Desktop is cluttered

My desktop is overflowing with things. How can I organize them (I noticed that I can't cut and paste to a folder like Windows)

HI,
Desktop clutter can cause problems. Read the post by "Klaus1" on this thread.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7667118#7667118
Carolyn

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How do I rid my desktop of multiple valve license agreements and also Steam

My desktop is cluttered with incomplete Valve license agreements ,how do I get rid of them?

Select them, then command - delete, and then empty the trash.

Mac OS X Leopard Desktop

Hi,
I'm trying to find out if it is possible to somehow generate a floating layer (shape) which can sit on my desktop as a method of distinguishing between some icons and other icons. When I am working I generate alot of files (graphics, data etc) which I will eventually move into another directory when I am finished. This makes my desktop rather cluttered and difficult to find certain files / folders. What I have done is to draw a shape on my wallpaper to solve this problem as a space to put stuff. However when I change wallpaper I have to redraw the shape / space. I was wondering if there was some software / preference somewhere which would allow me to put a layer over a part of the desktop, but still give me access to the icons.
Any ideas would be great.
Dan

Lots of icons on the desktop can slow down your Mac, it was to draw each icon as an individual window.
Why don't you create a new folder, drag it to the dock (the right hand side of the dashed divider) then drag all the documents into the folder on the dock. You can set the folder up to display in grid format, then when you click on the folder in the dock, there are all your files.
Hope this helps
Keith.

Help clean my desktop

Hi,
My new iMac is only 10 days old, but my desktop is getting cluttered. Having used windows, I know how to clean it, but everytime I try to do it, my application stops working. e.g. I subscribe to 'Dr. Laura', and in order to have it automatically download daily, I have to install its 'media center'. When I did that, it left a little icon with its name on the desktop. When I removed it, the downloads stopped. I was in the game, when I restored it. Question - how can i get it off the desktop?
I am sure there is a way, otherwise I can see the desktop getting cluttered very fast.
I also have a 'poor windows guy' question. When shutting down, do I have to get to apple menu, and click shut down (like in Windows), or is it OK to just turn off the switch?
Thanks,

You must use the Shutdown option in the Apple menu. Never shut down by simply turning off the power. The Shutdown option is needed so the operating system can perform certain chores prior to turning off the computer. If you simply turn off the power you may cause the hard drive to malfunction, losing all your data, and having to reformat the drive and reinstall everything from scratch.
As for what's on your Desktop you can fix that in a number of ways. One is to configure your application to save its downloads/files in a specific folder. I'm not familiar with the program you're using but you can check its preferences to see if that's possible. If not, then create a new folder inside your /Home/Documents/ folder. Move the files this program creates on your Desktop into that new folder. This removes them from the Desktop.
Many programs can be configured to save their files in a default folder. Safari's preferences can be configured to save all downloaded files in your /Home/Downloads/ folder.
There's an excellent shareware utility, Default Folder X - VersionTracker or MacUpdate, that can be used to setup default folders for applications that do not provide the option.

Stray jnlp files gets downloaded onto the desktop when using Safari on MAC.

We are using jdk 1.4 webstart and safari browser on a mac machine.
Once the web start begins a jnlp file gets downloaded on to the desktop but does not get deleted. This happens each time the webstart begins thus the desktop is cluttered with stray .jnlp files each time web start is used.
Is there any workaround such that these files don't get downloaded at all or gets deleted once the web start closes?

Don't multi-post:
http://forum.java.sun.com/thread.jspa?threadID=5136297&messageID=9496292#9496292

Conceal Desktop Clutter?

My desktop is cluttered in an organized way, and I like it as is. (I know about burdening the system with Desktop items, so most of my folders are aliases.)
However, when I work in Photoshop I really don't like all those folders peeking around the edges. This is purely psychological & visual. I don't need to be reminded of my last twelve projects when I'm trying to concentrate on the current one. So, I would like to hide/unhide everything on my desktop with a click or two. Is there a way to set this up in OS X 10.9.2?
For awhile I used a little app called HideMyDesktop for this purpose, but I question its willingness to keep up with OS X updates.
BTW, for those with some familiarity with Photoshop, the solution is not simply to blow up the PS window to full screen, because this makes it impossible to pull an image out of the work area and set it aside temporarily while still having access to it.
Thanks!

