The quick fix: Stacks
Control-click the Desktop and choose Use Stacks. Files collapse into piles by kind (Images, PDFs, Screenshots), and you can group by Date Added instead from View → Group Stacks By. It looks tidier, but nothing has actually moved.
The lasting fix: give files a home
Decide where each kind of file should really live:
- 1Documents and PDFs → a Documents folder, by year.
- 2Screenshots → a Screenshots folder (see our screenshots guide).
- 3Images → Pictures.
- 4Anything older than a month that you haven't touched → an Archive folder.
Make it automatic
Point a TidyFile rule at your Desktop and it sorts new files as soon as they appear. A rule that moves files you haven't modified in 30 days into an Archive folder keeps the Desktop for what you're working on right now.
The TidyFile rule
Archive old Desktop files
- When a file
- in Desktop, modified more than 30 days ago
- Then
- move to Archive/{year}
Set it up once and TidyFile applies it in the background, to new files the moment they arrive. Preview what it'll do to the files already there, and undo anything from the activity log.
Questions
What are Desktop Stacks on a Mac?+
Stacks group Desktop files by kind into neat piles. Turn them on by Control-clicking the Desktop and choosing Use Stacks. They tidy the view, but the files are all still on the Desktop.
Does a cluttered Desktop slow down a Mac?+
Hundreds of files on the Desktop can make Finder slower to redraw, and if Desktop & Documents sync to iCloud, every file there is uploaded too. Moving them into folders helps on both counts.
Can TidyFile watch the Desktop instead of Downloads?+
Yes. Each rule can watch any folder, so you can have Downloads rules and Desktop rules side by side.