Because this video is useless, maybe? “You should delete old installers and move stuff out of Downloads to where you want to keep it. And you should only put stuff in Trash that you want to delete.” Orly?! Gee thanks! 🙄
Gary, your efforts to teach us is extraordinary. This is another example of why this channel is my favorite. My desktop folder needs organization. After watching this video I see a lot of time will be needed to clean up downloads folder 🤷🏼♂ Keep up the great work. It is a mystery to me why you don't have 1M subs or more
Thank you I have just purchased a new iMac after being a windows user for over 30 years. I feel more confident that I can get my files organised now. 🙏😀
What a great reminder to be disciplined in storing documents. Thanks, Gary. Very good info. In the 'old days' the OS really didn't like a bunch of documents on the Desktop. It often ended up scrambling the directory ... I use alias' to manage items on my Desktop. The points you've made are very valid and I will re-think how I use Folders after viewing this very helpful video. Thanks.
Thanks for these videos! I've been a PC user since DOS and I switched to my first Mac a couple weeks ago and your channel has helped me get up to speed and adjust. I got a Mac mini pro and it's been awesome!
Excellent, Gary! Never heard of someone storing files temporarily in the trash, it‘s weird. I‘m using Hazel for a decade now organizing my folders (downloads, desktop, etc.) automatically. A file accidentally landing on the desktop won’t live there for a single second as Hazel kicks in. I hate cluttered desktops and when I’m seeing people storing hundreds of files there, I can say they‘re expert in procrastination.😂
My dad is guilty of that crime. I remember one time I deleted his trash folder to open up space on his PC because it was ridiculously slow and laggy and he got so pissed and was all up in my face about it!
lol yeah I do that. It’s never anything I actually want to keep, but sometimes I do keep things in the trash while I wait to replace it. Like it’s a great way to keep an older application while you make sure the new version works. Then it’s safe to delete the old one. But sometimes I do the same with general clutter that I know is not essential, but I might second guess actually deleting it. Once it gets bigger than a GB it’s generally time to clean up
Clutter on desktop? Plenty of stuff in download folder? Guilty as charged! Thanks Gary for teaching an old man to better understand and work with my Mac. I also love your shortcut tutorials videos.
A very useful and informative video tutorial today! Excellent video today and I’m so glad there are no folder police😂that tickled me today! Thank you, Gary! 👏🏻❤️
You can never go 'too basic', Gary! - macos since 2005; past few years I've felt more and more frequently/regularly like: "A horseless carriage?!!?" I used to be able to figure out/find/fix by web searches - it seems that is no longer the case (for myriad reasons...) So, I guess I never learned the foundation/s, but was happy figuring out what I needed to at the time I needed to... Your video topics have been ever more showing me *what* I don't know -and then then the *how*, thank you for all of it!
Thank-you so much for this video! I just recently purchased a Mac for the first time after using nothing but Windows computers for 40 years and I have been struggling with organizing my documents. I was supposed to get training with my new (and expensive!) Apple computer, but ran into nothing but problems when I tried to schedule the training, so I gave up. This video has helped me so much! You'd think I'd just catch on, since I always organized my Windows files using the "Documents" folder, but the Mac was confusing at first because it kept defaulting to different places when I would try to save a document and I would find them later all over the place...(i.e. Pages, iCloud, Documents, etc.) It was driving me nuts!
So helpful! I admit I like using my desktop very much like my actual desktop. I’m not much of a multitasker, so when I have a project I’m working on, I store all my research and files on the desktop (and use stacks). This makes them easily accessible, and encourages me to finish the project so I can clean everything up. Once I’m done I move everything to the documents folder and then have the glorious feeling of a clean desktop! For folks who multitask or work on multiple projects at once though, this probably isn’t the best system.
I can recommend the iCloud Drive. I have used it for a few years. Last autumn I had to rebuild my Mac. I decided to try and not use the Time Machine backup. I didn’t want to restore the object which had caused the issue. It worked brilliantly. The only extra work was installing a few applications.
This is so clear to understand and practice. I certainly would like a video on how to work with clear downloads file. The other important point that I do not see comments on is the deliverance of your dialogue, its top class!! This is not easy to do, and is the reason why I follow your site, apart from learning a lot..
After seeing this its nice to know I'm using my Apple filing ecosystem correctly; other than I still keep my Pages/Numbers/Keynote documents in those names folders. I'll have to rethink that one. Thanks.
Yes, a much needed video to clean things up. You could add that it is better for the brain to stick to one Documents folder, it can be the user doc, or icloud drive doc, or Dropbox doc, etc. The best doc folder is the only one that is used, when there are multiples, it's the beginning of problems.
