Keep your workspace organized

Learn essential techniques for keeping track of your files and apps

Time is precious, which is why it’s important to ensure your Mac is working for you, not the other way around. Tags enable you to keep track of files by subject, no matter whether they’re on your desktop, buried five folders deep in Documents, in iCloud, or even spread among all these locations. You can also make the Desktop and Documents folders available on iCloud-connected devices.

Pages, Numbers, and Keynote have the built-in ability to use a document you’ve set up as a template on which to base future work. You can achieve a similar effect with any file in Finder, so that when you open it you work on a copy, which keeps the original intact while making your work consistent and professional.

Any apps, folders or server connections you regularly use can be set to open when you log in. Additionally, you can create a stack in the right-hand side of the Dock that shows your most recently used apps.

Most of the tips here can be used on any Mac, because they focus on features in macOS itself, but we’ve also included a third-party tool, Quicksilver.

For the most part, the techniques you’ll learn about here are pretty simple to get to grips with. However, one requires a command in Terminal.