If Tuttle's TinkerTool method is too cumbersome you can consider making an Automator workflow that uses the 'Run shell script' item.
Open Automator, select a new 'Application' or 'workflow', (you will need to figure out which works best for your situation & how you want to launch the workflow).
Search for the 'Run Shell Script' action (in the 'Utilities' section). Double click to use it in the workflow.
Replace the 'cat' default text with the two lines from the hint…
defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false
killall Finder
Hit 'Run' to see if it works - you may get a warning about not using the Finders 'Get specified items' - it's not relevant here so ignore it.
Save it as 'Hide my Desktop' in application format & it should be 'double clickable' (don't put it on the Desktop!).
Repeat the steps with another script that sets the value to true to reinstate the Desktop…
defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true
killall Finder
One thing to consider - this is 'killing' the Finder (to make it reload its settings). You don't want to do this when Finder is busy if you are mid way through a file copy it will break the file for example. Finder has been allowed to be 'killed' since OS X started, but it isn't something you want to do all day, everyday.
P.S.
Terminal may be scary, but it can allow you to get a lot more done with fewer steps. Even Automator actions will still make bad things happen if you insert bad Terminal commands. Just take care with typos etc.
I'm sure there are lots of guides on Automator if you get stuck, I rarely use it so I'm not the best for to ask for advice on it.
It is also possible to use 'defaults read com.apple.finder CreateDesktop' - it will tell you if it is set to true (1) or false (0).
You get brownie points if you can read the current state & toggle the Desktop within one script

Lots of Icons appear on my T60 Desktop after Lenovo updates

I've been making updates for first time to my T60 laptop--some directly from Lenovo website and some by using ThinkVantage tool (which I also just updated!). And it seems that with each update, or some of them, the Desktop becomes cluttered with icons. They appear related to the updates.
And you can only imagine how many updates have been made if I haven't made any in years for the T60.
Is it okay and safe to delete the icons from desktop? I don't want to remove the actual updates from my system, though.
But these are really cluttering the desktop.
Thank you in advance!
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hello TuuS,
Thank you for the lesson about PrintScreen. Nice feature.
Here is a print of my desktop with many of the icons that appear after downloading updates on Lenovo site. I've already deleted many.
What do you think?
And I cannot find where one setups "where to download files to" , so I can't change that....
http://s1174.photobucket.com/albums/r611/framingham123/
Strange, huh?
Thank you again.
Thinkpad T60
TuuS wrote:
First thing I'd recommend is you go to google and search "making and posting screenshots", and you'll realize how easy it is to find answers to simple questions, you'll probably find guides showing every step, but a brief example is...
1. press the "print screen" key
2. open microsoft "paint" (or any photo editor), and click on "edit" and "paste".
3. Save the image (save as) .jpg
4. upload to imageshack.us, photobucket.com, tinypic.com, or similar site and post the link here.
make sure to edit/remove any type of personal information from the screenshot before uploading.

How can I move an icon from one space to another?

My desktop is cluttered with different projects.
I thought spaces might be a solution to my problem.
So I added a desktop. Now I want to take some of my desktop items from my first desktop and place them on the second.
How can I do that? Or is that not the purpose of spaces?

Right the Desktop is the Desktop is the Desktop no matter how many you have. Anything placed on the desktop, and it will be in /Users/YourUserName/Desktop, will show on all the desktops whether one or 25.
The only way to have independent desktops is to have 2 or more user accounts. Each one will have there own Desktop in their user account.
Brian O\'Brien wrote:
I do not have Expose & Spaces on my view menu..
but I think the answer is I can't do what I want.

How can I display total playlist size in iTunes 11. It used to be visible for each playlist or CD, but I can't find it now.

How can I display total playlist size in iTunes 11. It used to be visible for each playlist or CD, but I can't find it now.

