Belvedere

An automated file manager for Windows — revived.

Belvedere watches folders you choose and automatically moves, copies, renames, recycles, or otherwise acts on files based on rules you define (by name, extension, size, or date). It was originally written by Adam Pash and distributed by Lifehacker as an AutoHotkey app, and later maintained by Matthew Shorts (@mshorts).

This repository is a fork of mshorts/belvedere (itself derived from adampash/belvedere) and now contains a native .NET rewrite (src/Belvedere) that replaces the unmaintained AutoHotkey version, which stopped working on modern Windows. This project remains under the same GPL v3 license as the original. The original AutoHotkey source is preserved in the project's git history (see the commits before the .NET rewrite, or the upstream repos linked above) rather than kept in the working tree.

• Platform: Windows 10 / 11 (x64)
• Language: C# / .NET 8 (WinForms)
• License: GPL v3 — see LICENSE.txt

Why the rewrite

The AutoHotkey v1 build broke on current Windows for several reasons: AHK v1 is legacy (the ecosystem moved to v2), the unsigned compiled .exe was blocked by SmartScreen/Defender, and it depended on dead components (Growl, iTunes COM automation, a bundled 7-Zip). The rewrite is a modern, signable, self-contained tray application with no external runtime dependencies.

What's new / different

• Real-time folder watching (FileSystemWatcher) with a periodic sweep as a safety net — no more waiting for a fixed poll interval.
• Rules can target whole folders, not just files — move, copy, rename, recycle, or delete a subfolder as a unit (e.g. "delete album folders untouched for 30 days"), in addition to the original file-based rules.
• "Test rule" dry-run preview — see exactly which files or folders a rule would act on right now, and what would happen to them, before you ever enable it or let it touch anything.
• Native Windows notifications instead of Growl.
• Recycle Bin via the proper Windows shell API.
• JSON configuration under %AppData%\Belvedere\config.json, plus a one-click importer for your existing rules.ini so upgraders keep their rules.
• Runs as the current user (no forced Administrator elevation) and can start automatically at sign-in.
• An About tab in the Manage window (not just a tray popup) with version, credits, and a link back to this repo.
• Dropped: iTunes integration, Growl, and built-in 7-Zip compression.

Rule model (unchanged concept)

A rule watches a source folder and, for every file or folder matching all or any of its conditions, performs an action:

• Target: Files or Folders — most subjects/actions work for either, except Extension and Size (files only) and Print (files only).
• Subjects: Name, Extension, Size, Date last modified / opened / created
• Verbs: is / is not, matches/contains one of, contains, RegEx, greater/less than (size), is (not) in the last N seconds…weeks (dates)
• Actions: Move (optionally leaving a shortcut), Copy, Rename (with [filename], [ext], [YYYY], … tokens), Send to Recycle Bin, Delete, Open, Print (files only), or run a Custom program.

See docs/USER_GUIDE.md for a full walkthrough of rules, the Test-rule preview, and preferences.

Install

Download and run Belvedere-<version>.msi. It installs a single self-contained executable to C:\Program Files\Belvedere, adds a Start Menu shortcut, and registers a normal Add/Remove Programs entry for clean uninstall. No .NET runtime or AutoHotkey is required. Enable "Start Belvedere when I sign in" from the app's Preferences if you want it to launch automatically.

Build & run (from source)

Requires the .NET 8 SDK.

# Run from source
dotnet run --project src/Belvedere/Belvedere.csproj

# Produce a self-contained, single-file exe (no runtime install needed)
dotnet publish src/Belvedere/Belvedere.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true \
  -p:PublishSingleFile=true -p:IncludeNativeLibrariesForSelfExtract=true -o dist/win-x64

The published dist/win-x64/Belvedere.exe is fully self-contained — the icons are embedded, so that single file is all you need to distribute.

Build the installer

Requires the WiX v5 toolset (dotnet tool install --global wix). The script publishes the exe and packages the MSI in one step:

pwsh installer-dotnet/build.ps1                # builds dist/Belvedere-2.1.0.msi
pwsh installer-dotnet/build.ps1 -Version 2.2.0 # override the version

For production distribution, code-sign both the .exe and the .msi to avoid SmartScreen warnings.

Documentation

• docs/USER_GUIDE.md — how rules, conditions, actions, the Test-rule preview, and preferences work.
• CHANGELOG.md — what changed in each version.
• FEATURE_IDEAS.md — backlog of feature requests pulled from the original Lifehacker comment thread, checked against the current feature set.

Legacy AutoHotkey version

The original AutoHotkey source has been removed from the working tree now that the .NET rewrite is the supported version. It's still available in this repository's git history, and in the upstream repos linked above.

Credits & lineage

Belvedere is the work of many hands, and this revival stands entirely on that foundation:

• Adam Pash — original author, published via Lifehacker.
• Matthew Shorts (@mshorts) — maintainer of the fork this repository is based on (build automation, bug fixes, license cleanup).
• Icon design by What Cheer.
• This .NET revival is a fork that ports the app to native C#/.NET 8 while preserving the original design, behavior, and GPL v3 license.

Enormous thanks to Adam and Matthew — this project exists only because of their work. Contributions and merges upstream are welcome.