How I Organize and Process Files on My Mac – Part 2
If you missed the last installment, read it first. In the previous article I discussed how to organize your files to be processed. In this article I will show you how to access your files, and how to process through them.
So if you remember I told you about how my mother’s desktop was a wreck: files everywhere, with the desktop full with icons. I could hardly find her hard drive on the desktop. Chaos!
Eventually, I gave her a cluttered-desktop makeover, making her digital life cleaner, and easier to manage. No longer was her desktop a mishmash of various files. It is now a lean-mean, file organizing machine! Now that you have your five folders for all your incoming data types, let’s organize them so you can access them quickly. For a quick review, the 5 folder types are:
- Inbox (24 hour file life, need to be moved or acted upon)
- Read, Watch, Listen (non-actionable, files that require attention)
- Pending (actionable, files that require attention)
- Current Projects (actionable, files that require attention and are grouped together)
- Archive (2 week file life, for modification or transfer later)
So for these five folders I need to access them quickly to process through them. I have found 2 ways to do this effectively:
Place them on the desktop.
Create your five folders on the desktop for quick access. Make sure to create titles for your files like this:
- 0. Inbox
- 1. Read, Watch, Listen
- 2. Pending
- 3. Current Projects
- 4. Archive
The reason I use numbers, I’ve found, is that it keeps the folders in order (when organized by name). It’s also easy to access with applications like Quicksilver (by just typing the number of the folder you want).
Pros: Easy to access and process through groups of files.
Cons: Adds clutter to the desktop.
Make Stacks, and place them in the dock.
This is the system I am currently using and experimenting with. Create your five folders (using the number system above), and place them in your home folder (~/users/[user name]). Then, drag your folders to the dock in order from left to right. You can use the Optica Optima file icons to help create visual different between the folders.
Pros: Reduces desktop clutter, and quick to access on smaller screens when the dock is hidden. Forces you to maintain smaller file counts in the folders.
Cons: Lots of clicks required to start dealing with groups of files.
Now that I have my folders in a place where I can access them, I can now start processing through my files.
1. Place all rogue files in the Inbox.
Take every file you have without a storage place, and put in the the inbox. This will allow you to see every single file that needs to be dealt with. Make sure you set your internet downloads to the Inbox as well.
2. Start processing through your files.
- Files that need action go into the “Pending” folder.
- Files that need attention, but don’t require action go into the “Read, Watch, Listen” folder.
- Groups of files pertaining to a single project should go into a sub-folder in the “Current Projects” folder.
- Files that don’t go into any of these three folders go into the “Archive” folder.
3. Keep processing through files until there is nothing left in the inbox.
4. Go through your remaining folders periodically, to take action on files which need attention.
Remember that the files shouldn’t live in any of these folders for longer than 2 weeks. Any longer than that, and they should go into the archive.
5. Go through your archive every two weeks, to determine what can go into your User Directory Folders, and what should stay in your Archive.
The difference between the Archive folder and the User Directory Folders (Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures) is that the Archive should be considered warm storage (short term), and the User Directory folders cold storage (long term). Any files that do not require action, and will be stored for a longer time should be stored in the User Directory folders.
Hopefully, with these tips, you’ll be able to keep your desktop and hard drive clutter free!
This article adapted from experience using this article at lifeclever, and looking at desktops at the GTD flickr group. Drawer icons from Optica Optima.
You might be interested in some GTD icons I made specially for Leopard, you can find them here: http://fruitycube.deviantart.com/art/Leopard-GTD-Icons-v1-69024959
Excellent advice. I am printing out parts 1 & 2 of this to give to some of our people at work. You know, the ones with 1500 items in their inbox? And a desk you couldn’t see the top of if you tried. But they are “too busy to get organized.” Thanks for the ammo.
First, I found these two articles very interesting. But, in my opinion, your setup is still to difficult, especially because there is to much reviewing and copying files. A much better approach is the one from Ethan Schoonover at kinkless desktop: http://kinkless.com/article/kinkless_desktop
Great stuff Taylor!Your all system seems great. Althought, I am a newbie at macs (i just baught my first mac last wek, macbook pro with leopard) and i was wondering (might sounds stupid) but with your way of organizing stuff, what do you do of the default folders “Downloads’, ‘Documents’ and so on… Do you not use them ? (as you replace Downloads by your Inbox one). And, as well, where do you put your work files (i’m a graphic designer), in “Documents”…i’m a bit lost :/ and i am what marketing peeps call a “switcher” (pc to mac) , so i m confused
thanks for your answer
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