The Friend: Thanks from me too for that super simple fix!! I feel kinda stupid for not knowing that.
Too bad Apple didn't:
Give it a more intuitive name than "Status Bar"... "status" is what is shown at the top of the window along with the Artist and Song Title, e.g.; how far into the song/podcast/video I've played and how much is left,
Put the keyboard commands in a more prominent place in their release notes when version 11 came out so we could more easily find the information they decided to hide in this attempt to make the desktop less cluttered and
Allow us the option of displaying the data size along with the song count and duration just beneath the playllist title. The status bar is a redundant listing of information except for the data size! Poorly conceived!
Perhaps Apple will remedy this in a future release. For those of us who like to burn our playlists to CD, DVD and even a thumb drive this information is essential. WIthout it, we're left to guess whether a given playlist will fit on our target device.
Thank you!

Open Multiple PDFs from within excel using VBA

Hi,
I'm using excel 2010 and would like to open pdfs based on filenames I have listed in excel.
I attached a little of my code below which gives an idea of what I'm doing.
First question:
Is there a way to open mutiple files so that they are in one "instance" of adobe?
The way this currently works, is it opens up a whole new window for each file which can make desktop very cluttered.
Second question:
Our pdfs are actually in Sharepoint and so what I am first doing, is converting the URL to point to a mapped directory of the Sharepoint Site.
For this to work, the user must first map the sharepoint directory to a specific drive letter.
I'm wondering if there's a way to pass an actual URL via a shell command so I can skip the mapped drive bit? When I try it, it doesn't open the file.
Thanks!
My current vba:
'sFileName = full URL of the file in sharepoint
     'Replace URL with Mapped Directory
        sFileName = Replace(sFileName, "http://aamteams.alv.autoliv.int/sites/alvgmbu/", "A:\")
     'Replace slashes in URL
        sFileName = Replace(sFileName, "/", "\")
     'Test if file exists before opening so adobe doesn't hang up on opening
        If Dir(sFileName) = "" Then
            A81_Try_Opening_In_Adobe = False
            Exit Function
        End If
        l_strProg = GetDefaultProgram(sFileName)
        'Execute function to open PDF
        Shell l_strProg & " " & sFileName, vbNormalFocus

Hi Test,
We would like to open directly in adobe for the following reasons:
1. The users like opening our pdfs in adobe over browsers by a large margin.
2. If we use a mapped drive and adobe, you can see the filenames in the start bar which is important when you have multiple files.
    If you open in browser (like we do today), you only see the left side of URL
    Left side of URL is always the same so it does no good to see what file your in.
3. We have had issues where sometimes the pdfs open "blank" until I refresh the browser.
4. We are also looking for a way to make a local cache of most common files for faster loads.
But maybe I will give shell execute a try if it can find a local copy first in the code.
Then open in browser as last resort.
Using either shell or shell execute, is it possible to open multiple adobe files in the same instance or will we always have to get one instance for every pdf?
Thanks for the help!

How do I get the features of Exposé back?

How do I get the features of Exposé back? I know that mission control allows you to see your spaces as well as “stacks” of documents in each application, but I want the feature back where I can press a keyboard button and have all my windows of a certain application arrange themselves side by side so I can click the one I want.
I looked up and down the help but can’t figure out how to do this simple thing. I looked in Apple Help and it said:
“Your computer’s Exposé feature makes it easy to find windows, even when your desktop is cluttered. If you have many overlapping windows, Exposé lets you view thumbnail versions of all of them so you can find the one you need.
To see all windows for the current application, press F10.”
THAT TURNS OFF THE SPEAKER!

Try Fn-F10, and see also the setting in System Preferences
(also try two-finger swipe-up: Spread out application windows in Mission Control)

Finder icon in dock for ALL currently open Finder windows?

