Overview
Summary
The useful answer before the supporting detail.
Hazel is a Mac desktop app that automatically organizes files by watching folders and applying user-defined rules S6. It is used by Mac users who want to save time on file management, solving the problem of manual sorting and cleanup S6. Its practical value is in automating tasks like renaming, tagging, archiving, and uploading, reducing manual effort S6.
Product identity and positioning
Name, category, positioning, audience, and first-party claims.
- Identity: Hazel is a Mac file automation app by Noodlesoft, a one-man company S1.
- Core purpose: It solves the problem of manual file organization by automatically applying user-defined rules to watched folders S6.
- Intended users: Mac users who want to automate file management tasks S1.
- Product scope: Hazel is a single desktop app, not a platform, with features for rules, folder watching, and integration with macOS technologies S6.
- Positioning: Noodlesoft positions Hazel as "Simply Useful Software" S6.
- Claimed distinction: Hazel claims deep integration with macOS technologies, leveraging the system's capabilities S6.
Use cases and audiences
Who the product serves and the jobs it is designed to handle.
| Audience | Practical use case |
|---|---|
| Mac users | Automatically organize files in watched folders based on rules S6. |
| Users with large downloads | Keep the Trash in check by deleting old files or clearing when too big S6. |
| Users needing file actions | Open, archive, tag, and upload files automatically S6. |
| Users wanting macOS integration | Leverage Spotlight, Shortcuts, AppleScript, and Automator for deeper automation S6. |
Features
Features and capabilities
Core functions and evidence-backed product capabilities.
| Capability | What it does |
|---|---|
| Folder watching | Hazel watches specified folders and automatically organizes files according to user-created rules S6. |
| File actions | Hazel can open, archive, tag, and upload files as part of its automation S6. |
| Trash management | Hazel can manage the Trash, deleting files that are too old or clearing it when it gets too big S6. |
| Content reading | Hazel can read content from more files than before, enabling rules based on file content S48. |
| macOS integration | Hazel integrates with Spotlight, Photos, Music & TV importing, Notifications, Tags, Shortcuts, AppleScript, and Automator S6. |
| Finder extension | Hazel provides a Finder extension with contextual menu functions, also available in the menubar item menu S18. |
| Full Disk Access guide | Hazel includes a guide to help users grant Full Disk Access for operations like Trash management S49. |
Integrations and ecosystem
Connected products, exports, APIs, and workflow compatibility.
| Integration or interface | Type | What it enables |
|---|---|---|
| Spotlight | Integration | Enables file indexing and search integration S6. |
| Photos, Music & TV importing | Integration | Allows importing media into Apple apps S6. |
| Notifications | Integration | Provides system notifications for automation events S6. |
| Tags | Integration | Supports tagging files as part of rules S6. |
| Shortcuts | Integration | Allows creating shortcuts for automation S6. |
| AppleScript & Automator | Integration | Enables scripting and workflow automation S6. |
| Finder extension | Extension | Provides contextual menu actions in Finder S18. |
Pricing
Pricing and plans
Published plans, free access, trials, credits, and pricing limitations.
| Plan or offer | Verified price and billing | Included | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hazel 6 | $42 one-time S16 | Single licence S16 | Not established |
| Family Pack | $65 one-time S16 | Up to 5 household members S16 | Private households only S16 |
| Upgrade | $20 one-time S16 | From earlier versions S16 | Per user S16 |
| Free trial | Free download to try S6 | Not established | Not established |
| Volume pricing | Contact us S16 | Not established | Not established |
Trust and proof
Customers, proof, and reviews
Published proof, customer signals, and review evidence.
Independent reviews
| Platform | Page | How it was found | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| noodlesoft.com | Learn More – Noodlesoft | Grounded web search | - Search the Knowledge Base . - Participate in our online forums where users come together to talk about Hazel. - Peruse the Reviews page for articles written by others. (The more instructional articles are in the Knowledge |
Customer proof
No named customers, testimonials, or customer case studies were found.
