A lot of Mac users find that the desktop is a convenient place to store shortcut icons, files and folders. If you don’t keep your desktop it organized, it can get quite cluttered really fast.
Not only the cluttered desktop will look messy but also it will overwhelm you.
- Organize Finder on Mac: Apple invites Mac users to keep all their files and folders neatly organized. A few tricks and tips will help you to get organized: Everything about Apple Products. Table of Contents Over 600 articles published and counting! To see the full list, click here.
- In Windows, we had executables (.exe files). If you opened one, your program would run, and any other files it needed were located elsewhere. In Mac OS X, as I understand it, these.app 'files' are really more like folders that contain not only the executable itself but also other files that the app may need.
The purpose of this article is to teach you to make your desktop cleaner because it is important to have a clean and organized desktop:
Best for organizing your Mac: Hazel; Let us go through these applications one by one. Our favorite 3rd party app to tidy up Mac desktop: UnClutter. Unclutter is a great application to write and store your notes, organize files, and save the clipboard text for using later. Mar 18, 2020 Organize notes with folders. Just like the way you organize files on your Mac, you can do the same in the Notes app, using folders. Create a folder. In addition to the Internet Account folders in the sidebar, you can create folders within any of your accounts.
- The messy desktop will impact your productivity negatively
- It may slow your Mac down and may cause freezing, this is because files and folders on your desktop use a lot more system resources.
See also: Screenshots Not Working On Mac, Fix
Use Stacks
You can now organize your desktop automatically with Stacks if your Mac is running macOS Mojave or later (e.g., Catalina). Stacks will organize your desktop instantly if you turn in on. Stacks put files and folders into stacks. Here is how you can turn on Stacks on your Mac:
- Go to Finder
- Click View
- Click Use Stacks
Or alternatively, on your desktop, right-click or control-click on your desktop and then click Use Stacks.
By default, once you turn this on, you Mac will create Stacks the group files by Kind. Everything will appear on the right side of your screen. However, you can change how these groups are stacked. Here is how:
- Go to Finder and click View
- Click Group Stacks By
- There are many options, choose one.
The stacks options are:
- Kind (default option)
- Date last opened
- Date added
- Date modified
- Date created
- Tags (if you are already using tags to organize your desktop), see the next section below.
To view files in Stacks, just click the Stack and it will expand, then double click the file to open it, when you click again, it will collapse back down.
See also: Relocated Items Folder
Use tags
You can use tags to organize your files and folders on your Mac. There are several ways to tag a file or folder with colors or keywords. The easiest way to tag an item on your desktop, simply right-click (control-click) and find the Tags section and choose a color. Note that you can add multiple tags (colors) to any file or folder.
To remove a tag from a file or folder, again right-click (or control-click) and then click the tag that you want to remove. It will be unselected.
You can also customize your tags. You can add custom tags. Here is how you can do that:
- Go to Finder
- Click Finder (top menu bar)
- Click Preferences
- Click the Tags tab
Now you can add custom tags by clicking the plus (+) icon. Then you can drag the new tag to the favorite tags area so that you can use this new tag quickly when you want to. You can also use the minus (-) icon to remove tags. You can here edit the current tags also.
Use Finder Preferences
You may adjust your Finder preferences to organize your desktop. Go to Finder and click Finder > Preferences. There are four types of preferences:
- General: You can choose what items to be shown on the desktop
- Tags: You may create custom tags
- Sidebar: You can choose what items to be shown in the sidebar
- There are also advanced options, like showing all file extensions etc.
Use iCloud
This will let you view your files and folders everywhere. Here is how:
- On your Mac, click the Apple menu
- Click System Preferences
- Click Apple ID
- Click iCloud
- Find the iCloud Drive and click the Options button
- Make sure that the Desktop & Documents Folders option is selected.
See also: Dock Not Working?