Hi all,
I'm an ex-Windows user and I'm kinda used to having an item in the taskbar for all Explorer windows I have open.
Is there a way to enable this in OS X? I'm pretty good with keyboard shortcuts and alt-tabbing back to Finder is easy but if I have 4 of 5 Finder windows open it's hard to find the one I want quickly.
Can this be done?
Thanks!

digitalformula wrote:
Question though - what do you mean by secondary function of the F3 key? I currently use it all the time for Exposé of course but that's all I use it for ... how can I make it do the thumbnail thing?
The thumbnail thing on F3 is an Exposé function. To clarify, hitting the F3/Exposé key (you can configure if you want F3 or Exposé to be the primary function of that key in System Preferences > Keyboard) brings up miniature images of every active window. Sorry if that was confusing.
Perhaps OS X Help says it best:
"Your computer has a feature called Exposé that makes it easy to find windows when your desktop is cluttered. Even if you have many overlapping windows, Exposé lets you view thumbnail versions of all of them so you can find the one you need.
To see all your open windows, press the Exposé key. If your keyboard doesn’t have an Exposé key, press Fn-F9. If your keyboard doesn’t have an Fn key, press F9.
Exposé includes several other shortcuts for working with windows. For maximum clutter control, you can use it in combination with the Spaces feature.
To set up Exposé, use Exposé & Spaces preferences."

Keyboard short cut for movie/audio preview

I want to go through a large collection of audio files (several thousand files) and the simplest way I've found to check out their contents has been to use the finder's preview column. However, it is still rather clunky, requiring a lot of mousing and clicking (click to select file, click in the preview column to play the preview, mouse back to previous column and click to select new file, etc.)
What I want to know is whether there is a keyboard shortcut to activate the preview play. If, for instance, the shortcut was Space (as in the QT Player) then I could quickly move down and preview a long list of audio files with a combination 'Cursor down' and 'Space'.
But Space (as, I suppose, it should) simply jumps to the top of the list of files, rather than playing the preview.
Is there a shortcut or a hack for this?

1101/3547
Hi Rick,
There may be an even faster solution, but here, that's what I'd try:
Using the finder's preview column,
replace all the clicking and mousing with the keyboard equivalents, that is:
- "click to select file": navigate through the folders in column view with the arrow keys.
- "click in the preview column to play the preview": hit command-O (+ command-W, not at all urgent but if you mind the mess on the Desktop).
- "mouse back to previous column": arrow back.
(of course you knew the Applications Switcher (command-Tab) is set to get you back the previously used app, in you case the Finder..)
- "and click to select new file": arrows etc.
Select all:
Also, what happens if you select all your sound files before hitting command-O?
In Preview this one too is very handy.
Mousing simple:
There is another way of mousing that may be simpler, because it is one simple mouse back and forth travel between the files and the Dock, with no clicking:
Just drag the file directly onto the Dock icon of the application that opens them. It doesn't matter if soon your Desktop is cluttered with dozens of open files. Use option-command-W from time to time or even quit the app.
Hope this helps a little.
Axl

How do I disable Mission Control in favor of old Spaces and Exposé?

Spaces was my favorite feature from previous versions and now they upgraded (killed) it. I loved having a Space for each kind of activity, like browsing or email or system-related tasks, and so on. Now it’s all confusing and I still don’t know how to assign apps to a space. I don’t like either that you have to go over all of them to get to a specific one and there’s no easy way of recalling where -recently unassigned opened- your app was, you have to go thru Mission Control. It’s irritating.
I know you can go directly to a Space by using ^+the number or the space, but I liked way more the grid in which they were set up before.
The window management system OS X is one of the major things I choose this OS over all the other but now it's getting screwed up. It seems like an OS for iOS to Mac OS switchers. Is there some file or setting I have to edit like in Terminal? An app to buy? Anything.
I really appreciate your help.
UPDATE: I just learned how to assign applications to a space, from the application's dock menu, yet the fact that spaces are not fixed and you can easily close them by just clicking the X that on it, keeps me a little too uneasy.

