Organize Your Messy Desktop with Python

Be honest. How many random files are on your desktop right now? Screenshots from three months ago? That PDF you downloaded once? A folder called "New Folder (3)"? Let's write a Python script that cleans that mess up automatically.

What We're Building

A script that:

Scans your desktop (or any folder)
Sorts files into organized folders by type (Images, Documents, Music, etc.)
Runs in seconds
Can be scheduled to run automatically

💬 Denise says

This was one of the first Python scripts I ever wrote that felt USEFUL. Not a tutorial exercise, not a fake project — something that saved me actual time. After running it once I was like "wait, coding can just... solve problems in my life?" Yes. Yes it can.

Step 1: The Plan

Here's how files will get sorted:

Step 2: Map File Types to Folders

Step 3: The Sorting Function

1def get_category(filename):
2'''Figure out which folder a file belongs in based on its extension.'''
3extension = os.path.splitext(filename)[1].lower()
4
5for category, extensions in FILE_CATEGORIES.items():
6if extension in extensions:
7return category
8
9return 'Other'  # Files that don't match any category
10
11
12def organize_folder(folder_path):
13'''Sort all files in a folder into categorized subfolders.'''
14
15# Count how many files we moved
16moved = 0
17
18for filename in os.listdir(folder_path):
19file_path = os.path.join(folder_path, filename)
20
21# Skip folders — we only want to sort files
22if os.path.isdir(file_path):
23continue
24
25# Skip hidden files (like .DS_Store on Mac)
26if filename.startswith('.'):
27continue
28
29# Figure out where this file goes
30category = get_category(filename)
31
32# Create the category folder if it doesn't exist
33category_path = os.path.join(folder_path, category)
34if not os.path.exists(category_path):
35os.makedirs(category_path)
36print(f'  Created folder: {category}/')
37
38# Move the file!
39destination = os.path.join(category_path, filename)
40shutil.move(file_path, destination)
41print(f'  Moved: {filename} -> {category}/')
42moved += 1
43
44return moved

Step 4: Make It Interactive

⚠️ Heads up

Test this on a folder with copies first before running it on your actual Desktop! Create a test folder with some dummy files to make sure it works the way you want. Once you're confident, unleash it on the real mess.

Step 5: Add an Undo Feature

Because sometimes you want your mess back:

Level Up Ideas

Schedule it — use cron (Mac/Linux) or Task Scheduler (Windows) to run it daily
Sort by date — create subfolders like Images/2025-04/ based on when files were created
Smart rename — rename screenshots from "IMG_4521.png" to "screenshot-2025-04-20.png"
Desktop wallpaper — randomly set your wallpaper from your Images folder
Size report — show how much space each category takes up

💬 Denise says

You just wrote a real automation script. This is exactly the kind of thing Python developers do at their jobs — automate repetitive tasks that nobody wants to do by hand. You could put this on your portfolio, show it in an interview, or just enjoy having a clean desktop for once. All three are valid.