Running rules on a folder, without buying a rules engine

Updated 6 September 2026 · 8 min read · By the Vocemo team

macOS can watch a folder for free. An Automator Folder Action runs when items are added, and launchd's WatchPaths does the same from a script. Hazel 6 costs $42 once and is worth it for conditional rules. Vocemo watches a folder and converts or transcribes what lands, for $15 a month.

Free on every Mac

Folder Actions, Automator, Shortcuts and launchd are all built in

What the rules engines cost

Hazel 6 $42, family pack $65; Keyboard Maestro 11 $36

What most people need

Three rules, usually convert, rename and file

The local option

Watch a folder, convert or transcribe arrivals, $15 a month

Can a Mac watch a folder and run something, without buying an app?

Yes. macOS has shipped a folder watcher for over twenty years, and most people have never opened it. There are four free routes, and they suit different jobs.

• Folder Actions. A script attached to a folder in the Finder. Right click a folder, choose Services, then Folder Actions Setup, and pick a script.
• Automator. Choose File, then New, then the Folder Action workflow type. Apple describes it as a workflow attached to a folder in the Finder: when items are added, the workflow runs and the files are used as its input. You then drag in actions such as renaming, moving, converting an image or running a shell script.
• Shortcuts. Best used for the work rather than the trigger. Build the steps in Shortcuts, then run it with shortcuts run "My Shortcut", which Apple documents in the Shortcuts user guide for Mac. Automator workflows can also be imported into Shortcuts.
• launchd. The system's own scheduler. A property list with a WatchPaths key runs your script when the named path changes. It survives reboots and needs no app running. It does not look inside subfolders, so one entry watches one directory.

None of this costs anything, and all of it runs on your Mac with no account.

What are the three rules most people actually want?

Ask someone why they want folder automation and the answer is almost never "a rules engine". It is usually three specific annoyances.

1. Convert on arrival. Everything that lands in this folder should become a PDF, or a smaller PDF, or a text file.
2. Rename to something readable. Turn IMG_4821.HEIC into a date and a description, or strip the junk from a downloaded filename.
3. File it somewhere. Move statements into a year folder, move screenshots off the desktop, throw away anything older than 30 days.

A fourth has become common since audio got easy to record: transcribe the voice memo or the meeting recording that appeared in this folder, and leave the text next to it.

Three or four fixed jobs do not need a conditions engine. They need a trigger and an action. That is exactly the shape of a Folder Action, and it is why the free route covers more people than the software market suggests.

How do you set up a folder rule in Automator, step by step?

1. Open Automator, choose File, then New, then Folder Action.
2. At the top of the workflow, set "Folder Action receives files and folders added to" and pick the folder.
3. Drag in the actions you want. Rename Finder Items handles dates and sequential numbers. Move Finder Items files the result. Run Shell Script covers anything else, and receives the file paths as its input.
4. Save it with a name. The workflow is now attached to that folder and fires when files arrive.

Two warnings worth having in advance. A Folder Action fires when the file appears, which can be before a large download or a network copy has finished, so a rule that touches the file immediately can catch it half written. And dropping a hundred files in at once is where Folder Actions are least reliable. If either of those describes your job, that is a genuine reason to pay for something.

What do Hazel and Keyboard Maestro cost?

Option	Price	Trigger	Good for
Folder Actions and Automator	Free with macOS	Items added to a folder	One or two fixed jobs
Shortcuts	Free with macOS	Run by hand, or from a script or Folder Action	Building the steps visually
launchd	Free with macOS	WatchPaths, or a schedule	Something that must survive reboots
Hazel 6	$42 single user, $65 family pack for up to 5 household members	Folder rules with conditions	Sorting, renaming and filing at scale
Keyboard Maestro 11	$36 one time, one user on up to 5 Macs	Folder trigger, plus keys, apps and time	Automation beyond files
Vocemo	$15 a month or $144 a year	Files arriving in a watched folder	Converting or transcribing arrivals

Prices verified September 2026, from each vendor's own pricing page.

Hazel 6 is a one-time purchase, needs macOS 13 or later, and has a 14 day free trial. An upgrade from any previous version is $20. Keyboard Maestro 11 is also a one-time purchase, needs macOS 10.13 or later, and an upgrade licence is $25.

Is Hazel worth buying?

Often, yes, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. Hazel is one of the best made utilities on the platform and it has been maintained for twenty years. It is the right purchase when any of these is true:

• Your rules need conditions. If the name contains this and the date is older than that and the source website was this, then file it there. Writing that in a shell script is an evening. In Hazel it is a few minutes and you can read it back a year later.
• You want many rules on many folders. Hazel keeps them in one list you can see, reorder and disable. A pile of Folder Actions and property lists is invisible until it breaks.
• You want the file contents to decide. Hazel 6 added text recognition on the fly, so a rule can match words on a scanned page.
• You want the housekeeping too. Trash that empties itself by age or size, and App Sweep for leftovers when you delete an application.

