Version History - ZenSorter 📂

All notable changes to the ZenSorter file management system will be documented in this file.

[1.2.0] - 2026-06-15

🧬 Smart SHA-256 Deduplication: Introduced cryptographic hashing (hashlib) to detect completely identical files (exact twins) regardless of their names, isolating them into a dedicated Duplicates_Vault.
📦 Time Capsule Hierarchy: Added an optional feature to automatically build a subfolder tree organized by Year/Month based on the file's last modified timestamp.
📡 Zen Watcher Mode: Implemented a live, real-time background tracking system (watch_mode) that continuously monitors the target directory and moves incoming files on the fly.
🎨 Beautiful CLI Dashboard: Designed an adaptive terminal user interface utilizing ANSI color coding to display status panels, progress states, and execution summaries elegantly.

Modern Architecture Migration: Fully deprecated the old os / os.path methods and migrated the entire codebase to modern pathlib.Path structures for true cross-platform stability.
Collision Counter Logic: Enhanced the unique path generator by combining both a timestamp and an incremental counter to completely eliminate the risk of naming collisions during rapid executions.
Safe Directory Allocation: Optimized folder creation logic; the engine now safely checks and generates target folders only when a file transfer is actively verified.

Dynamic Categorization: Added new rules for sorting 'Programming' files (.py, .js, .cpp).
Empty Folder Cleanup: Added a feature to automatically remove empty subdirectories after sorting.
Log System: Created a simple session log to show how many files were moved.

Collision Handling: Improved file naming logic; if a file with the same name exists in the target folder, it now appends a timestamp.
Performance: Optimized the directory scanning algorithm for faster processing of folders with 1000+ files.

Fixed an issue where system-hidden files (like .DS_Store or desktop.ini) would cause sorting errors.
Resolved a bug that prevented sorting files with no extensions.

Core Automation Engine: Initial release of the automated file organizer.
Default Categories: Implemented basic sorting for Images, Documents, and Media.
OS Integration: Added support for Windows and Linux directory structures.