Marco ArmentMar 16, 2023

My "organizational" system for my podcasts is to keep these folders on my Desktop, periodically archiving them — usually motivated by running out of desktop screen width.

It has gotten increasingly ridiculous as my monitors have gotten bigger over time…

Show threadMarco Arment

The visibility and misalignments are the point!

If they look nicer or aren’t visible in my face all the time, I’ll NEVER remember to archive them.

How many of you have some version of a junk-drawer/"to go through” folder on your Desktop?

And how often do you go through it?

…

Yeah, that’s what I thought!

Hidden junk is just junk you'll never deal with.

Mar 16, 2023 at 1:16pmIvory for Mac
Show threadMarco ArmentMar 16, 2023

I have so many “[x] to go through" folders in so many places. When have I gone through them? Never.

Eventually, one such folder (Stuff To Go Through) got big enough that I shifted it to my NAS, where of course I'll get to it really quickly, right?

Let's see what gems are in it:

- A 2011 invoice for Build & Analyze
- Instapaper 4.0 beta notes
- A photo from Tumblr's 2009 SXSW party
- An RSS icon that briefly looks like a guy sitting on a toilet
- My iPhone 4S receipt

…and so much more.

Show threadJari PennanenMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment One could make a podcast from Marco's "Stuff To Go Through" folder.
Show threadarshakMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment the RSS icon is cute, though!
Show threadJuan VillelaMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment Everyone has that one photo you saved for a very particular reason but cannot recall what that was.
Show threadMatt BonneyMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment Thank you for brining this up, because it led to me finding this absolute gem in my own "NEED TO SORT" folder
Show threadMike RastielloMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment wow, blast from the past with that Planet koozie!
Show threadMarco ArmentMar 16, 2023
@mikerastiello Nice catch! Were you there back then? They were our host for most of the time I was there, even as they became Softlayer.
Show threadMike RastielloMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment my wife was in marketing for The Planet back then, she worked on the SXSW stuff that year and we had a bunch of these laying around.
Show threadJeremy BurgeMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment bring back Marco Marco 🕶️
Show threadStuart BreckenridgeMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment Are you wearing your aviators indoors?
Show threadMarco ArmentMar 16, 2023
@stuart Those were someone else’s ridiculous sunglasses (I forget exactly who — I think maybe Meaghano), I tried them on as a joke and did my best cool-guy impression, and someone (probably Tiff) took a picture.
Show threadRyan OlsonMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment I'm currently about six months into another run at proper Getting Things Done and making sure my weekly review includes tasks to go through all those dumping grounds has helped me a ton. (I think the current list is starred email, insurance receipts in dropbox, projects in my todo app, and my Apple Notes.)
Show threadsamMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment first name tumblr club represent!
Show threadJorge RosasMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment that picture of you is fucking rad
Show threadSteveMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment It's just “To Sort”s all the way down.
Show threadAlphacheezMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment are we sure that RSS icon isn't actually an artist's rendering of @caseyliss at his 5g picnic table/park bench?
Show threadJames PamplonaMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment Oh my gosh, baby Marco is adorable!
Show threadSam GrossMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment That guy has peed on his shoes
Show threadEhlerMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment My solution is to use Hookmark to link to folders that actually matter to go through in the places they belong, and then make OmniFocus actions to go through them. That way they’re ‘in place’ when I never go through them.
Show threadgormsterMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment this photo makes it look like your name is Marco “Tumblr” Marco
Show threadbarilomeMar 19, 2023
@marcoarment love the old iOS interface, such nicely designed buttons 👌
Show threadPascal HeinemannMar 19, 2023
@marcoarment that‘s definetly Raymond Reddington from The Blacklist 🖖
Show threadCasey LissMar 16, 2023

@marcoarment > Hidden junk is just junk you'll never deal with

HEY MAN MY "INCOMING FOLDERS”

…prove this is 100% true. 😖

Show threadIain McLarenMar 16, 2023

@caseyliss @marcoarment this reminds me of how the 2 minute rule significantly improved my life.

The rule is this. If we have an incoming task (grinding through emails, filing a document, or whatever), if we can do the task in < 2 minutes, then always just do the task right now and get it out of your “in tray”. It’s freeing because if we know the task will take more than 2 minutes it’s usually easier to file, discard, or process accordingly: https://gettingthingsdone.com/what-is-gtd/

What is GTD

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a personal productivity methodology that redefines how you approach your life and work.

Getting Things Done®
Show threadTim Morris 🎆Mar 16, 2023
@marcoarment I have a “Desktop Files” box that I occasionally dump stuff into, with plans to review at some point, but essentially it’s now just full of a dozen “Dump <Date>” folders…
Show threadFreediverXMar 16, 2023
@TimMorris @marcoarment
I thought it was just me.
Show threadTim Morris 🎆Mar 16, 2023
@freediverx @marcoarment
Show threadJörg-Ch. KnochenMar 16, 2023
@TimMorris @marcoarment Amateur. Mine are simply called „Desk“ and are nested inside each other.
Show threadstyrofoamSkilletMar 16, 2023
@TimMorris man this is better than me. I have nested “to sort and file” folders with no dates, each accompanied by half a monitor of files.
Show threadbubbajetMar 16, 2023
@TimMorris I’m on “Desktop Files IV,” myself. No idea what’s in them. 🙄
Show threadTim Morris 🎆Mar 16, 2023
@bubbajet I tend to purge after 6-12 months.
Show threadDaniel BerlingerMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment I sadly report that I have multiple junk drawer folders on my Desktop. Sigh. I’ve learned to love myself anyway.
Show threadJerrod HofferthMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment For me, Downloads has become the horror that I swore Desktop never shall be again.
Show threadKonrad KołakowskiMar 16, 2023

@jerrod @marcoarment Hahah, I wanted to post the same thing: Desktop for me is a clean slate, but all the stuff Marco is saying is now "Downloads”.