$42 once, against the hours it saves, is not a hard sum. The case against buying it is narrow: you have two or three fixed jobs with no conditions, in which case a Folder Action does the same thing for nothing.

Keyboard Maestro is a different purchase. Its folder trigger fires when an item is added to or removed from a folder, and it can be told to wait for a file that is still copying rather than grabbing it half written, which is the exact failure mode that catches Folder Actions. Buy it if you also want keyboard, application and clipboard automation. Buy Hazel if the job is files.

What can a watched folder do with a document or a recording?

This is the part the general rules engines leave to you. Hazel and Keyboard Maestro are excellent at deciding what should happen. They still need something to do the work when that work is "transcribe this" or "make this scan searchable".

Vocemo takes the other half. You point it at a folder and pick a job, and files that arrive get handled: converted through any of its 21 document jobs, or transcribed if they are audio or video. Text recognition on a scan writes the words into the file so Spotlight can find it afterwards, which is covered in making a scan searchable on a Mac. Everything runs on the machine, so a recording of a client call is not uploaded to be transcribed. The reasoning behind that is in on-device AI on a Mac.

The two approaches sit together rather than competing. A common setup is Hazel deciding where a file belongs and Vocemo handling what needs a model.

What the local option does not do

Vocemo's folder automations are deliberately narrow. Stated plainly:

• No rules engine. There are no conditions, no if and then, no rule ordering and no matching on file name patterns or contents. A watched folder runs one job on what arrives.
• No tagging, no colour labels, no sorting into subfolders by attribute. Hazel does all of that and does it well.
• No trash cleanup, no duplicate finding, no leftover file sweeping when you delete an app.
• No triggers beyond a file arriving. No schedules, no hotkeys, no application events. Keyboard Maestro is the tool for those.
• No database. Files stay in your folders and outputs are written next to them, so nothing is trapped if you stop paying.

If you want a rules engine, buy Hazel. If you want the work done to a file that lands, without sending it anywhere, that is the gap this fills.

Price and requirements

Vocemo is $15 a month or $144 a year. The trial runs 7 days and needs no account, and one subscription covers 3 Macs. It needs macOS 13 or later on Apple silicon. The installer is 5.5 MB, because nothing heavy ships inside it: a model downloads the first time a feature needs one, and shuts down after 120 seconds of idle time.

Questions

How do I make a folder run an action automatically on a Mac?

Open Automator, choose File then New, and pick the Folder Action workflow type. Set the folder at the top, drag in the actions you want, and save. Apple's description is exact: when items are added to the folder, the workflow runs and the files become its input.

Is there a free alternative to Hazel on macOS?

Yes, several, all built in. Folder Actions and Automator cover trigger plus action, Shortcuts builds the steps and can be run from the command line, and launchd's WatchPaths key runs a script when a path changes. None of them match Hazel's conditions and rule list, but for two or three fixed jobs they are enough.

How much does Hazel cost in 2026?

Hazel 6 is $42 for a single user licence and $65 for a family pack covering up to five people in one household. An upgrade from any earlier version is $20. It is a one-time purchase rather than a subscription, needs macOS 13 or later, and has a 14 day trial.

Can Keyboard Maestro watch a folder?

Yes. Its folder trigger runs a macro when an item is added to or removed from a folder, and it can be set to ignore files that are still being copied or downloaded so it does not act on a partial file. It only watches items directly in the folder, not in subfolders. A licence is $36 for one user on up to five Macs.

Why does my Folder Action run before the file finishes copying?

Because the trigger fires when the file appears, not when it is complete. A large download or a network copy can still be arriving. Either add a wait and a size check to your script, or use a tool with a built-in option to wait for the file to stop changing.

Can a folder rule transcribe audio files automatically?

The rules engines can start something for each new file, but they do not transcribe on their own. You need a transcription step to call. Vocemo can watch a folder and transcribe recordings that arrive on the Mac itself, for $15 a month, so a client call never leaves the machine.

Sources

Every price on this page was read from the vendor's own page on the date shown above. Prices change; if you find one out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

• Apple: App privacy details on the App Store
• Apple: Automator User Guide
• Apple: Intro to Shortcuts on Mac
• Hazel
• Keyboard Maestro

Competitor prices in this article were checked in September 2026. Prices change; if you find one out of date, write to us and we will correct it.