I Built a Python Script That Cleans My Downloads Folder Automatically

João Paulo Gomes — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 11:42:59 +0000

My Downloads folder had 1,400 files in it.

PDFs mixed with screenshots, ZIP files buried under random .tmp files, video clips I downloaded once and forgot about. Every time I needed something, it took me five minutes of scrolling to find it.

So I wrote a Python script to fix it. It took about 20 minutes to write, and now I run it whenever things get messy.

Here's exactly how it works — and the full code you can copy.

What the script does

It scans a folder you choose, looks at each file's extension, and moves it into a sub-folder based on its type:

The full code

No external libraries needed — this runs on any Python 3 installation.

import os
import shutil

FOLDER = os.path.expanduser("~/Downloads")

CATEGORIES = {
    "Images":    [".jpg", ".jpeg", ".png", ".gif", ".bmp", ".svg", ".webp"],
    "Videos":    [".mp4", ".mov", ".avi", ".mkv", ".wmv"],
    "Audio":     [".mp3", ".wav", ".flac", ".aac", ".ogg"],
    "Documents": [".pdf", ".docx", ".doc", ".txt", ".xlsx", ".pptx", ".csv"],
    "Archives":  [".zip", ".rar", ".tar", ".gz", ".7z"],
    "Code":      [".py", ".js", ".html", ".css", ".json", ".xml"],
    "Others":    [],
}

def get_category(extension):
    for category, extensions in CATEGORIES.items():
        if extension.lower() in extensions:
            return category
    return "Others"

def organise_folder(folder_path):
    moved = 0
    for filename in os.listdir(folder_path):
        filepath = os.path.join(folder_path, filename)
        if os.path.isdir(filepath):
            continue
        _, ext = os.path.splitext(filename)
        category = get_category(ext)
        dest_folder = os.path.join(folder_path, category)
        os.makedirs(dest_folder, exist_ok=True)
        dest_path = os.path.join(dest_folder, filename)
        shutil.move(filepath, dest_path)
        print(f"Moved: {filename}  →  {category}/")
        moved += 1
    print(f"\nDone! {moved} file(s) organised.")

organise_folder(FOLDER)

How to run it

1. Check Python is installed

python --version

2. Save the script as organizer.py

3. Change the folder path if needed

Customising it

Add your own categories:

"Design": [".psd", ".ai", ".xd", ".fig"],
"Ebooks": [".epub", ".mobi"],

Run on multiple folders:

folders = [
    os.path.expanduser("~/Downloads"),
    os.path.expanduser("~/Desktop"),
]
for folder in folders:
    organise_folder(folder)

Why I love scripts like this

This script won't change your life. But it's a perfect example of what Python is great at: small, specific problems that quietly eat your time.

Once you understand how this one works, you start seeing automation opportunities everywhere — renaming files, sending reports by email, cleaning up spreadsheets. The pattern is always the same: find the repetitive thing, write 30 lines, never do it manually again.

If you want 9 more scripts like this one — bulk file renamer, password generator, PDF merger, web scraper, and more — I put them all together in a short e-book with full commented code and step-by-step instructions.

👉 10 Python Scripts for Everyday Life

Every script works out of the box. No advanced Python required.

What repetitive task would you automate first? Drop it in the comments!

FOLDER = "C:/Users/YourName/Desktop"   # Windows
FOLDER = "/home/yourname/Desktop"       # Mac / Linux

4. Run it