Independent mentions
- Noodlesoft Forums • View topic - Is Hazel Worth It? — Noodlesoft Forums • View topic - Is Hazel Worth It? ... You might be better off asking this question elsewhere as most users here are biased and also usually come here primarily for support/answers for technical issues. ... > BrannonLesch wrote: I've seen a few people both here and on YouTube talk about Hazel and rave about how good it is. While I do have a passing interest in it, the price tag seems large for what it is. I'm just looking to see what the general consensus is here. Worth it or no
- Noodlesoft Forums • Index page — Talk, speculate, discuss, pontificate. As long as it pertains to Hazel. Moderators: ... Tips & Tricks - DO NOT POST QUESTIONS From your noodle to other noodles. Talk about ways to get the most from Hazel. Even exchange recipes for the cool rules you
- Noodlesoft Forums • View topic - Reference for beginner? — to rename the images, move and combine them into a joint Archive folder, ... m struggling to use Hazel successfully to rename the images/vids and then ... . Other than a cumbersome (though comprehensive) Hazel User Guide, where is everyone learning how
- Support – Noodlesoft — a question or problem, use the search or hunt below and find where you need to go: ## User Guide Everything you need to know to take advantage of Hazel’s features. ## Forums Where all of our users come together, to talk about Hazel and Noodlesoft.
- Noodlesoft Forums • View topic - Need Help: Hazel rules not triggering as expected — Hello everyone, I’m new to Hazel, and I’ve been experimenting with a few rules to automatically organize files on my Mac. However, I’ve run into an issue where some of my rules don’t seem to trigger at all, even though they look correct to me. Here’s what I tried: I created a rule to move PDFs from my Downloads folder to a specific subfolder. The conditions
- Noodlesoft Forums • View topic - Rules delay/hangs since upgrade — Wondering if anyone else is suffering from Hazel taking time to run rules? I upgraded OS and Hazel last week but now rules are not running unless they are forced to, or unless Hazel is engaged with (like opening the app window or the log). The rules will eventually run after a few minutes, but not instantly. These are very small files every few minutes. I was loading files into OneDrive, I tried the "download first" option but still no luck, I blamed OneDrive so attempted on local folders. Same
- Noodlesoft Forums • Index page — Talk, speculate, discuss, pontificate. As long as it pertains to Hazel. Moderators: ... Tips & Tricks - DO NOT POST QUESTIONS From your noodle to other noodles. Talk about ways to get the most from Hazel. Even exchange recipes for the cool rules you
- Noodlesoft Forums • View forum - Support — PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING by Mr_Noodle » Mon May 15, 2017 10:50 am : 0 Replies : 397796 Views : Last post ... Mr_Noodle Mon May 15, 2017 10:50 am - Troubleshooting tips (PLEASE READ THIS FIRST BEFORE POSTING) by Mr_Noodle » Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:48 pm
External links were grounded in one live web search. Search snippets are leads, not independently scraped page content; rejected links remain available in Review evidence.
Company, security, and trust
Ownership, policies, security signals, and public trust evidence.
| Signal | Finding | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Company and ownership | We are based in New York City, unofficial capital of pasta-named software companies producing software solely for the Mac. | source |
| Contact and support | If you are interested in volume pricing or have other special pricing needs, please contact us. | source |
| Legal and privacy | Not published on the collected pages. | — |
| Security and compliance | Hazel can now read content from more files than before. Using on-the-fly text recognition, Hazel can read text from non-OCRed PDFs and image files. In addition, Hazel can read from encrypted PDFs if you supply a password | source |
| Uptime and status page | Not published on the collected pages. | — |
| Domain registered | 2002-12-06 | — |
| Domain expires | 2026-12-06 | — |
Not found on the collected pages: legal and privacy, uptime and status page. This only means Scout did not find it on the pages it read; it says nothing about the company itself.
