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Undo, Preview & File Safety
How Sortio protects your files: preview before apply, dry runs, full undo history, no overwrites, and protected system folders.
How Sortio Protects Your Files
Sortio physically moves and renames files, so it is built around one principle: nothing irreversible happens without you seeing it first, and everything it does can be undone. The protection comes in layers:
Preview before apply
Every AI sort shows the full plan (moves, renames, new folders) before anything happens.
Dry Run for automations
Rules can be simulated against real files with zero changes on disk.
Undo via History
Every applied sort is recorded and reversible, in whole or file by file.
No overwrites, trash not delete
Name collisions get a numbered suffix instead of replacing a file, and the Delete action moves files to the trash.
A note on backups
Sortio does not create duplicate backup copies of your files. Its safety model is preview plus a complete, reversible record of every move, combined with never overwriting existing files. Keep your regular backup tool (Time Machine, File History, cloud sync) running as usual; Sortio's moves and renames look like ordinary file operations to it.
Preview Before Apply
When you run an AI sort, Sortio does not start moving files. It generates a preview of the plan first:
1. Which files will be moved, and to where
2. Which files will be renamed, and their new names
3. Which new folders will be created
4. Which files will be left unchanged
Nothing touches your disk until you click Apply. If the preview isn't what you wanted, revise your prompt and generate a new one; previews are free, and you can generate as many as you like.
Automations have the same idea in the form of a Dry Run: the rule is simulated against your real files and you see exactly what would match and what would happen, with zero changes made. Details in the Rules Engine docs.
Undo and Sort History
Every applied sort is recorded on the History page as a session: the folder, the prompt you used, every file move with its original and new path, every rename, and every folder created. That record is what makes undo possible.
Undo a whole session
Find the session in History (newest first) and click undo. Sortio moves every file back to its original location, and cleans up folders it created if they're left empty.
Undo individual moves
Open a session's details and select just the moves you want reversed. Useful when a sort got most files right and misplaced a few.
Undo background automation runs
When a watched folder's automations move files automatically, the notification includes a one-click Undo that restores everything from that run. See Watch Folders & Automations.
Iterations are separate sessions
If you refine a sort with follow-up prompts, each iteration gets its own History entry, so you can undo just the last step without losing the rest.
This is what makes Sortio safe to experiment with: try an aggressive organization scheme, look at the result, and undo anything you don't like.
No Overwrites, Ever
Name collisions get a suffix
If a move or rename would land on a path where a different file already exists, Sortio appends a number to the incoming file's name instead of replacing the existing file. All move, rename, and archive operations go through this same collision check.
Delete means trash
The Delete action in automations moves files to your system trash, not permanent deletion. You can recover them from the trash like any other file.
System and hidden files are skipped
Sorts don't touch dotfiles or system files, so an aggressive prompt can't break an application's working files.
Protected System Folders
As of v8.18.0, Sortio refuses to organize, watch, or move files out of locations where moving files could damage your machine:
• The filesystem root and drive roots (/, C:\)
• OS directories and everything inside them (/System, /Library, C:\Windows\System32, and similar)
• Your home folder itself (sorting all of it would scatter settings and app data)
Normal working folders inside your home directory, like ~/Downloads or
~/Documents/Clients, are unaffected. The guard is enforced at every entry point:
folder selection, sort apply, automation runs, Space creation, the background watcher, and rule
move destinations.
What Undo Can't Do
Undo works by moving files back from where Sortio put them. A few honest limits follow from that:
External changes break undo for that file
If you move, rename, or delete a file with Finder, Explorer, or another app after Sortio placed it, Sortio can no longer undo that specific move. It will tell you which files couldn't be restored and still reverse the rest.
Undo sessions in reverse order
If you've run several sorts on the same folder, undo the newest session first. Undoing out of order can put files in unexpected places.
History tracks Sortio's own operations
Sort History records what Sortio's sorts did. It is not a general-purpose file activity monitor and doesn't track changes you make outside the app.
Stuck on an undo, or did something go sideways? Email marcus@getsortio.com and we'll help you put things back.