More and more of us are using our Mac/iPad/iPhone to capture and create documents and file them in a digital environment so we can easily retrieve them and not have to deal with so many paper files that can get lost or damaged. Ultimately, we want to find our documents when we need them.
The comments below apply to a Mac, but the principles apply to any Apple device or even PCs.
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If you have a Desktop cluttered with lots of different files and folders, try the following steps:
First, determine what’s important:
- what you are working on now. Consider individual files and folders?
- what other files could go to cloud storage? and
- what to delete (Trash).
By using a built-in app on your Mac called Stacks, it’s easy to tidy up. Right-click on the Desktop (not on a file or folder) and select Stacks. This will organize your files into “stacks” of like documents such as PDFs, Videos, Screenshots, Spreadsheets, Images, etc., as well as folders. When you click on a “Stack,” it will open to reveal the items in the Stack. Click again, and it collapses to reduce clutter.
Now, go Stack by Stack, open one, and look at each item to decide if you need to keep it on hand or put it away in your cloud storage or just delete it by moving it to Trash.
Your Desktop should be just for current documents/projects/files. Use your iCloud storage for everything else. Now that you have decided what you will keep on your desktop because you need to refer to it frequently or it’s part of a current project, the other items can go into “storage” in the cloud.
Aside from iCloud, there are other programs like Dropbox, OneDrive (part of Microsoft’s lineup), and Google Drive. These can even be added to your Finder Sidebar for easy access. The costs are low or free depending on what you need to do with them and how much storage you need. They allow for sharing and have different levels of storage before charges apply. YouTube has many videos on using them as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each.
iCloud comes with all Apple devices and seamlessly syncs across all your Apple devices. Free storage is limited to 5GB, after which there are various levels of storage for which you pay as your needs grow.
Go to System Settings>iCloud Drive. Look down the list, and it’s in the section with Internet Accounts. Click on iCloud, and you will see your iCloud account, the size of your storage, and the maximum you have purchased. Click on “Drive” to open a window and select Sync this Mac to turn on the feature. Also, click the Desktop and Documents Folders box so they are in sync, and other devices will be able to access the files. Use iCloud Drive so that you can have everything in one place. It doesn’t mean that you will never use the other services, but having all your data in one place makes it much easier to find what you want. You can also select the Optimize option if you have sufficient local drive space. Click Done when finished.
Next, look for files that tend to get misplaced. Go to your main Hard Drive folder in Finder. If you don’t see it, go to Finder>Settings and make sure the Hard Drives folder name is checked. Then, in Locations in the Sidebar on Finder, you’ll see the name of your HD. Click on that, and you’ll see: Applications, Library, System, and Users. The first three are best left alone. Click on Users to open a list of other folders. You will see your name and any other alternate sign-ons that you had created. Click on your primary folder name.
The Downloads folder is shown along with other folders. The Downloads folder is a common place where users leave files. Open Downloads and look at what’s there and decide to keep it or trash it. To quickly look at it without opening it with its native app, just click on it and press the Space Bar. This is called Quick Look. The window that opens should give you enough information to decide what it is so it can be filed. Downloads should only be here temporarily and should not be allowed to accumulate in this folder. Move files that you want to keep to a proper location. The help with moves, open another Finder window with OPT+CMD+N. Arrange the two windows so you can easily drag files to a new location. Tip: Instead of dragging the file to a new location, you used CMD+C to copy it. Go to the new location and press OPT+CMD+V to “move” the file and not just paste it into the new folder.
The Pictures folder should only have “library” and/or catalog files and not actual loose picture files. If you find some picture files and want to keep them, click and drag them to the Photos app icon in your Dock so they will be added to the Photos Library and then delete the picture from the Pictures folder.
Go through your Dropbox , OneDrive, and Google folders and decide what to keep and what to discard. Move your files from those services into your Documents folder or other iCloud location depending on your filing scheme.
Tip – when you name your main category folder in Documents, put one space in front of the name, that way these folders will be shown at the top of an alphabetical list for easy viewing.
Another Tip – when you are organizing, by moving files, create a new Finder window by typing Option+CMD+N. Place the Finder windows side by side to make it easier to drag files and folders to new locations. Alternatively, you can use a second Tab in Finder (create by using CMD+T) but to me, it’s easier to use a second Finder window. Try each to see what you prefer.
More Tips – The Finder is your link to everything ,and it is a powerful tool to view your files and folders. The Sidebar shows Favorites, iCloud, and Locations.
Favorites can list the files or folders that you need quick access to. Files and folders placed there can be more or less permanent or temporary until no longer needed. To add a Favorite, go to the location of the file or folder needed and select it, maintain the hold, and drag it to the Sidebar and place it where you want in the Favorites list. You’ll see a horizontal line as you move it to the Sidebar. That’s where it will rest when you let go. Click on the Sidebar item and drag it up or down to a new location in Favorites that suits you. Don’t need it in Favorites? Right-click and select Remove from Favorites. The file will remain in the original location but not appear in Favorites any longer.
Another way to have quick access is by selecting the file or folder you want and dragging it to the right side of the Dock, to the right of the vertical divider. The Dock will create a bit of room for you. Don’t put it in another folder. The “original” file is still in its location, the Dock just created an alias or “pointer” to allow for easy access. To remove it, right-click and choose Options and Remove from Dock or alternatively, drag it up from the Dock to the middle of your Desktop and it will disappear. Using the Dock for your shortcuts always allows you to see the folder even if you have lots of windows/apps open.
