How to organize files in Mac

[Claudius]

I want to ask how can I organize my files and folders in my Apple's Mac system ? Does anybody have any information about the same, then please provide the necessary details......thanks

[Devasis]

Grouping is one of the most common ways yo organize files.
Grouping - to group the similar files into the same folders. For example - all the files related to Project X would go into folder “Project X”, while all the MP3 files will go into the “Music” folder.

To help you increase the effectiveness of using folders as a means of organizing files, you can try Smart Folder.

> Go to Finder then to File → New Smart Folder menu (or Command + Option + N)
You can also create a smart folder by doing a search in the Finder window.
> Set the rules of the folder by choosing the options available there.
> Click the plus button (+) to add more rules.
> Click the minus button (-) to delete a rule.

You can also set for example: the location of the file, the kind of file, last opened date, last modified date, name, etc.

Hit the “Save” button after all the rules have been customized and tick the “Add To Sidebar” box to put the smart folder to the sidebar so that you can access them easily.

This way, you can set the contents of the smart folder to be PDF files which were created within a week and have the word “billing” in the name. Once a PDF file is more than one week old, it will automatically be out of the smart folder.

If you no longer need the smart folder, just right click and choose “Remove from Sidebar” from the pop-up menu.

[Solomon]

One of the most popular ways to organize the number of files and folders is by Tagging.

Mac users can improve the usability of Smart Folder and Spotlight searching by adding tags to the files. You can assign multiple tags to a file or folder and go beyond the grouping files inside folders.

The traditional way of doing tagging is by adding Spotlight comments from the file info window. You can access the file info windows by right clicking on the item and choose “Get Info” from the pop-up menu, or select the item and press Command + I.

But doing the tagging one file or folder at a time is a tedious and time-consuming activity. The simpler way is by using TagIt.It is a small application that will help you to tag multiple files easily. TagIt also makes the process of searching files based on their tags easier. And as a bonus, you can also assign ratings to the file(s) or folder(s).

You can search tags directly from Spotlight by using the search string “tag:the_name_of_the_tag” sans quote.

Few possible scenarios of using tags to files and folders are:

• Assign “Ongoing” tag to something that you are currently working on and change the tag to “Done” after finishing the project.
• Assign the client’s names as tags to the file.
• Use the ratings as the “Importance” level.
• Add the team member’s names.
  
  By adding tags to the Smart Folder’s rules, you can organize your files and folders so much better.
• Add the revision number.

[jesse]

You can place the files and folders on the desktop itself.
Create your five folders (based on the priority) 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 why I use numbers 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.