ElegantNameTagsTypeIdleSize
ubuntu-24.04.iso
stagedISO7 mo4.7 GBscreen-record-final.mp4
—Video5 mo2.9 GBold-app-setup-v3.exe
installerApp94 days820 MBbackup-2023.zip
—Archive1 yr1.4 GB_Review staged
—Foldertoday58 GBWindows Storage Sense frees space on a schedule, deleting temp files and old Recycle Bin contents without asking. Elegant File Explorer takes a different path: recipes gather the real space-eaters, old installers, forgotten giants, ISOs, huge videos, into review folders where you decide. Nothing is ever removed behind your back.
Turn on a ready-made recipe or teach a rule once — it rounds up the real space-eaters into review folders where the delete key stays yours, always with a simulation first.
One-click fixes for the space that actually piles up — always simulated first and undoable after.
Rounds up files past a size you set, idle for months, into a "_Review" folder tagged and sized. Nothing is deleted — you decide what goes.
Gathers setup files older than the age you choose into one review folder in a single pass, so you can free space with context.
Zips each idle file next to the original: the ZIP is born in the same folder, you verify it, and remove the original only when you want.
Finds identical files by content (SHA-256), even with different names. Always reviewed by hand — you decide what leaves; nothing is deleted on its own.
Storage Sense clears space on a timer, deciding for you. Elegant File Explorer gathers the heavy, idle files into a review folder, tagged and sized, and waits. The delete key is always yours.
Everything lands in review folders with tags and sizes. From there the decision is yours, one file or all of them — and a delete never skips the Recycle Bin.
Quiet, conservative, and never firing behind your back — inside a complete file manager.
Folder statistics show total size and a per-type breakdown before you touch a thing.
node_modules, .git and Program Files are left alone by default, so nothing structural moves.
Size and age limits are yours to set on each recipe, not fixed numbers we picked.
Candidates land tagged, so you can find and revisit the review pile any time.
Reclaim runs on demand and shows the simulation; you press go, nothing fires on a hidden timer.
No account, no cloud, no telemetry. It’s your disk, your PC, and your decision.
It still has not learned where to put it. Two years of new Explorer features later, the folder is exactly as messy as it was.
Since late 2025 the Explorer right-click menu can blur a background, erase an object or summarize a document — the last one needing a Microsoft 365 subscription and a Copilot licence, and not yet available in the EEA. It reads your file and it edits your file. It still does not file your file.
Its job is to free space: temporary files, the Recycle Bin, and — if you left that switch on — the files in Downloads you have not opened for 30 or 60 days. Nothing in the 2025/26 wave changed that. Deleting is not organizing, and a folder that empties on a timer is not a tidy folder.
In June 2026 Google made Organize My Files generally available in Drive: Gemini reads your folder structure and suggests where the loose files should go. It is genuinely useful — and it only works on files that already live on Google’s servers.
Rules, not guesses: the same folder always produces the same plan, and you read the plan before it runs. Nothing is uploaded, nothing is sent anywhere to be analysed, and you can check that by pulling the network cable — the app keeps working. What leaves goes to the Recycle Bin, and every run reverses in one click. It is a one-time purchase, and the 176 ready-made recipes come with it.
SourcesWindows Central on AI actions in File Explorer · Windows Experience Blog, October 2025 · Google Workspace Updates, June 2026
Storage Sense is a solid, quiet cleanup tool built into Windows. It just decides for you. Here is where the three differ.
| Elegant File Explorer | Windows Storage Sense | Cleanup apps | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reviews before deleting | Always | Deletes on schedule | Rarely |
| Targets your real files (installers, giants) | Yes | Mostly temp & Bin | Varies |
| Compress instead of delete | Yes | No | No |
| Removals via Recycle Bin | Always | Can bypass it | Auto-deletes |
| Runs without any prompt | By design, no | Yes | Often |
No subscription, no monthly fee. Try it for 15 days and, if you keep it, it’s a one-time purchase — yours for good. And everything runs on your computer.
No. Recipes move candidates to review folders and tag them. Deleting is always your explicit action, and it goes through the Recycle Bin.
Storage Sense frees space on a schedule by deleting temp files and old Recycle Bin contents automatically, without asking each time. This organizes YOUR files instead, the forgotten downloads and giants that actually eat your disk, and leaves every removal decision to you.
The compress-old-files recipe zips each idle file next to the original. You verify it, then remove the original when you’re ready.
Sure, they don’t conflict. Storage Sense handles temp files and the Recycle Bin; this handles your real files, with your consent every time.
Gather the space-eaters, review with context, reclaim gigabytes. Nothing silent, everything undoable — and 100% on your PC.