One more way to go to needed files/folders is to create a Desktop Alias. Select the file or folder and then hold, and keep holding, the OPT+CMD keys down while you drag the item to the Desktop. Let go. Now you can easily open it or drag files into it if it’s a folder. So that you will know it’s an Alias, a small, black curved arrow will appear on the Alias.
Also in the Sidebar iCloud are: iCloud Drive, Documents, and Shared. Clicking on these opens that location for access. You can click and then drag one of these to Favorites if you want. Locations shows your Hard Drive name, other connected external drives like Time Machine, and remote locations such as Dropbox. You can click on the small triangle to the right of iCloud and Locations to collapse the listing to clean up the Sidebar if you don’t need to see all the details.
Viewing Files and Folders in the Finder –
When you select a File or Folder, there are several options available in the task bar across the top of the Finder Window. Hover over each icon and a text will appear explaining its function. The section with View options offers different ways to see a File or Folder’s contents. First is the Icon view (self-explanatory). The List View is very useful since clicking on the Header can change the sorting. Right-clicking on the bar with the Name-Date Modified-Size etc. brings up a dialog box to let you add or remove more criteria. You need to experiment with the view to see how it works for you. If there are Folders within Folders and you keep opening them, the List gets longer and longer. The rightmost choice in View is Preview which offers some images of the contents.
The third option, and I think the most useful, is the Column View. Here you can see the nesting of folders. Clicking on a Folder opens another column, clicking on another folder opens another column and so on. You can see the complete nesting of Folders and Files. It’s possible to even select/drag/drop an item from one column to another. The “active” folder (the one you are in) is also shown at the top of this window.
The final choice in View is Gallery which offers more of a graphics arrangement which is useful sometimes. Click on it and move around to different folders and files so you can get an idea of what it shows.
Another icon in the header to consider using is the Group function just to the right of the View icon. Here you can choose several options to change how Files and Folders are presented in the window. In a column with a mix of Files and Folders, use Group to change it by selecting Kind (document, image, PDF, etc.). Depending on your choice, items will re-stack according to your selection.
Also helpful is the Path. In the Finder Menu Bar at the top of the app is a View Menu. When you click on View, go down to the choice Show Path Bar (you can toggle this on/off). When you select it, look at the bottom of the Finder window to see the complete path for the location of the item you selected. Other groupings include Date Added, Date Modified, Tag, etc. Change Group(ing) back to None. Now hold down the Option key and select Group again to Sorting with a number of different options. Take time to experiment with these different views to understand how they work.
Right-clicking on a File or Folder and selecting Get Info offers you even more details of that item.
Searching – you can use Spotlight by clicking on the icon in the Menu Bar at the top of your screen or press CMD+Spacebar. Type what you are looking for and the results will appear in a new window. You may need to give it a moment or two, and the results will appear. Refine the results by going to System Settings>Spotlight and then uncheck/check categories as desired.
When the results are returned, scroll down to the list and you will see websites, documents, photos/images, etc. At the bottom of the list, you can refine the results by clicking on Search the Web or Search in Finder to see if it improves. If you see what, click on it to open.
The Finder also has search capability with a search using the “magnifying glass icon.” Type the term you are seeking. Notice that it can look for the term in the file name or in content. Also, notice that it will search in the current folder (name shown) or in This Mac for a broader search. The search in Finder can be saved (see Save) on the Search: line. Additional criteria can also be added/refined by clicking on the “+” next to Save. Some experimentation is required to get results you are looking for as you narrow the search with more criteria. The Saved Searches folder is where the searches you create are saved. The usual location is “your user name”>Library>Saved Searches> name of a search you saved. If you will be using this search often, consider adding it to the Sidebar as a Favorite. That option is available as a check box when saving it the first time. You can find more examples by searching YouTube.
Folders are where we place documents that relate to certain topics or that are a certain type of file. Creating a new folder when we are beginning our organizing is easy. Select the files you want to gather into one folder and then right-click on one of the selected items and choose New Folder with Selections. All the selected items will be moved to that folder. Rename it to something more suitable and move it to a new location if desired. Remember ,to move it, select the folder, copy it (CMD+C) and then choose the new location and press OPT+CMD+V which moves rather than just pasting into the new location. That way, you don’t leave the old one behind and have a duplicate.
You can rename files in bulk. Select the files you want to rename, right-click, and use the dialog box to rename them. Several choices, formats, and placements are available. The video below, Organize your Mac: Finder Tips and Tricks, has details at about 21:10.
Final tip – within the Column view, if you click on a file, you will see a thumbnail of it. Double-clicking the thumbnail will open the item with Preview or the native application to see all the details. However, if you want to see it quickly, select the file and press the Spacebar to see an enlarged image (QuickView) with enough detail to understand what it is. You can annotate, share the document, or open it in its native app. While in QuickView, you can use the up/down arrow keys to look at the files above and below for faster review.
MacWhisperer on YouTube
“Top 5 Mac File Organization Hacks to Revolutionize Your Workflow”
Organize your Mac: Finder Tips and Tricks