I was tired of manually creating folders and dragging files into bins every time I started a new video project. It’s a tedious process that kills momentum.
Smart Sorter is a CEP extension I built to automate this. With one click (or on a timer), it builds a clean folder skeleton and automatically routes all your footage, audio, and graphics into their right bins based on extensions.
- Works in Premiere & AE: Built on a shared core script that handles both apps natively.
- Visual Editor: No coding needed. Just click, add folders, and type your extensions to build a custom hierarchy.
- JSON Mode: If you're a power user, you can just paste your own JSON config directly into the panel.
- Auto-Sort Timer: Turn on the background timer (e.g. 10 mins) and forget about it. It'll sort your files while you edit.
- Multilingual: Supports English, Arabic (RTL), Persian (RTL), Russian, and Chinese out of the box. Want to add your language? Just drop a new
.jsfile in thelocalesfolder and send a PR.
Since this isn't on the official Adobe Exchange yet, you'll need to enable Debug Mode to run it.
- Windows: Open
regedit, go toHKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Adobe/CSXS.11(do the same for 10 or 12 if you have them), add a string valuePlayerDebugModeand set it to1. - macOS: Open Terminal and run:
defaults write com.adobe.CSXS.11 PlayerDebugMode 1
Copy the com.smartsorter.panel folder from this repo into your CEP extensions directory:
- Windows:
C:\Users\YOUR_USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEP\extensions\com.smartsorter.panel - macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/CEP/extensions/com.smartsorter.panel
Restart Premiere Pro or After Effects, and open it via Window > Extensions > Smart Sorter.
This project is licensed under the GNU AGPLv3. You are free to use, modify, and distribute it. However, if you modify the code or use it as part of a commercial network service, you are required to open-source your changes under the same license.