The FlexTk file management toolkit allows one to classify files by the file type, file size, file attributes, access or modification dates, etc. using multiple file classification plugins and modes ranging from just displaying file classification results to physically reorganizing files on the disk. In addition, the user is provided with the ability to categorize and filter file classification results by the file extension, size, user name, etc. For example, in order to see a class hierarchy showing large files only, categorize files by the file size and double click on an appropriate file size category.

In addition, FlexTk Professional allows one to export reports to the HTML, text, Excel CSV and FlexTk's internal file formats. In order to save a report file, press the 'Save' button on the file classification results dialog and select an appropriate report format. Reports exported to the FlexTk's internal format may be opened at any time for additional analysis or submitted to a centralized SQL database using FlexTk Ultimate.

Frequently used file classification operations may be customized for user-specific needs, pre-configured as user-defined commands and executed in a single mouse click using FlexTk's main GUI application or direct desktop shortcuts. In addition, FlexTk Professional and FlexTk Ultimate provide a command line tool allowing one to execute user-defined file classification commands from batch files and shell scripts or schedule periodic file classification operations using a general purpose command scheduler. For more details about user-defined commands refer to the User-Defined Commands page.

FlexTk performs file classification using multiple file classification plugins designed for different purposes. A clean FlexTk installation includes a default file classification plugin named 'Default File Hierarchy', which is a general purpose classification plugin capable of recognizing more than 2000 types of files and organizing them into a logical file hierarchy. Additional file classification plugins, optimized for specific purposes, may be installed from our web site. For more information about existing file classification plugins refer to the Classification Plugins page.

In the simplest case, FlexTk allows one to classify files located in one or more disks or directories and display file classification results. In order to start a file classification operation, select one or more disks or directories and press the 'Classify' button located on the main toolbar. On the 'Select Classification Plugin' dialog select the 'Default File Hierarchy' and press the 'Classify' button.

After finishing the file classification process, FlexTk will display the classification results dialog showing an organized hierarchy of files according to the selected file classification plugin. All file classes are sorted by the amount of storage space used by files related to each file class making it easy to identify types of files using significant amounts of storage space. In order to open a file category, click on the category item in the classification results dialog. Each file category may contain multiple subcategories as it was defined in the selected file classification plugin.

FlexTk provides the user with the following advanced file management operations that may be performed on file classification results:

• Build Hierarchy of Links - select one or more file classes or files and press the 'Link To' button to construct an organized hierarchy of directories and populate it with links to original files according to file classification results.
• Copy File Hierarchy - select one or more file classes or files and press the 'Copy To' button to construct an organized hierarchy of directories and populate it with copies of original files according to file classification results.
• Move File Hierarchy - select one or more file classes or files and press the 'Move To' button to construct an organized hierarchy of directories and move all files related to the selected file classes into that hierarchy.
• Delete Files - select one or more file classes or files and press the 'Delete' button to delete all files related to the selected file classes.

In addition, FlexTk allows one to export file classification results into a number of standard formats such as HTML, Excel CSV and ASCII text. In order to export file classification results into a report file, press the 'Export' button and select an appropriate report format.

Advanced Options

FlexTk provides power computer users and IT professionals with a large set of advanced file classification options allowing one to customize and tune the file classification process for user-specific needs and custom storage configurations. In order to open the classification options dialog, press the 'Advanced Options' button on the 'File System Classification' dialog.

The 'General' tab allows one to set the file scanning mode, file scanning filter, a custom report title and instruct FlexTk to automatically save a file classification report instead of displaying file classification results.

