Clean up your Messy Desktop in under 5 seconds

[trs96]

No, it doesn't involve turning off your monitor.

This is the shortest tutorial I've ever made. Enjoy !

Of course, my desktop never gets this messy. I did the research to help out everyone else. LOL

 

[Gigamaxx]

This is the shortest tutorial I've ever made. Enjoy !

Of course, my desktop never gets this messy. I did the research to help out everyone else. LOL

Now, when you open that folder does your hard drive crash?

I love the “Use Stacks” option in Catalina.

 

[trs96]

when you open that folder does your hard drive crash?

Not at all. You can even press ⌘ + Z and reverse it instantly. Try it.

I love the “Use Stacks” option in Catalina.

Even then you'll end up with huge stacks that shouldn't be on the desktop consuming CPU cycles.

 

[wstrohm]

My desktop is clean but quite cold. Everything is kept in the SSDs at upper right, to keep warm. (Pic is "The Glacial Age" from not yet released "Firmament" video game by Cyan.)

 

[UtterDisbelief]

No, it doesn't involve turning off your monitor.

This is the shortest tutorial I've ever made. Enjoy !

Of course, my desktop never gets this messy. I did the research to help out everyone else. LOL

Nicely done Sir

The smoothness of the animation and the undocumented (Shift+Cmd+N yes, Ctrl+Cmd+N I've not seen) version of creating a folder and putting stuff in it, in one move, is very neat. Gotta love macOS.

Back when I ran Windows I did this manually by creating a desktop short-cut for each app and then dragging them into a desktop folder. So all my apps were in one place. Viewed as icons too. Not as slick as macOS and your method, but similar and kept the desktop clean. What's the point of a nice desktop wallpaper if you can't see it?

 

[trs96]

Back when I ran Windows I did this manually by creating a desktop short-cut for each app and then dragging them into a desktop folder.

There is now a "Show/Hide desktop icons" option in Windows 10 that makes it even faster than on macOS. It's under the rt. click menu. It doesn't put any of them into a folder though. The macOS method of desktop cleanup is more elegant. I learned it when researching for a macOS keyboard shortcuts tutorial that I was writing. Don't remember where I found it. Certainly isn't one that Apple talks about.

 

[trs96]

Here's a screen shot. The resizing of icons also comes in handy. I like the shortcut where you can hold Ctrl and then use the mouse scroll wheel to make the icons any size you want.

 

[trs96]

@UtterDisbelief you might be interested in seeing this official Apple Support YT channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYFQ33UIPERYx8-ZHucZbDA

It just got started about 3.5 years ago and looks as if Apple makes all these how to videos for their products. It may also be that they contract with another independent co. that makes these tutorials.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

@UtterDisbelief you might be interested in seeing this official Apple Support YT channel.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYFQ33UIPERYx8-ZHucZbDA

It just got started about 3.5 years ago and looks as if Apple makes all these how to videos for their products. It may also be that they contract with another independent co. that makes these tutorials.

Thanks. I subscribe to the Apple channel but hadn't seen the Support one

I tried Stardock Fences on Windows for a while and it certainly helps keep a desktop clean and organised as you can "roll up" the panels of apps you make. But I noticed a boot overhead and CPU usage so removed it and used the short-cut and folder method instead.

Yes that scroll-wheel is probably overlooked beyond just web-pages.