An AI desktop organizer for Mac
Most desktops fill up the same way: screenshots, downloads, a contract to sign, the tickets for a trip. Tidy Desktop sorts them by what each file is for, not only by its kind. Apple's on-device AI looks at the name and kind of every file and gathers it with the files it belongs to, so a trip's tickets, hotel booking and itinerary end up in one collection and the invoices in another. New files find their collection as they arrive.
Fences-style collections, sorted by AI
Collections sit on the desktop the way Fences does on Windows: drag one to move it, resize it from the corner, double-click its header to collapse it. They line up from the edge of the screen and never overlap, Other comes last, and you choose how many collections you want, from three to sixteen. When the screen fills up, they show fewer rows and then collapse.
Your files never move
Collections are a view, not folders. Tidy Desktop never moves, renames or deletes a file on its own: your files stay in your Desktop folder, and quitting the app leaves the desktop as it was. Dropping a file onto a collection puts it in the Desktop folder, the way Finder does, and a file's right-click menu has Finder's own commands: Open With, Quick Look, Get Info, Rename, Tags and Move to Trash.
Your own collections
Make a collection by giving it a name and saying what it is for, for example Code for your Swift and web projects. Tidy Desktop fills it with the files that fit, now and as new files arrive.
Downloads, Documents and more on the desktop
Locations put Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Music, Movies and Applications on the desktop as windows that show each folder's newest files. Drag files between them and your collections; Tidy Desktop never rearranges those folders on its own.
Liquid Glass and 24 Codigrate themes
The native macOS Liquid Glass look comes first, and the 24 Codigrate themes recolor every collection and location. Multicolor gives each collection one of the theme's five colors, or you pick one yourself.
Private by design
Grouping runs entirely on your Mac through Apple's Foundation Models framework. No account, no cloud and no network requests, and folder access goes only through macOS's own permission prompts.
Questions
- How do I organize my Mac desktop automatically?
- Open Tidy Desktop and, when its welcome window asks, turn off Finder's own desktop icons (System Settings, Desktop & Dock, Show Items: On Desktop). Apple's on-device AI then looks at every file on your desktop and gathers it into a collection by what it is for, such as a trip, a project or invoices. New files join the right collection as they arrive, so there are no rules to write and nothing to drag.
- Does Tidy Desktop move, rename or delete my files?
- No. Collections are a view, not folders: every file stays where it is in your Desktop folder, under its own name. Tidy Desktop never moves, renames or deletes a file on its own, and when you quit it and show Finder's desktop icons again, your desktop is exactly as it was.
- Is Tidy Desktop a Fences alternative for Mac?
- Yes. Stardock Fences groups desktop icons on Windows; Tidy Desktop brings desktop collections to macOS and adds AI that fills them for you. Every collection can still be moved, resized, collapsed and recolored, and you can make your own by naming it and saying what it is for.
- Does Tidy Desktop need Apple Intelligence?
- AI Grouping runs on Apple's on-device Foundation Models, so it needs a Mac with Apple Intelligence turned on. Without it, Tidy Desktop still tidies the desktop by kind: documents, images, screenshots, installers and the rest each get a collection of their own.
- Is Tidy Desktop private?
- Yes. Grouping happens entirely on your Mac. There is no account and no cloud, and the app makes no network requests at all.
- Can it organize Downloads and Documents too?
- It can show them. Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Music, Movies and Applications can sit on the desktop as Locations, windows that show each folder's newest files. You can drag files between them and your collections, and Tidy Desktop never rearranges those folders on its own.
- Which Macs does Tidy Desktop run on?
- Macs with macOS 26 Tahoe or later. It is a native menu bar app, and macOS asks you before it reads your Desktop, Downloads or Documents.
