New Mac User Common Mistakes
This “Tip of theWeek” brought to you by S2M Computer Consulting
File Management
A common computer mistake, and not just on a Mac is file disorganization, or randomly placing anything and everything wherever the mood dictates. Sure you can always use Spotlight to find a file or email but why not just organize your Mac as you go and the next time you need to find something it will be right where you filed it. That said, there is no one way to organize your Mac’s files, you could do it alphabetically or maybe start off with a Personal and Business file system that branches off from there, the idea here is to make a filing plan and follow the plan.
A few key rules are not to mess with your iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, and GarageBand files or Libraries as these generally get managed by the Applications, automatically going in your Photos, Movies, and Music folders. The folder that you can mess about with is your Documents folder. Customize this as needed and create New Folders and Sub-folders for what-have-you. Think of your Documents folder like a real filing cabinet, how would you organize this if it was the real deal?
To create a new folder inside the documents folder make sure to first navigate to your Documents folder and once it is highlighted, all you need to do is simply go to the “Finder File Menu” and select “New Finder Window”. Pressing “Command-N” will do the same thing. The new Folder will be labeled “untitled folder” and will usually be highlighted meaning you can now type the name you want that folder to be. If you want to change the name of a folder later, select it by clicking on it once, wait a second and then click on the name of the folder till it highlights, now you can enter a new name for it.