Documentation and product updates
Help resources, product guidance, and visible changes over time.
| Resource or update | Type | What is available | Date or freshness |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hazel 6.0.4 Release Notes – Noodlesoft | Release notes | Public product change history. (source) | Not dated |
| Hazel 6.1.1 Release Notes – Noodlesoft | Release notes | Public product change history. (source) | Not dated |
| Hazel 6.1.2 Release Notes – Noodlesoft | Release notes | Public product change history. (source) | Not dated |
| Hazel 6.1 Release Notes – Noodlesoft | Release notes | Public product change history. (source) | Not dated |
| Contact and support | Support | Public contact and support channel. (source) | Not dated |
| Noodlings — On Mac OS X programming | Product update | Product update is publicly available. (source) | Not dated |
Not found in the collected public sources: public roadmap, status page, separate help center or knowledge base.
Technical
Technical and delivery signals
Delivery model, platforms, API, data ownership, reliability claims and release activity.
| Signal | Finding | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery model (cloud, self-hosted, desktop, browser extension) | Hazel is a desktop app for Mac S1. | S1 |
| Platforms and apps | Hazel runs on macOS S1. | S1 |
| API and extensibility (API, SDK, webhooks, MCP, plugins) | Hazel supports Shortcuts, AppleScript, and Automator for extensibility S6. | S6 |
| Data ownership and export | Not published on the collected pages. | — |
| Performance and reliability claims | Not published on the collected pages. | — |
| Release activity | Release notes for versions 6.0.4, 6.1, 6.1.1, and 6.1.2 are available S18 S25 S27 S19. | S18 S25 S27 S19 |
Measured infrastructure
Domain, certificate, and hosting signals, measured directly.
| Signal | Finding |
|---|---|
| Domain registered | 2002-12-06 — Name.com, Inc. |
| Domain expires | 2026-12-06 |
| First archived | 2003-09-23 — web archive |
| TLS certificate | GlobalSign nv-sa, valid, expires 2027-03-13 |
| Security headers | X-Content-Type-Options, X-Frame-Options |
| Headers not served | HSTS, CSP, Referrer-Policy |
| Mail handled by | mx1.emailsrvr.com, mx2.emailsrvr.com |
| Nameservers | dns1.stabletransit.com, dns2.stabletransit.com |
Not measurable: rdap: exceeded the overall budget; wayback: exceeded the overall budget; tls: exceeded the overall budget; dns: exceeded the overall budget; headers: exceeded the overall budget. A gap here means the lookup was unavailable, not that the finding is negative.
Limits and method
Limitations and open questions
Known constraints and missing evidence from the collected pages.
The collected pages do not mention any competitor products. Evidence gaps include lack of detailed pricing information beyond the store page, no explicit security or compliance certifications, and no performance or reliability claims. Open questions include the exact feature set of Hazel 6 and the scope of the free trial.
Sources, method, and limitations
Evidence inventory, collection method, provider use, and constraints.
This report is based on 15 collected pages from noodlesoft.com, including the homepage, about, support, reviews, store, release notes, and blog. The static collector completed all 15 pages, while the browser rendering collector partially rendered 4 pages. External proof search was used to verify the existence of external reviews, but their content was not collected. Pricing data was sourced from the store page and is authoritative. Limitations include the lack of first-party customer testimonials and detailed technical documentation.
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/about/Verified
- Documentationhttps://www.noodlesoft.com/kb/techradar-15-essential-productivity-apps-that-every-mac-user-should-try/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/reviews/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/kb/hazel-6-0-4-release-notes/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/kb/hazel-6-1-1-release-notes/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/kb/hazel-6-1-2-release-notes/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/kb/hazel-6-1-release-notes/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/blog/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/forums/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://store.noodlesoft.com/storeVerified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/support/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/whats-new-in-hazel-6/Verified
- Official Websitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/kb/mac-i-vielseitiger-ordnungshelfer/Verified
- Articlehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16949Verified
- Review Sitehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/manual/hazel/learn-more/Verified
- Articlehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17411Verified
- Articlehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17096Verified
- Articlehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17191Verified
- Articlehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/forums/index.phpVerified
- Articlehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=4Verified
- Articlehttps://www.noodlesoft.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=4&start=50Verified