Discover and Import Rulepacks
A guide to browsing, evaluating, and importing community rulepacks to instantly get professional-grade sorting rules for your industry or use case.
In This Guide
The Challenge
Building a complete set of sorting rules from scratch takes time and expertise. Different professions have specific file organization needs—legal documents, student materials, code projects—that require domain knowledge to organize effectively.
Who This Guide Is For
- New users who want to start organizing immediately
- Professionals looking for industry-specific organization
- Anyone who wants proven rules instead of building from scratch
- Teams wanting standardized file organization across members
Step-by-Step Guide
Browse the Discover Tab
Open Sortio and navigate to the Discover tab. You'll see a grid of available rulepacks organized by category. Use the vertical filter (Legal, Students, Developers, Designers, Photography, Finance, General) to find packs relevant to your work.
Explore Rulepack Details
Click on any rulepack card to see full details. Review the description, see how many rules are included, check the vote count (more votes = community approved), and look for Staff Pick or Verified badges indicating quality.
Preview Rules Before Importing
Before importing, scroll through the rule previews to understand exactly what each rule does. Check the conditions (what files match) and actions (where they go). Make sure the rules align with your folder structure and workflow.
Import the Rulepack
Click "Import Rulepack" to add all rules to your library. Sortio automatically resolves path placeholders (like {DOWNLOADS}) to your actual system folders. The rules become yours to use, edit, or delete.
Find Your New Rules
Navigate to the Rules tab to see your imported rules. They're immediately ready to use. You can run them manually on any folder, add them to Smart Folders for automatic sorting, or customize them to better fit your needs.
Stay Updated
When rulepack creators publish updates, you'll see a notification badge on the Discover tab. Review update notes and apply improvements while keeping any customizations you've made.
Example Workflow
1Before
You're a law student starting a new semester with hundreds of documents to organize: lectures, assignments, readings, and research papers. Building rules for each course would take hours.
2The Prompt
Browse rulepacks in the Students category, find the "Student Study Materials" pack, preview its rules for organizing by course and document type, then import with one click.3After
Your rules library now includes professionally-designed rules for sorting lectures, assignments, research papers, and notes. Apply them to your Downloads folder and everything organizes automatically as you save files.
Pro Tips
- Start with Staff Picks—these are curated by the Sortio team for quality
- Check vote counts to see what the community recommends
- Preview all rules before importing to ensure they fit your workflow
- Customize rules after import to match your specific folder structure
- Vote on packs you find useful to help others discover them
- Check for updates periodically to get creator improvements
Frequently Asked Questions
How many rulepacks can I import?
Standard users can import 3 rulepacks. Pro users have unlimited imports. Free users can browse and preview but cannot import. Upgrade anytime if you need more.
Will imported rules work with my folder structure?
Yes. Rulepacks use placeholder paths like {DOCUMENTS} that automatically resolve to your actual system folders. You can also customize rules after import to use specific paths.
Can I publish my own rulepack?
Yes! All users (including Free) can publish rulepacks. Click "Publish Rulepack" in the Discover tab, select which rules to include, add a description, and submit. Content moderation ensures quality.
What if I want to modify an imported rule?
Imported rules become part of your personal library. Edit them like any other rule—your changes are local and won't affect the original rulepack or other users.
Related Glossary Terms
Ready to Implement This Guide?
Sortio can automate much of this workflow with AI-powered file organization. Let Sortio handle the sorting while you focus on your work.
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