Inbox Filing: Receipts and Contracts into the Right Folders

The scenario

Paperless life has a single entry point: everything falls into Downloads or a scan folder first — bank statements, invoices, lease agreements, shipping labels. They deserve to be filed, but every one of them needs you to drag it to the right folder by hand.

The pain

Manual filing costs just enough that nobody keeps it up: at the moment of sorting you have to decide "where does this belong," and when the answer isn't obvious you put it off. Three months later Downloads holds two hundred put-offs. Classic auto-filing rules ask the opposite of you: learn to write rules first — keyword forms, extension filters — like programming yourself.

How Alayo does it

Add Downloads to your watched folders. From then on:

• A new file appears → Suggestions flags it to add — first you decide whether it comes in;
• Once added, AI reads the content and works out what it is (an invoice? a contract? a screenshot?);
• Place suggests a home: into your existing "2026 Expenses" group — then you decide where it goes;
• You approve with a glance, and on apply the file actually moves to that folder.

Follow along

1. Open Space Settings… (File menu), and under "Watched Folders" click Add Folder… and pick Downloads;
2. Drop a PDF into Downloads, wait for the prompt, and open Suggestions (View › Show Suggestions, or click the notification);
3. Click Add All (or pick one by one) — the files land in your space as cards;
4. Create your filing groups (say, "2026 Expenses"), select the loose cards and choose Organize › Place Selection in Existing Groups;
5. Review each suggestion in Suggestions and click Apply;
6. Click Review & Move…, click Check Changes, confirm the list, and apply — check Finder: the files really are where they should be (wrong spot? Undo This Move on the result view).

Watch a 30-second demo

Related reading

• New to Alayo → Getting Started
• Why every step asks for your confirmation → Core Concepts