AI Organized 13 Years' Worth of My Computer Files

I've been using computers for a long time, as evidenced by the many files I have saved. So naturally, things can get unruly with their organization. The thought of going back to organizing things has always scared me until now.—Kevin

Automatically organize your files using AI with Sparkle.

Getting Started 👟

Unlike most AI apps I've reviewed, Sparkle requires you to download and install it on your Mac. Unfortunately, this is only available for Mac computers.

Once installed, you must grant three security checks to allow the app access to a handful of your default Mac folders: desktop, documents, and downloads.

Logging into the app requires you to use your email. You are then sent a link to the email, which you must click to run the app. It's a weird setup that gave me some trouble when I did it through my Google Chrome browser. Switching to the Mac Safari browser fixed the issue. With that completed, the AI was ready to work its magic.

Ease of Use 🧠

Sparkle is barebones and works in the background, so there is little of an interface to clutter things up. After you’ve installed the app, you can set it to run automatically whenever you boot up your computer. That said, some instructions are shown during onboarding that you can't ever access again, so pay attention. There is no help or FAQs to reference should you need to, except for an email you receive sometime after setting the app up.

Product Features 🤖

Outside of my issue with setup, things worked as advertised. I did not need to provide any additional input, as the AI cleaned up my file folders and organized them based on their context.

Sparkle creates three main root folders inside your Mac's default Desktop, Document, and Downloads directories. Those root folders are AI Library, Recents, and Manual Library. And within each of those roots, you’ll have contextually organized subfolders.

The AI Library folder contains all your loose files, now organized by file context. For example, it created a folder named "Tax documents" based on PDF Turbo Tax files I had floating on my desktop.

The Recent folder collects all new files added to a Sparkle-organized folder and holds them there for three days before adding them to a contextualized folder.

Finally, the Manual Library contains folders you've organized before installing/running the app. It's your original folder structure untouched by the AI.

Why Should You Care 🤔

If you work a lot and save multiple unorganized files or have folders you've been meaning to clean up, Sparkle can make tidying up your desktop less tedious.

I tested it on a Mac desktop and laptop using the same account, and it worked well. However, I discovered that the app does not work with partitioned hard drives. Sparkle only reads the main Mac HD and not your split hard drive(s). This was a bummer and knocked its usefulness down a few notches for me.

Although it’s a lightweight app, there could be better documentation or FAQs to reference quickly.

Regarding security, Sparkle leverages Chat GPT, so your file names (not the file itself) are temporarily collected and stored on Sparkle's server for 30 days and then deleted. According to its developers, this helps improve the app and fix bugs.

Good to Know 💪

• 7-day Free Trial

• Does not recognize partitioned hard drives

• Your file names are temporarily stored on a company server

• Use one account on multiple computers

• Mac only

Product Website 👀