Deadlines are fun! They keep us on our toes. But what happens when you can’t find a piece of work you did a few years ago, that would save you a whole load of time - but you just can’t find it, buried amongst old folders and files in your Mac?! Instead of saving you time, you look everywhere and have to give up.
Best practices for organizing files on your Mac
We so often throw everything into separate locations and pray they can find it when needed, taking a hit-and-hope approach. That method has never worked for the New York Yankees, so it’s likely to leave you striking out too. If only there were a way to arrange folders and find files faster. An efficient, proven system to avoid all the wasted time, stress and extra effort. Thankfully, Setapp has a solution or two. We have an array of ready to install organizational apps to make life that little bit easier.
Let’s start with some simple rules for managing your files and folders:
- Clutter control: don’t put files on the desktop. Your desktop is supposed to be clean and display that amazing HD wallpaper you’ve got going on.
- Find files faster: name your files and folders strategically.
- Shortcuts to your project resources in one place to access them quickly. It solving the annoying part of switching between projects.
- Tagging. Instead of—or in addition to—folder structures, try tagging files. The benefit of tagging is the ability to add multiple tags to a file. Without a strong folder structure, tags are all that’s keeping your files from getting lost in chaos.
Apps to find files faster
The Setapp collection of apps brings order to your Mac. Get the tools to seamlessly organize folders and files.
Clutter control: clean up desktop
Gather all the files and folders you want to keep on the desktop and put them in a folder or two for temporary storage if you’re referring to it regularly. If you want to make sure to keep your desktop clear, check out our Spotless tutorial. There is a rule to automatically clean off your desktop.
With smart algorithms such as the Autotidy feature, users can input ‘tasks’ which specify where particular files belong with an easy-to-use drag and drop system. The app will store your instructions and automate the process by scheduling folders to be organized at regular intervals.
There’s no limit to the number of automated tasks you can create, making for a spotless Mac. Users can teach the app to organize their images, desktop or individual documents, using a range of different parameters, e.g. filename, extension, file size, modified date etc. This gives users full scope to organize and locate files efficiently, without having to do the dirty work.
Putting your important documents and folders in the hands of an AI robot may be daunting, but Spotless is heavily regulated to minimize possible risks. Before submitting a new task, users receive a full preview of changes to consolidate understanding and ensure no errors are made, as well as having comprehensive and configurable conflict resolution rules to safeguard your files. With a fully editable dashboard, users can search engagement history to track what actions Spotless has undertaken and have the power to restore files or undo any unwanted changes.
Spotless is reminiscent of the swan analogy – your Mac is the swan, gliding smoothly on top of the water with ease. Spotless is the legs, powering away beneath the surface, laying the foundations for your relaxed drift up-stream. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?
Find files faster
Keep in mind that you can search for files using folder names - the more specific, the more quickly you’ll find what you’re looking for. Think about saving an invoice. Do you think invoice1.pdf is a good name? Probably not. July invoice.pdf is not any better. So when you’re naming that invoice, think about how you might look for it. Probably:
- By date (I want the July 2018 invoice)
- By company (I want the ABCom invoice)
- By type of document (I want a invoice)
So a good name would allow you to look at the files in a folder and right away see what each file is without opening it. It would give you things you can use to search. So a good file name, in this case, could be 2017-07 ABCom invoice.pdf
The same concept applies to folders. Setapp has a good bulk renaming app which perfect for any kind of file renaming including music and photo files.
The same concept applies to folders. Setapp has a good bulk renaming app which perfect for any kind of file renaming including music and photo files.
Project shortcuts
The next step is to use workspaces to manage multitasking.
The nature of the macOS system doesn’t particularly lend itself to multitasking. Having to jump between the countless browser tabs open alongside your documents and any impending emails isn’t ideal, especially when you have a long to-do list. The fact that Workspaces allows users to add any resource to the workspace, along with handy widgets like a bookmark bar, makes it easy to work on web-focused projects and to handle online information simultaneously. With a fully customizable platform, Workspaces is built to evolve along with your tasks. If projects are surplus to requirements, the archiving feature stores all your old workspaces into one easily-accessible document, which can be made visible again at any time. Furthermore, adding new resources couldn’t be easier, with a one-click system inherent on encouraging efficient, fluid productivity.