Some people hate it, some like it.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2011/07/mac-os-x-10-7.ars/6#window-manageme nt
At least now we can have up to 16 spaces.
Work in multiple spaces
When projects pile up and your desktop becomes cluttered, you can use Spaces to organize your windows into groups. For example, create a space for work, another for games, and a third for chatting and checking email messages.
Add one or more spaces
Enter Mission Control using one of these methods:
From a trackpad, swipe up using three or four fingers.
From the keyboard, press the Mission Control key. If your keyboard doesn’t have a Mission Control key, press F9 (Fn-F9 on portable keyboards).
Move the pointer toward the upper-right corner of your screen.
To add a space, click the Add button (+). You can add up to 16 spaces.
To leave Mission Control, swipe again, or press the key you used to enter Mission Control.
HideMove from one space to another
Do any of these:
Swipe left or right with three fingers to scroll through your spaces.
Enter Mission Control, and then click the space you want to use.
Press the Control key and the number key for the space you want. For example, press Control-3 to go to Desktop 3.
Press the Control key and an arrow key to scroll through the spaces.
HideMove a window from one space to another
Do any of these:
Drag the window to the edge of your screen and pause; after a moment, the window is switched to the next space.
Move the pointer over the window, and hold down the mouse button while pressing the Control key and an arrow or number key.
From the space that has the window you want to move, enter Mission Control. Then drag the window itself (not the thumbnail image) up to the space you want to use.
HideDecide which spaces to use with particular applications
If you work in multiple spaces, you can assign applications to particular spaces.
Press and hold an application’s icon in the Dock. You may have to first open the application from Launchpad to see its icon in the Dock.
From the shortcut menu that appears over the icon, choose one of these:
To have the application open only in the current space, choose Options > This Desktop. From now on the application will open in the current space; if you are working in a different space, the application’s space scrolls into view.
To have the application open in every space, choose Options > All Desktops. From now on, when the application is open it will appear in every space.
To have the application open in the whichever space you are currently using, choose Options > None.
In Mission Control preferences, you can specify that when switching to an application, your desktop should scroll to a space with open windows for that application.
Delete a space
Enter Mission Control using one of these methods:
From a trackpad, swipe up using three or four fingers.
From the keyboard, press the Mission Control key. If your keyboard doesn’t have a Mission Control key, press F9 (Fn-F9 on portable keyboards).
Move the pointer over the the space you want to delete. After a moment a delete button (x) appears on the space.
Click the delete button (x) to remove the space. If the space contains windows, the windows are moved to another space.

Slow Response

Not sure where to look first to check why my computer is so slow - both using the Internet (Firefox) and the programs. Is there a series of steps to follow before I start messing around with it? Thanks.

Hello and welcome....
Make sure there is enough free space on the startup disk. Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon. Click Get Info. In the Get Info window you will see Capacity and Available. Make sure you always have a minimum of 15% free disk space.
In order to rule out any problems with the iMac startup disk, boot from your install disc, run Disk Utility in case there are errors that need repairing.
Insert your install disk and Restart, holding down the "C" key until grey Apple appears.
Go to Installer menu and launch Disk Utility.
(In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first from the installer menu)
Select your HDD (manufacturer ID) in the left panel.
Select First Aid in the Main panel.
(Check S.M.A.R.T Status of HDD at the bottom of right panel. It should say: Verified)
Click Repair Disk on the bottom right.
If DU reports disk does not need repairs quit DU and restart.
If DU reports errors Repair again and again until DU reports disk is repaired.
When you are finished with DU, from the Menu Bar, select Utilities/Startup Manager.
Select your start up disk and click Restart
As for Firefox, follow the instructions here for emptying the Firefox cache. http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Howto+clear+thecache
If the Desktop is cluttered with files and folders, that will slow your Mac down. Move those files to your Documents folder.
Remove any Login Items. Open System Preferences/Accounts then select the Login Items tab. Delete any files or apps you have listed there. And go to /Library/Startup Items. Move any files in the Startup Items folder to the Trash.
Repair permissions. Launch Disk Utility. (Applications/Utilities) Select MacintoshHD in the panel on the left, select the FirstAid tab. Click: Repair Disk Permissions. When it's finished from the Menu Bar, Quit Disk Utility and restart your Mac. If you see a long list of "messages" in the permissions window, it's ok. That can be ignored. As long as you see, "Permissions Repair Complete" when it's finished... you're done. Quit Disk Utility and restart your Mac.
Carolyn

Desktop is cluttered

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