A cluttered Mac screen makes things hard to find – too many programs put their stuff there. If you’re having trouble keeping your screen clean, a number of third-party programs can help keep your Mac running smoothly.
Don’t wish your desktop was as clean as mine? | Flickr
Why is this important
The obvious answer is that you’ll have a hard time finding content on a cluttered desktop. Sure you can use Spotlight or Alfred, but that approach doesn’t always work. With too many icons on the desktop, your Mac can slow down. In rare cases, you may lose your items. Worst of all, you can’t see your amazing wallpaper with a cluttered desktop.
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HiddenMe: Temporary Solution
If you haven’t reached screen zero yet, HiddenMe is a free app that hides the icons on your desktop. They remain on the desktop; you just can’t see them. This app is great when you give presentations. One click and it’s all gone!
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Cleanup: A Cool Desktop
Declare uses rules to create individual folders on your desktop. It then moves the content into what they call “Smart Folders”. The first step is to create your directory. Clean up junk that goes beyond standard Finder folders and creates cool icons on top of folders for you.
Then you create a name filter for the folder. You can also customize the name of the file extension. For example, if you put Screen, Shoot inside Filename field and png inside File extension, this will move your screenshot to the correct folder. The program interface is odd because it doesn’t allow you to put spaces in filenames. I want to put Screenshots instead of Screen, Shoot but it doesn’t support spaces.
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If you want to take the time to organize your screen, you can turn off automatic mode on Declutter. You can then tell it to run rules from a program, menu bar icon, or hotkey.
Hazel: Powerful cleaning and automation on your Mac
Hazel uses Apple’s search functions to automatically move files on your Mac. To clean up the desktop, Hazel can do the same things that Declutter did. Spotlight-like interface. You can tell it anything on the screen that matches the filename or extension that goes into a particular directory. That folder can be on the desktop or anywhere on your Mac.
Hazel gives you a few initial suggestions like moving files that are a few days old to a special folder. I use Hazel to manage my downloads folder much better. I can tell it to move my .dmg installer to the correct directory. Hazel also allows me to create rules based on where files are downloaded. I have most of my statements from the bank paperless. Hazel automatically puts them in the correct folder after downloading.
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The interface and rule-based functions take some getting used to. If a clean screen is your main concern, then Declutter is better. If you want more control over not only your desktop but also file automation on your Mac, Hazel is the better choice. Hazel has a 14-day free trial and is not available in the Mac App Store.
Keep a good backup
Both of these programs rely on your rule-writing skills. If you make a mistake, the files may be in the wrong location or overwritten. You should back up your Mac regularly, but especially when you have file automation. The first time I used Hazel, I thought I was moving temporary files to the trash, but I deleted everything in the downloads instead. Oh! My backup saved me from several cases of data loss due to my novice programming skills.
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Categories: How to
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