Partially because it's not synced to iCloud (which I don't want as I sometimes downloads files that are tens of gigabytes in size, like Xcode)

Beside that though… I have indeed everything sorted out in proper folders like a proper sort-and-order freak that I am 🤓

Show threadPaul ColtonMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment Consider Hazel, helps keep things tidy, love it —> https://www.noodlesoft.com/
Noodlesoft – Noodlesoft – Simply Useful Software

Show threadSören GadeMar 16, 2023
@jerrod Same for me. Though because the stack is always visible in my dock, for a few weeks I feel like my Mac is „dirty“ until at some point I clear out the folder and it feels clean again. Rinse and repeat.
Show threadZacMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment Here to suggest Hazel as well. Solved that particular problem for me
Show threadBlake Helms Mar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment Hazel solved my download folder issues. It automatically cleans up old downloads and organizes the new ones.
Show threadLawMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment 💯
Show threadPaul ChernoffMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment I see staff with well over 1000 files in downloads folder.
Show threadAndrew NaylorMar 16, 2023

@jerrod @marcoarment man, do I have a solution for you!

ls -lah ~/Downloads
lrwxr-xr-x 1 argon staff 7B 10 Mar 2022 /Users/argon/Downloads -> Desktop

Show threadFreddyMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment Have you tried a folder within your Downloads folder?
Show threadDave Slusher - Hacker/MakerMar 16, 2023

@jerrod @marcoarment I deal with this by creating a directory called Transient. No ambiguity, it is what it is called. All downloads go there. Then I have cron jobs that delete anything older than 2 weeks. If you need it longer you have 2 weeks to move it. If not, it will disappear. It solved the problem of "I have a new machine, what is actually important in this unholy mess of a directory?"

I now do this on every work and personal computer I ever touch.

https://devportaldocs.service-now.com/blog.do?p=/post/ot-transient-mac-directory/

Off-Topic: Transient Mac Directory

This is not directly ServiceNow related, but a tip I stumbled across that has made my digital and work life much easier. It’s highly common that people have a “Downloads” directory that they choose not to back up. Why would you? It has big files that churn a lot, so that is just extra cruft in your Time Machine or other backup. However, unless you are very disciplined over time you get unruly chaos.

Show threadWebrangerLMar 17, 2023
@geniodiabolico @jerrod @marcoarment Works like a charm, and if I may say, brilliant.
Show threadRhett RogersMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment I treat my downloads folder as a temp folder. If I want something from there to persist, I gotta move it. Every so often I just delete everything in there without looking at it.
Show threadheshsumMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment Same here. It’s the digital equivalent of that one junk drawer in the kitchen, where everything lands that doesn’t really have a place.
Show threadDan ShockleyMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment
I solve the Desktop clutter problem by having a folder named "__SORT_THESE" on the Desktop. Occasionally, I just toss all the random stuff in there, keeping only specific folders on the Desktop beside it. Problem solved, right?
Show threadStefan ですMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment Same. Occasionally I clean it up and try to keep it that way, but it always ends up messy again... 🙈
Show threadPierre-Luc GagnéMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment The same for me, and I excluded the Downloads folder from Time Machine backups, to force me to move things to their proper space.
Show threadlaura lemayMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment ahaha I occasionally "clean up" the Desktop folder by moving everything into Downloads. 😎
Show threadKevanMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment this. so much this. But also…Desktop is still a shitshow, mostly full of screenshots though. 😢
Show threadVlad Iliescu 🐬Mar 16, 2023

@jerrod @marcoarment it’s fine, really, after a while you can just move everything into an ‘archive’ subfolder of Downloads. Then, when you feel like it you can have archive2, archive3, etc.

Once you get to archive10 I recommend renaming Downloads to something like Downloads_old, and start anew. That’s how I do it at least.

Show threadConorMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment that’s funny, I keep my Downloads clean at all times (just a staging area) and no thanks to Stacks my desktop is a disaster.
Show threadnotbencarterMar 16, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment hard same.
Show threadTobsenMar 17, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment I have a Hazel rule that sorts files after one week into an subfolder named with the date the file was added 🙈
Show threadallocaMar 18, 2023
@jerrod @marcoarment I wrote a very mid program to automatically add Finder colors to old things in my Downloads directory and optionally delete very old things. I find it helps me keep a small working set in there
https://github.com/arennow/tide
GitHub - arennow/Tide

Contribute to arennow/Tide development by creating an account on GitHub.

GitHub
Show threadMarina EpelmanMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment I have this. The NotDesktop is a folder in Dropbox (so it syncs between my office and home computers), and this is an alias to it, in case I am ever tempted to save anything to the desktop.
Show threadJacob Gorban 🎸💻Mar 16, 2023
@marinaepelman I love the background picture.
Show threadMarina EpelmanMar 16, 2023
@jacobgorban @[email protected]
Show threadColin DevroeMar 16, 2023
@marcoarment guilty! My junk folder is 2GB and I have no idea what is in there. :)