv .venv

Activate the environment:

• Windows: .\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
• macOS / Linux: source .venv/bin/activate

Then install and run:

pip install -e .
downlsort

On Linux, Tk may need to be installed separately (sudo apt install python3-tk, or the equivalent for your distro). If downlsort is not recognized, use python -m downlsort.

Usage

The app opens your Downloads folder by default. Click the Path: label to choose another folder, review the preview, then press Sort and confirm.

Button	Action
Refresh	Re-scan the current folder
Sort	Move files into category subfolders
Unsort	Move the last sorted files back
Path: label	Choose a different folder

Command line:

downlsort --path "D:\Temp"          # organize another folder
python -m downlsort --path "D:\Temp" # same, without the installed script
downlsort --version

Features

• Live preview — nothing moves until you confirm the sort plan.
• Category filters — browse the grid without moving files.
• Safe by design — never overwrites; conflicts become file (1).pdf.
• Robust — locked files are skipped and reported while the rest continue.
• Exact undo — every sort is logged and can be reversed, newest first.

Good to know: only top-level files move; existing subfolders are untouched. Unsort history lives at %APPDATA%\DownLSort\history.json on Windows and ~/.config/downlsort/history.json elsewhere.

Categories

Category	Examples
Applications	.exe .msi .bat .dmg .deb .apk
Documents	.pdf .docx .txt .md .xlsx .pptx .epub
Images	.jpg .png .gif .webp .svg .heic
Videos	.mp4 .mkv .avi .mov .webm
Audio	.mp3 .wav .flac .m4a .opus
Archives	.zip .rar .7z .tar.gz .iso
Other	everything else, including extensionless files

Extend the mapping in src/downlsort/categories.py.

Development

pip install -e ".[dev]"
python -m pytest        # 18 tests

Build the Windows EXE (creates dist\DownLSort.exe, which is git-ignored):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File build_exe.ps1

To regenerate the icons after editing assets/downlsort-logo.svg:

pip install pillow
python tools/make_icon.py

Troubleshooting

• 'downlsort' is not recognized — activate .venv, or run python -m downlsort.
• ModuleNotFoundError: customtkinter — install into the active environment: pip install -e ..
• No module named '_tkinter' — install Tk for your OS (see above).
• Files fail to sort — close programs using them, then Refresh and retry.
• EXE build can't delete the old file — close the running app first.

License

MIT — see pyproject.toml.