Help · Smart Folders
A Smart Folder is a search you saved, pointed at a folder on disk. Refresh it and the new matches are added there as real files — readable by any other app, backed up by any backup tool, and visible without FolioSort running. The originals never move, so a photo can belong to as many Smart Folders as you like.
Originals are never moved. A refresh adds copies of the new matches into the folder you nominated. Your organised library is untouched, and the same photo can appear in several Smart Folders without any of them fighting over it.
Deleting a Smart Folder deletes the saved search only — files already added stay in place. Undo reverses the last refresh by sending the files it added to the Trash, never the originals.
SEARCHElite
What the folder collects, written the way you would say it: the field's own example is What should this folder collect? e.g. "beach sunsets". It is the same search engine as AI Search, including text found inside photos, so anything you can find there you can keep here.
ONLY WITH THIS PERSON (OPTIONAL)Elite
Narrows the search to photos containing one person from Find a Person — "beach sunsets, but only the ones with Ana in them". Leave it empty and the search applies to everyone.
Name (optional — the query is used if empty)Elite
A label for the Smart Folder. With nothing entered the query itself becomes the name, which is usually the clearer of the two.
Folder to keep filled / DESTINATIONElite
The real folder on disk that receives the matches. Pick one that belongs to the purpose — a folder you sync, a folder you print from, a folder someone else has access to — because the value of a Smart Folder is that other software sees it as an ordinary folder.
Add matches asElite
How the matches are placed in the destination. Whichever form you choose, the photo in your library is left where it is.
Create & RefreshElite
Saves the search and fills the folder for the first time. Until this is pressed nothing has been written anywhere.
Refresh this Smart Folder nowElite
Re-runs one saved search and adds what is new. Photos already there are not added twice.
Refresh AllElite
Run every saved search and add the new matches. The usual routine after importing a shoot: one press and every Smart Folder catches up.
Never refreshedElite
Shown against a Smart Folder that has been created but not yet filled. Each one otherwise shows when it last ran, so a folder that looks short can be checked rather than guessed at.
Show this folder in FinderElite
Opens the destination on disk — the quickest way to confirm for yourself that these are real files.
Undo the last refreshElite
Sends the files that the last refresh added to the Trash. Your originals are not involved, and when there is nothing to reverse the button reads Nothing to undo.
Delete this Smart FolderElite
Removes the saved search. Files already added stay in place — deleting the rule never cleans out the folder behind your back.
Which one to useElite
A Smart Folder answers "keep this folder full of X" and updates when you refresh it. A Workflow answers "do these steps in this order", and Watch Folders runs one unattended whenever new files arrive. Use a Smart Folder for a standing collection; use Watch Folders when the trigger is the arrival of files rather than you deciding to look.