How To Organize All My Files On Mac: From Chaos To Clean

Folder Structure and Best Practices

If there’s one thing that remains consistent across operating systems, it’s a hierarchical folder structure. This uses main (or parent) folders with subfolders (or child folders) within them and provides superb organization of your files.

A good way to think of this, if you’re unfamiliar, is as an outline. Here’s a basic example.

1. Work
   • Clients

You can see here that Work is the main folder and Clients is a subfolder. Within the Clients subfolder are additional subfolders for each Client and within those are subfolders for each Project for that client.

As you create your folder structure, consider the following best practices:

• Take advantage of the hierarchical structure with main folders and subfolders.
• Create a folder organization that makes sense to you, for instance, by type, project, or date.
• Use meaningful folder and file names that indicate the content without the need to open them.
• Remain consistent with your structure, folder names, and file names.
• Review and adjust your setup if your needs change.

Finder Features: Tags, Groups, and Smart Folders

To get started, you may be wondering how to organize files in Finder on Mac. When you need a file, you can perform a search, just like searching for an email in the Mail app. But, before you start hunting for what you need, consider the following Finder organizational features.

Tags

Tags on macOS work like flags in an email app and give you quick ways to access files. These are little colored dots that display next to file names, allow you to assign specific tag names, and are easily accessible via the Finder sidebar.

As an example, say you have SVG files for your various clients saved in the corresponding client folders. Rather than open each folder, you can tag each SVG and see them all at once by accessing the assigned tag.

✅ To use Tags, right-click a file, move to Tags, and pick a color or choose Tags for additional options. You can also conveniently assign a Tag when you save a file.

Groups

Along with other handy features of Finder is the Group option. With it, you can sort a folder by grouping the files within it by things like size, tags, or date.

For example, maybe you want to see all files in a project folder that you created in the month of July. You can group the folder by Date Created and Finder will group the files by month and then year.

✅ To use the feature, select Group in the Finder toolbar and choose a grouping option.

Smart Folders

Smart Folders on macOS use saved searches with criteria you set up to display related files. For instance, you might create a Smart Folder for files opened on a certain date, that are of the same type, or that have particular contents.

What’s important to remember is that Smart Folders are dynamic. So, as the files on your Mac change, so can the contents of the folder. For example, if you make a Smart Folder to show all files you created today, you’ll see a different set of files when tomorrow comes.

Additionally, Smart Folders don’t move the files from their original locations. They simply show you files that match your criteria and allow you to open them directly.

To create a Smart Folder, open Finder.

1. Go to File → New Smart Folder in the menu bar.
2. Click the plus sign on the right to add your first criterion. You can also add more conditions using the plus sign.
3. Select Save when you finish. Notice that you can check the box to add the Smart Folder to the Finder sidebar.

Quick Tips for PDFs, SVGs, and File Automation

Many users look for specifics on how to organize PDF or SVG files on Mac. Remember, these are simply file types and can be saved to or moved to folders or subfolders like any other file. That being said, here are a few suggestions for PDFs and SVGs along with file automation on macOS:

📌 Place Smart Folders in the Finder sidebar. As described earlier, you can add a Smart Folder you create directly to the Finder sidebar for quick access. So, if you regularly need these types of files, set up a Smart Folder and place it in the sidebar.

📌 Add Tags immediately. When you save a file on Mac, the dialog box has an option to add a tag right away. This is a good way to organize those files right off the bat.

📌 Automate repetitive tasks with Automator. If you perform the same tasks with your PDFs or SVGs regularly, you can set up automated workflows with Mac’s Automator. For example, you can create a flow that automatically moves any SVG you download to a specific folder.

Desktop Cleaning and Organizing: Folders, Stacks, and Clean Up

Your Mac desktop is your digital workspace. And just like your physical desktop, you want to keep your digital desktop clean, neat, and organized. So, now we’ll look at how to organize desktop files on Mac.

Luckily, macOS provides a few features that allow you to do this easily. Before you look into third-party desktop cleanup and productivity apps for Mac, give the following built-in tools a try.

Folders

Many people save items directly to their desktop for quick access. While this might be fine in some cases, it’s not a sustainable practice long-term. You could easily end up with 50 or more items cluttering your desktop.

Instead, consider using folders to organize your desktop items. While it’s usually better to tuck the folders away and access them via Finder or an alias (folder shortcut), you may want particular items that you use every day on your desktop.

• To create a folder with existing files on your desktop, select all of the items. Right-click, pick New Folder with Selection, and then give the folder a name. Remember, you can drag and drop any additional desktop items into the folder.

• To create a folder for upcoming items, simply right-click the desktop, pick New Folder, and give the folder a name.

Stacks

If you need a fast way to organize your desktop, macOS offers a smart feature called Stacks. With it, the system automatically groups files of the same type into stacks or groups that you can then expand to access items and collapse when you finish.

✅ To use Stacks, right-click the desktop and pick Use Stacks. You’ll then see your files automatically sorted into groups. Click a stack to display the items and use the arrow to collapse the stack. You can also hover over a stack without expanding it and use your trackpad or mouse to move through each item.

Clean Up

One more helpful macOS feature for making your desktop look tidy is Clean Up. Using this option, you can automatically arrange your items and choose how to order them like by name, date, size, or tags.

✅ To use the feature, right-click the desktop, move to Clean Up By, and pick an order. Alternatively, you can choose Clean Up and have macOS snap your items to the grid in their approximate location without a specific order.

Mailbox Organization to Complete a Digital Declutter

Just like your desktop, you should keep your emails organized on Mac to complete your digital declutter and cleanup. And keep in mind that emails and attachments take up storage space on your Mac too. These are cached in system folders (e.g., ~/Library/Mail/) to enable offline access.

Keeping your inbox messy like never emptying Trash or storing years of emails adds to clutter, just like an unorganized desktop. Deleting, archiving, or cleaning up old and large messages can significantly reduce storage usage and improve system responsiveness.

Clean Email is a robust supplement to your email client to support the broader goal of digital decluttering alongside file and folder organization.

It offers automated cleaning tools like Auto Clean for inbox rules that handle emails as they arrive and Cleaning Suggestions for recommended message actions based on previous ones, and more.

By using Clean Email with Apple Intelligence in the Mail app, you can ease the burden of email organization and mailbox cleanup.

Clean Email is safe to use, offers a dedicated desktop app for Mac, and conveniently syncs with the web app and all your devices, including iPhone, iPad, or even Android.

Perform Simple Maintenance to Stay Organized

Now that you know how to organize files and folders on Mac, you can perform a one-time cleanup but also must maintain a routine to stay organized.

Create additional Smart Folders for items you need frequently, add tags to files as you save them, and organize or clean up desktop items often.

And to maintain adequate storage space on Mac, automate emptying the Trash, regularly review and manage large files, and keep a clutter-free inbox with Clean Email.