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# Introduction
There is a whole variety of file tasks that no one enjoys but everyone has to deal with. 5 Useful Python Scripts to Automate Everyday Tasks The article covers the automation of some file tasks. However, there are many more.
Cleaning out temporary files that have been sitting for months, folders full of nested zip archives, converting a hundred photos one by one to a different format, pulling metadata from media files for a project, and pruning directories that no longer serve a purpose — none of it is difficult to do manually — is just annoying. These are fully automated tasks. This article covers five Python scripts that deal with those file tasks most people just skip.
You can find the code on GitHub.
# 1. Cleaning stale temporary and cache
A word of pain: Your system collects temporary files, cache folders, and residual files from apps. Over time, it silently eats gigabytes of storage. You know it’s there. You never get around to dealing with it.
What does the script do?: Scans default system and app-related temp and cache directories, flags files that don’t touch a configurable number of times, and safely removes them. It gives you a full report before you delete anything, so you stay in control.
How it works: The script runs through a list of known temp and cache paths such as system temp browser caches and app-specific directories, and it checks the last access and modification timestamps of each file against your chosen threshold. It then produces a summary of what it found – total count and total size, broken down by directory. Deletion occurs only after your review and confirmation. Everything is logged.
⏩ Get the stale temp and cache cleaner script
# 2. Extract the nested zip files
A word of pain: Someone sends you an archive. Inside this archive is another archive. inside He There is another. When you’ve manually dug through all the layers, you’ve wasted twenty minutes and your extracted files are scattered in a mess of folders.
What does the script do?: Recursively extracts zip archives – up to 10 levels of nesting – and flattens everything into a clean, organized output directory. It handles duplicate filenames automatically and skips archives it has already processed so you can safely run it again.
How it works: The script starts from a target directory, finds all zip files, and extracts them. After that, it scans the extracted contents for more zip files and repeats until there is no archive left. Output files are placed in a single clean directory with automatic conflict resolution (adding numbers when names are already used). A manifest file is generated that lists each extracted file and its original source.
⏩ Get the nested zip extractor script
# 3. Converting multiple file formats
A word of pain: You need to convert 200 PNG to WebP for a web project. Or a folder of WAV files need to be MP3s. Or someone gave you a stack of BMP screenshots and you need a JPEG. Doing this one file at a time is painfully slow, and most single-purpose tools don’t handle multiple formats at once.
What does the script do?: Batch converts files in multiple formats – images, audio and documents – using a single command. You set the input folder, output format, and any quality/compression settings, and it handles the rest. Progress is shown in real time.
How it works: Uses a script The pillow For image conversion, Padb For audio, and Python-dox For basic document conversions. It scans the target directory for supported file types, applies the selected output format and settings, and writes the converted files to a dedicated output folder. It skips files that already match the target format and logs any files that cannot be processed as well.
⏩ Get the bulk format converter script
# 4. Extracting media metadata
A word of pain: You have a folder of images, videos, or audio files and need to know things like resolution, duration, date taken, GPS coordinates, or codec information. Checking each file’s properties one by one via a graphical user interface (GUI) is slow. And if you need that data in a spreadsheet or database, doing it manually is out of the question.
What does the script do?: Scan a directory of media files, extract all available metadata from each one, and export everything to a clean CSV file. It supports Exchangeable Image File Format (EXIF) data, tags, duration, and bitrate from audio, and metadata such as resolution, codec, and length from video for images. It also runs fast on large folders.
How it works: Uses a script The pillow And piexif To extract the XF image, Mutagen For audio metadata, and ffprobe By sub-process for video file analysis. It normalizes metadata into a consistent set of fields across file types, writes the results to a CSV along with a file, and flags any files where extraction fails so you can check them manually.
⏩ Get the media metadata extractor script
# 5. Cleaning up empty and stale folders
A word of pain: Over time, directories accumulate on your drive that are either completely empty or contain only files that are old enough to never be used again. These folders bloat your file tree, slow down navigation, and just add noise. Finding them manually in a deep directory structure is tedious and easy to miss.
What does the script do?: scans a directory tree and identifies two types of folders: completely empty and those where each file is larger than a threshold inside. It presents results grouped and sorted by size before removing anything. It supports dry run mode so you can preview exactly what will be deleted.
How it works: The script recursively walks down the directory tree so empty home folders are captured after removing their contents. It checks file age against your configured threshold and classifies each directory as empty, stale or active. A detailed report is generated before any action is taken. Delete respects a list of safe paths so you never accidentally touch system or important directories.
⏩ Get the empty and stale folder porger script
# wrap up
These five Python scripts help you automate file tasks that are easy to maintain. These aren’t important enough to jump into but quietly waste your time and storage. First, choose whatever problem solves your problem and start from there. to go:
- Download the script you want
- Install dependencies (check README)
- Adjust the settings to match your setup
- Run it manually once to make sure it works as you expect
- Schedule it or add it to your startup routine
Congratulations Automate!
Bala Priya c is a developer and technical writer from India. She loves working at the intersection of mathematics, programming, data science, and content creation. His areas of interest and expertise include devops, data science, and natural language processing. She enjoys reading, writing, coding and coffee! Currently, she is working on learning and sharing her knowledge with the developer community by authoring tutorials, how-to guides, opinion pieces and more. Bala also engages resource reviews and coding lessons.