• File Scanning Mode - FlexTk is capable of scanning multiple disks or directories in parallel thus improving the speed of the file classification process on multi-CPU/multi-core systems. Select the 'Parallel' file scanning mode if you wish to scan all input disks and directories simultaneously.
• File Scanning Filter - Sometimes, file classification should be performed on a subset of files meeting one or more user-specific requirements. For example, one may need to classify all JPEG images using the time-based file classification plugin capable of organizing files into a file hierarchy according to files' creation, modification and access dates. In this case, set the file scanning filter to '*.jpg' (JPEG images) and FlexTk will classify JPEG images only.
• Report Title - this option allows one to specify a custom report title to be used in all types of file classification reports.
• Save Report - If this option is selected, FlexTk will classify all the specified disks and directories and automatically save file classification results into a report file according to the selected report format instead of displaying the file classification results dialog. This option is especially useful in conjunction with user-defined file classification commands allowing one to schedule periodic file classification operations using FlexTk's built-in command line tools. The report file name is constructed according to the following logic: 1). if the report entry is empty, FlexTk will automatically generate a report file name and save the report file into the user's home directory. 2). if the report entry specifies an existing directory, FlexTk will automatically generate a report file name and save the report into the specified directory. 3). if the report entry is not empty, FlexTk will use the entered value as an absolute file name.

The 'Rules' tab (FlexTk Ultimate Only) provides the user with the ability to perform file classification on files matching one or more user-defined criteria. All files that are not matching the specified file matching criteria will be excluded from the classification process and not displayed in classification results. For example, one may wish to classify all types of documents with the file size more than 1 MB and were modified more than a year ago. In order to add one or more file matching rules, press the 'Add' button. Select an existing file matching rule and press the 'Delete' button to remove the selected file matching rule. If no rules are specified, FlexTk will classify all files located in the specified input disks and directories.

The 'Performance' (FlexTk Professional and FlexTk Ultimate) tab provides the user with the ability to customize the file classification process for user-specific storage configurations and performance requirements. FlexTk is optimized for multi-core/multi-CPU computers and advanced RAID storage systems and capable of scanning multiple file systems in parallel. In order to speed up the file classification process, use multiple processing threads when scanning input directories located on multiple physical hard disks or a RAID disk array. In addition, in order to minimize potential performance impact on running production systems, FlexTk allows one to intentionally slow down the file classification process. According to your specific needs, select the 'Full Speed', 'Medium Speed', 'Low Speed' or 'Manual Control' performance mode.

The 'Exclude' tab allows one to specify a list of directories that should be excluded from the file classification process. Files located in the Windows system directories may be critical to the proper operation of the operating system and it is highly recommended to avoid touching any files in these directories. By default, FlexTk populates the list of exclude directories from the global list of exclude directories, which may be modified on the FlexTk options dialog's 'Exclude' tab.

The 'Actions' tab (FlexTk Ultimate Only) allows one to automatically perform various file management operations on file classification results. By default, FlexTk is just displaying file classification results in the results dialog allowing the user to manually perform file management operations on specific files or file classes. Sometimes, users need to automate the file classification process and to perform an operation (copy, move, link, etc.) automatically, on-the-fly, without showing any file classification results.

FlexTk provides the following automatic file classification modes:

• 'Classify and Build Links Hierarchy In' - select this option and specify a destination directory to construct an organized hierarchy of directories and populate it with links to original files according to file classification results.
• 'Classify and Copy File Hierarchy To' - selects this option and specify a destination directory to construct an organized hierarchy of directories and populate it with copies of original files according to file classification results.
• 'Classify and Move File Hierarchy To' - select this option and specify a destination directory to construct an organized hierarchy of directories and move all classified files into that hierarchy according to file classification results.
• 'Move Files To and Link Originals' - select this option and specify a destination directory to construct an organized hierarchy of directories and move all classified files into that hierarchy according to file classification results while replacing original files with links pointing to classified files in the specified destination directory.
• 'Execute Custom Command' - select this option and specify a custom command or a script file to be executed for each classified file. For each classified file, FlexTk will execute the specified custom command and pass the full name of the file and the full class name as the first and the second command line arguments respectively.

Automatic file classification operations are especially useful in conjunction with user-defined commands allowing one to pre-configure all the required parameters and optimize file classification for user-specific needs and custom storage configurations. Finally, the user may use FlexTk's command line tool, which is capable of executing user-defined command and provides the ability to schedule periodic file classification operations at regular time intervals thus allowing one to fully automate the whole file classification process.