Good Housekeeping - Saving Files On Your Mac
I wanted to help you start the New Year with a great tip in good saving habits on your Mac.
Everyone has the odd file thrown anywhere and it can be really annoying to find it again when you need it. Although you do have Spotlight to find the file you are looking for, it is often quicker and easier to find files by looking for them yourself. This post is designed to show Mac newbies (and veterans) good saving habits. It does work out better in the long run.
To start all Applications should go into the root(main level) Applications folder. Pretty simple, but I have found customers computers which have apps all over the place. It makes finding them a lot longer and if you move an app it could take you weeks to find it again, plus it can break a lot of links and things don’t work. Keep all apps in the applications folder. As well as this try to keep the root(main level) of your hard drive as clean as possible. Ideally you shouldn’t put any files or folders here. Simply because they can get in the way and will probably not be backed up by Time Machine.
The best place to store all of your files is in your home folder. This is the one given to you when you create a user account. Inside of this is the Applications, Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Library, Music, Pictures, Public and Sites. The screen shot below is an example of your home directory of folders.
I don’t recommend using the Applications folder in your Home directory (if you have one). Simply because if you use an app in that folder and then decide to delete your account you could lose that app. Plus it is a lot easier for every one to have it in the main Applications folder and then set permissions to who can use it.
The Desktop. should be used as a temporary storage area on files you’re working on so you can quickly access stuff from your own Desktop, then file it away in your documents folder, the desktop is best not used to store important files for too long. Simply because it can tend to be overlooked by yourself or having to re-organize and sort through duplicate files in multiple locations. It’s just a headache waiting to happen.
Documents. This is where you should store data files, (files your created) that don’t belong in any other folder but in your documents folder. Keep all of your work documents under the Documents folder, and then create sub-folders within the documents folder to store/save files under their respective folder so you can quickly and easily find and file away your documents including desktop folders with important files.
The other folders such as Music, Picture, Movies, Library are not really for your use rather the applications and system that store files in these locations. Programs such as iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, Front Row, and your profile, etc.. look in these folders and store files when they run. Do not remove files or folders of there respective folders or your music, movies, pictures, profile, etc will no longer be available or work properly.
In a nutshell, with Mac it does get any easier, when you purchased your Mac you created your account and all of these folders were created for you so you can quickly and easily organize and find your documents. With good saving habits it doesn’t take a couple of seconds to run through a couple of folders to find the exact file, compared to spending 10 minutes trying to find it with search.
Keep things simple and where they belong and and do regular housekeeping and you should do ok.
Happy New Year 
