If you’re in the habit of saving files to the Windows desktop ‘just for now’ and then leaving them there, the chances are that it’s a mess.

The Window Tidy app also allows you to quickly create your own patterns that will be added to the default list. The best part is that you can use custom sized grids for each layout. Arrange your application windows using nothing but drag and drop! There are no hot-keys to remember or menus to click, just drag and drop a window onto Layout Icon and it will instantly snap to that layout. Highly Customizable The behavior and appearance of Window Tidy are highly customizable to streamline your individual workflow.

If you’re always searching for something among a random collection of application shortcuts, documents, photos and other files, it’s time for a tidy up.

So just like a filing cabinet is the best way to bring order to an unruly collection of loose papers, a series of desktop folders can organise all of your computer clutter.

Step 1: Create a temporary folder

Start by creating a folder to store all of your desktop files in temporarily - although you can skip this step if you don’t have that many files. Right-click somewhere on the Desktop, click New on the menu that appears and select Folder. Type a name for the folder (Desktop files is the obvious one) and press Return.

Step 2: Empty the desktop

Now drag all the files from the desktop into the folder you just created, with a few exceptions - leave the icons for Computer, Network, My Documents (usually named after your username) and the Recycle Bin.

Step 3: Open your Libraries folders

Now that the desktop is free from all that clutter, open a new Windows Explorer window by clicking the icon on the Taskbar. In the left of the window that opens, click the small arrow next to Libraries to expand this folder, then do the same for the Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos folders inside it.

Inside these four folders are subfolders called My Documents, My Music, My Pictures and My Videos - and these are where you should store files of those types.

Step 4: Put the two folder windows side-by-side

Open the Desktop files folder on your desktop and resize the two open windows so that they sit side by side - you can use Aero Snap to do this if you’re using Windows Vista, 7 or 8.

In the Desktop files window, click the More options button at the top-right of its toolbar and select List. This shows files with small icons in a long list, to make the best use of space within the window.

Step 5: Sort your files by file type

Right-click an empty part of the Desktop files window, select Sort by from the menu and then click Type. This sorts the files according to their file type - documents, images, MP3 files and so on.

Step 6: Start moving your files

Now drag all of the documents from the Desktop files folder into the My Documents folder in the Libraries window. This is quicker if you click the first document in the list, then hold down the Shift key and click the last document in the list to select everything in between in one go.

Do the same to drag all images to the My Pictures folder, music files to the My Music folder and video files to the My Videos folder.

Step 7: Create sub-folders for further organisation

With all your files moved in to the ‘My …’ folders in the Libraries folder, you can now organise them still further. You might want to create sub-folders for Letters, Bills, or Work with the My Documents folder, for example, and then drag the appropriate documents into them. Just open the appropriate ‘My …’ folder, right-click inside it and select New > Folder to create these.

Step 8: Delete unwanted application shortcuts

By now you should have just application shortcuts left inside your Desktop files folder. Since these are somewhere in the Start menu anyway, you can delete these - or just drag the most important ones back onto the desktop and delete the rest. You can then delete the temporary Desktop files folder when it’s empty.

Step 9: Create folder shortcuts on the desktop

If you want quick access to the four ‘My …’ folders you’ve just dragged everything from the desktop into, just drag each one onto the desktop itself. This won’t move the folders, just create a shortcut link to them, making them much faster to open than by opening a new Explorer window.

To keep a place clean, it is better to stop littering it in the first place. Right? The same goes for a Mac desktop.

Ideally, you should store as much as nothing on it. Yet, sometimes you can afford to place there some files you work with at the moment. Or the few that you use often for a certain period of time. In this case, those have to be nicely arranged for your convenience and eye pleasure.

Learn how to organize files on your Mac desktop from the following tips.

Window Tidy Mac

Desktop organizing tips to keep your Mac's desktop clean

Keeping files on your desktop not only makes it difficult to find what you need when you need it, but it can also be a reason why your Mac runs slower than it should. We've come up with a few helpful tips to keep your desktop tidy.

Clean Up & Sort By

Desktop Tidy App

No need to tell you how to clean up or sort your desktop items by name, kind, date, etc. Those are the basic system settings and they are good to start with. There is still a challenge when the quantity of everything you have on the desktop is close to overwhelming.

The Stacks feature in the new macOS Mojave is also a good thing to try. Even though it takes some extra actions to reach to the required item, you can get a much tidier and organized Desktop by grouping related items into one stack.

Get rid of all redundant files

It’s not really the items arrangement that matters, but the very presence of those items on a desktop. Ask yourself:

How many files on your desktop are really important and often used ones?

I bet there’s not too many.

What can be deleted or moved to appropriate folders?

Those are usually temporary and out-of-date files – get rid of them as soon as possible.

The best option is to keep only the bare minimum of the most used items on your desktop. It may sound a bit too strict or limiting but, in fact, it’s a nice thing to get used to. Soon you’ll start feeling a little more organized, focused and productive.

Make the most of folders & tags

You can easily find all kinds of files in Finder if you properly use folders and tags for them. First of all, it totally makes sense to keep your docs in Documents, pics in Pictures, etc. It is where macOS naturally expects them to be. Further on, create clear informative names for the folders (preferably for the files too). Specify the date, type, project and/or other useful data.

For most, properly named and located folders and files are just enough, but you may also try using Finder tags. Those colorful labels can help you organize files on your Mac even better. You may sort everything by color, place or whatever you wish. So at least check out those tags – maybe you’ll love them.

N.B. Just don't colorize everything. The tags are of best help when assigned to several most important files or folders on a Mac.

Nothing gets lost with Spotlight

After you’ve managed to clean up your digital working space, everything should be better arranged and easier to find. For even faster access to anything you have on your Mac, use Spotlight. Press Command + Space, start typing the object’s name or content and choose from the suggestions. It’s that easy.

Those were the basic tips for a desktop clean-up which macOS provides you with. For even more advanced opportunities, you can use handy apps from the Setapp collection.

Unclutter

Unclutter is a handy window that sits above your Desktop and slides down whenever needed. All you have to do is move your mouse to the screen top and scroll down. Unclutter opens with three panels: Clipboard, Files and Notes.

When

Window Tidy App Mac