I've been using a Mac ever since System 7, and in fact I made my living on the Mac for most of those 32 years. From the beginning, I created a "Ready4Trash" folder and placed it on the desktop next to the Trash icon. When I'm unsure about actually deleting an item, I drag it into the Ready4Trash folder, and periodically delete files older than 6 months. Going into the folder and fishing out a file is a lot more convenient than using TimeMachine (which, of course didn't exist way back when). Try it!
@@mojoblues66 “Temp” is the heroic solution. The other one I like is “Transfer” which is shy file or media or application I want to offload to my external storage or transfer between computers. You would be surprised how much stuff we download and don’t actually access it again regularly for months or years. Also helps that Apple ships small ssd now so it’s made me more conscious of data clutter.
Back in the early 80’s a friend of mine had a first or second gen Mac. At the time recycling bin was called the trash in, and anything you tossed in it was gone forever. He found that out the hard way. He accidentally tossed the OS folder in there… poor Mac never was the same after that trauma. Apparently he wasn’t the only one. Within 6 months they introduced a two part trash can. You tos it in it stays there til you go in and manually empty it.
Totally guilty on the downloads file but just got a new (refurbed) 2021 Pro and I will keep it CLEAN!!! Great channel and AWESOME info! - thanks Gary!!!
On top of my regular job, I used to maintain the corporate file storage for a couple dozen people and keeping them organized was nearly impossible. I tried to impress on them that if they aren't available, someone else has to be able to find client files quickly and easily. It didn't matter. People just couldn't be bothered. On my home iMac, I only show a shortcut to documents on my desktop which makes it easy to get to the subfolders.
I don’t like putting things in documents what I found best is I make a home folder app I create a folder & give it In icon then move it to the dock I like the documents idea a lot but I like having a special sorting folder as well. Might start the document folder
Another great informative video Gary. Thank you. I love your channel. i check it every day for updates.Thank you for sharing your endless knowledge in a user friendly way.
I wish I had watched a similar video about 14 years ago when I bought my first mac. Most of the things you discussed I've learned by brute force over the years and some of the mistakes I never made cause the MacOS is intuitive like that. Good video.
LOL, I'm a total mess with my folders and files. Unfortunetly, Apple contributed having Spotlight to search everywhere! I have a new Mac on the way b/c my almost 8 yr old machine cannot upgrade to MacOS 13, so maybe I'll start to declutter some... Maybe... 🤣
For some downloaded internet I used to have a folder with the respective installers, or DMG files. If not internet connection, these installers can solve a situation.
I learned the hard way. Don’t created multiple nested folders, I make sure that I label files with right key words and use smart folders. I keep most oh my documents in three folders in documents folder max.
I have everything storage wise here pretty well the same except I tend to let the Downloads folder fill up. Same thing at work on Windows 11. I will persevere to do better in the future, cleaned up my Downloads Mac tonight while watching your video.
Great advice! I thought the usual advice for Mac users was to not put lots of cluttered files on the Desktop because it slowed the computer down. Perhaps that’s not the case anymore. It is a bad habit regardless.
Hey Gary: Excellent advice to use one's time machine backup drive ONLY for time machine backups. I'd further say: buy a drive the same size as what's IN one's Mac, format it to the latest greatest while still empty, then use it ONLY for time machine backups.
Yes, except it should be at least 2X the size of your internal drive (+ any external drives you are also backing up). But if it isn't a problem, go even bigger. Remember that Time Machine backs up a history of your files, so you want to give it plenty of space.
Aww Gary, I am so guilty of charge! I don't know why YT showed me this older video, but it came at a great moment, as I am clearing my "downloads folder" Geez it's cluttered. Thank you so much, best from Uruguay. PS I use another external hd to store all my photos, info, investigation, designs, etc! :)
I must admit, I have never heard of someone using the trash as a viewing area. Pretty risky. I don't like desktop clutter, either. I have several useful scripts that I wrote, to help keep everything neat. Good video.
Trash is excellent for storage of an application while you test a new version because the system acts as if it does not exist anymore. So you can download a new installer or update and still have the backup of the last working version in the trash while you test the new update. If the new updates are buggy you just pull the old one out and it’s put back into applications like nothing happened.
Thanks. Very helpful reminders, especially clearing "Downloads." I understand the concept behind "Recents" and use it accordingly, but when I upgraded devices I found that it was no longer populating. Nothing there at all. As an alternative, I created a Smart Folder which accomplishes the same thing, but am still curious as to why "Recents" as installed is not functioning. P
My apologies again, as I now see your video was uploaded 2 days ago! I just got confused b/c I'm reaching out to numerous people on RU-vid to answer my question, as it is a very serious one, and I have no other options besides retrieving the document! Thank you in advance for your help!