Workspaces is a simple Mac organizer, facilitating and simplifying the art of multitasking. Through a designated ‘workspace’, you can access all relevant resources needed for the task in hand – web pages, emails, documents and more. By saving all the relevant documents to your workspace, you’ll eradicate all that wasted time hunting for files and, with the inbuilt task list, you’ll be able to switch exercises with ease.
What about pics organizing?
We can all appreciate the perils involved in keeping your images organized. From those videos of unforgettable nights-out to the endless array of selfies, the camera roll can be a mighty mess. For so many of us, photo hoarders who love collecting and storing photos, keeping them arranged is a near enough impossible task. Or was.
Mac App To Organize Files Download
Picture this, an app that helps you manage your entire gallery, accessible at your fingertips, without the need to delete any images. Using a powerful photo manager, Emulsion effortlessly arranges your images in a well-structured, consistent and beautiful way. The Live Folder feature allows images to remain in their primary location, while simultaneously storing them with automatic syncing.
Furthermore, the app utilizes macOS features seamlessly. By placing all images together in one easy to access panel, users can sort pictures by metadata, tags and notes, complete with full-screen options, quick look and gestures. Through tagging, Emulsion can sort images by people, locations, time and even colors, demonstrating the impressive AI behind the app.
How to use tags to organize files in macOS
Alongside the apps to keep your things organized and easy to find, Mac has its own tagging feature that lets you color code files and folders. You can use this to group your items so that you’re not scrolling through endless lists.
Tags work for files and folders stored on your Mac or iCloud account and are easy to add.
How to tag files and folders in macOS?
Apps To Open Files
To tag an open file, hold the pointer to the right of the title and click on the arrow, followed by the Tags field. Choose a tag from the list, or enter a new tag.
![Open any files app mac Open any files app mac](https://graphic.com/content/3-ipad/ipad-section5.png)
To tag a file in the Finder or on your Mac desktop, select the item that you want to tag, open the File menu and choose a color. If you want to choose a different tag or enter a new tag, click on Tags for additional options.
To tag a newly created file as you save it, click on File > Save and select the Tags field in the Save dialog. Enter a new tag or select one from the list.
Items can also be tagged from a Finder window by selecting a file or folder and clicking on the Tags button.
How to find tagged items in macOS?
Once you’ve tagged your items you can easily find them by opening up a Finder window.
Mac App To Organize Files Free
From the finder window, enter the tag name or color in the search field and locate your file from the list. Alternatively, you can ask Siri to find the file for you by asking it to, “Find files with a blue tag” or something similar.
To see every file with a particular tag, you can click on the tag color in the Finder sidebar. You can also choose which tags you want to see located in the sidebar by going to Finder > Preferences and choosing the appropriate tags.
To sort items by their tag, go to View > Show View Options and click the checkbox next to Tags. Click the Tags column in List view and the files will be arranged for simple viewing. Click on the column name again to revert the order back to how it was.
How to edit tags in macOS?
To edit a tag that you’ve already created, go to Finder > Preferences > Tags.
From here you’ll be able to change the color by clicking on the color button and selecting a new option and change the name by clicking on the tag’s name.
To add a new tag, click on the + button.
How to remove a tag in macOS?
If you want to remove a tag from an item, all you need to do is Control-click the item, click Tags, select the tags that you want to remove, and hit Delete.
Removing a tag from your Mac is equally straightforward. Go to Finder > Preferences > Tags, select the tags that you want to remove and click on the - button.
Gone are the days of folder hunting and head scratching. With Setapp subscription, you can get these apps plus a whole host of others, bringing an end to the constant categorizing confusion. Start your free trial with Setapp today and discover a world of app innovation.