Very clear and easy to understand video. One thing that you might consider for a future video is the use of tags in finder. I know what tags are and how useful they can be, but it's not clear to me how to apply them to files. I don't find color coding them Ty o be useful at all.
Don't think of tags as "color coding." It isn't about colors, it is about the keywords. See ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G-3CJ27gUXs.html
On my Mac Trashcan desktop I simply keep aliases (by dragging their names off Finder) of my four external drives - so I can quickly get to them. You may ask why don't I drag their names into Finder's Sidebar - I do, but every now and again for reasons I can't fathom they simply disappear off it!
What do you mean by "the app folder?" Do you mean storing actual applications in iCloud Drive. Don't do that. Applications should be in the Applications folder on your Mac. Or, do you mean a folder created by an application like the "Pages" folder for Pages documents. That's fine. I don't like to use those, but you can use them, or leave them empty.
@@macmost thanks for your reply. I mean the folder the applications created in iCloud Drive. There are a few folder with nothing in it. It makes not clean
Thank you Gary, great tips, as always. How do you differentiate what to put in the local documents folder and what to put into the iCloud documents folder?
You can create folders inside the Applications folder. Sometimes an app will create a folder there to hold its own stuff (sub-files, examples, plugins,…). However, you can create your own folder within Applications to hold a group of related apps. If you type the name of the application into Siri search, it will be found and offered to you to run, even if it is in a sub-folder.
I would leave apps installed at the top level of the Applications folder. If an app creates a folder there, then leave that as it is too, as that is how the app developer has set it up. Don't mess with the organization of the Applications folder. It probably would be OK, but in rare cases some apps may not be set up to handle that.
I always used the desktop like a desktop it holds items I am in the process of working on like course work after the assignment is done and turned in I move it to the documents folder. I find having that having in progress work on my desktop was a good enough nag for me to finish it
That's fine. But don't exclude it from Time Machine! Why would you not want to back things up?? Don't exclude anything from Time Machine unless you have a really good reason.
Great job! but I'm reaching out in case you are still up for a question? I've tried everything and I mean EVERLYTHING to get a document back that I accidently saved over or deleted still check messages on this video! In time machine, the "little" lines (before "today" or "right now, which is in red") the little lines that are avaliable do not become available to click on unless I click and hold down "Today," but once I let "today" go, I am unable to click on the little lines I see that are for yesterday. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Gary, I agree with you about always putting files in the right subfolder. My problem is that when I am in a document and I click save, the drop down menu offers me documents but it doesn't let me drill down to subfolders. How do I get to them? Thank you
Are you sure you are looking at the full Save Dialog? Next to the "Where:" menu, does it have a little ⌄ button you can click to expand it to the full thing?
Another thing I disagree with is clearing the desktop. In fact when you do screen captures it is better to save them to your desktop instead of just using your clipboard. You also can organize things there that you use often.
Hi Gary, wish all developers were as disciplined as you are and we're trying to be. Anytime an app is installed it tends/wants to create it's own folders in icloud is there any way to prevent this from happening ?
I like what you are saying about an empty desktop, unfortunately, I am one of the loaded desktop types at the moment. I have folders as well as images on it. Some of the folders reside in iCloud. in working with Finder how do I move them into documents? I find no way to drag them or right-click and move them.
thanks Gary, again some awesome tips. I seem to have a mental block about the iCloud drive documents and desktop folders as opposed to them being on my local ssd. If i store items on my desktop (mainly because i think a certain file will load faster), some files appear to be on the iCloud anyway. How does one 'force' the Mac to keep a file on the local drive?
Desktop is just a folder like any other. Files will not load faster from the Desktop folder than from any other folder. If your Desktop folder is in iCloud Drive, then all files in the Desktop folder are in iCloud Drive. But that doesn't mean that they are not cached locally. If Optimize is OFF, then they 100% are. If Optimize is on then they probably are local if you have accessed them recently. See ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S7JYHX2iT9Q.html
I store everything in iCloud / Documents. However if I know I will be somewhere without internet access, I will use the local Documents folder on the SSD
I only want to keep a few documents in my iCloud, but I also want them in the regular documents folder. Is there a way to put a document in two different locations in such a way that if you make changes to one that it also makes those changes in the other? TIA!
If you have a document in two locations then it is two files. Separate files. Changing one won't change the other. Sounds like what you really want is this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nmFwNt6LteU.html
I agree to not put apps in other folders. Apps only go In the Applications folder. My way around this is to have aliases of apps in other folders. Also, I have my Docs folder organized by date. When I open Pages, it is already set to the year and month the Doc is being created. This way since the doc is being created in its final resting place, there is nothing to organize.
Speaking about Finder: I find it frustrating that each folder gets its own default view style (list or icons etc). I want to choose the style and then be free to navigate everywhere and see things consistently. I know the setting exists, but its not consistent either. I ended up using an alternative software (I’m using Marta now). What’s your take on this?
I save my files as follows. I have 4 folders named 'A - F'; 'G - L'; 'M - R'; 'S - Z'. My files go into the appropriately named folder. In A - F, you will find 'accounts, anxiety, bills, bookmarks, budget, computer tips, digital camera, documents, fitness. In the G - L folder, you will find 'government, games, important, iTunes, job, Lennox (my cat)'. In the folder M - R, there is' medical, movies, password, photos, remember (things I want to rememeber . . . like a hot photo!!'. In folder S - Z, there is social media, screen captures, television, taxes, video games, Visa, Windows, RU-vid.
Good tips all. The title calling other folder practices “wrong” is harsh, but a norm for RU-vid help video titles. I follow most, but not all, of your suggestions. I have my reasons. But are they “wrong?” I DO recommend people use your advice as their own starting points.
It is hard to title videos here. If I called it "Advice On How To Use Folders On Your Mac" with the exact same video content, it would have gotten far fewer views and thus help far fewer people. So sometimes you just have to go with the clever title.
Gary, I use my Downloads folder slightly differently. I exempt it from my Time Machine backups so while I clean the Downloads folder out of files I no longer need, I also use it to store files that I want to keep temporarily and not be backed up by Time Machine. So I'm curious: since you make sure to clean out your Downloads folder immediately, where do you regularly store files that you only need for a short time and don't want backed up by Time Machine? I find that I always have a lot of those types of files.
I wouldn't do that. Create a different folder for that purpose. Why have things in Downloads that aren't Downloads. You can create folders as you need, so why not create one named appropriately for the contents and then exclude that from Time Machine. I try not to predict which files I don't want downloaded. If I'm wrong even once then the whole effort wasn't worth it. I just back up everything. Why not?
Hi there! Thank you for such relevant content. I have a question. My Chrome profile disappeared and every RU-vid video that I search to figure out how to restore it seems to be geared towards Windows users. Do you have any advice on how I can restore my Chrome profile on a Mac? Thank you so much!
Great video. Unfortunately, I purchased a Mini Mac with 256GB and I can't even hardly upgrade my operating system with only the native apps on the machine! I have an external drive that I have to even put applications on. It is very frustrating. I don't use iCloud because it makes my storage full all of the time. Thoughts?
Not sure what to suggest. You know your next Mac needs a much bigger drive. iCloud Drive (when used with Optimize on) will allow you to store more stuff and it will only use space available. But it won't leave much left over at any time since unused space is wasted space.
Wow. I never knew how much I didn’t know about the Mac OS system until I just got my M2 Air yesterday. I air dropped a bunch of photos and put them in my pictures folder but when I open Photos nothing appears. So confused as where things go ☹️
The Picture folder is just a regular local folder. If you want to put photos in your Photos Library, then launch the Photos app and drag them into there.
Thanks for a very usefull tutorial. As a follow up if you have not already done so could you show us how to organise files for some to be backed up in icloud and other that you may not want backed up there, as they may be backed to your say your attached raid drive. I only want my very best photos backed up to icloud, the other are not that important and would waste icloud storage. I seem to also have problems getting files to be both on icloud and local iMac at the same time. Is there a setting that that would specify, icloud, local or both ?
First, note that iCloud Drive is NOT a backup. See ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yM-hbmpTfgI.html But as for storing some files locally and not in iCloud if you like, I have a video on that: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nmFwNt6LteU.html But if you want both local and iCloud Drive, then that is just iCloud Drive. Learn how the Optimize setting works: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S7JYHX2iT9Q.html
Hi Gary, how can I change the location for the files being created in the 'Documents' folder by certain apps, for example: Adobe, Native Instruments, EgoSoft, etc ?
@macmostvideo: Please tell me or make a video of: How to delete the thrid parts hidden folders in iCloud, since they still keep recreating each folder, when I try to delete them. Even from a brand new Mac and iPhone, where the software Never have been installed. So how do I do? Is it true that people can't delete this hidden folders?
That would be up to the developer. If their app creates a folder there, and you have it installed, then there's nothing you can do to change how the app behaves unless they have a setting for it. If they are putting a folder on iCloud Drive, then you'll see it on iCloud Drive whether or not the particular device you are using has the app. That's how cloud services work -- you see the same content everywhere. These aren't "hidden" folders (if they were, you wouldn't see them, right?) So, WHY do you want to delete them?
If you put documents/desktop in icloud from two differentvcomputers, will you have 2 documents folders in icloud or will it merge all the documents into 1 docs folder?
