SmartFolders
Latest
Spring clean your Mac with smart folders
Call it what you will, but "Spring Cleaning" is just as important on your Mac as it is in real life. From cleaning out old files to organizing music/movies/TV shows that you "threw" into iTunes over the past few months, spring cleaning is a necessary evil. One way to find large files that might be eating up space on your Mac is with a smart folder; it's easy to set one up right from the Finder. To create a smart folder that will find large files on your hard drive, simply follow these directions: Open a new Finder window and select File > New Smart Folder. In the resulting window, select "Other" from the first drop-down menu (the default selection is "Kind), and search for the key word "size." If you wish this item to remain in the menu, select the "In menu" check box. Select the OK button once you select the "Size" item. Select "is greater than" from the next drop-down menu. Type in the size that you would like to search for files. I would suggest searching using 1 GB, but you can use any size you wish. Finder will immediately begin searching your Mac for any files that match the description that we just specified. When you are ready to save your smart folder, select the "Save" button from the top right of the Finder window. You will then be asked to specify a save name and location. Now whenever you want to look for large files that might be hogging space on your system, just open this smart folder, and let the search begin!Beyond this tip, if you are looking for utilities that can help you keep your storage lean and free of bloated, legacy files, you may want to check out GrandPerspective, WhatSize or OmniDiskSweeper.
yFlicks: the 'iPhoto for your movies' is 40% off at MacZOT today only
Geeze, those MacZOT guys either have strangely coincidental timing, or I need to consider changing the locks on my house. This is either the second or third time that I discovered and thoroughly enjoyed an app, only to find it go on sale at MacZOT the next day (i.e. - I'm buying a license as I type this). The app in question is yFlicks, which we wrote about back in January (and I probably missed because of all the Macworld craziness). yFlicks is more or less a really cool 'iPhoto for your movies,' allowing you to organize and rate your movie files, as well as update the metadata associated with them. This is a great thing if, like me, you're switching from iPhoto to Aperture, because one drawback of the latter is that it doesn't import or organize movies shot with a digital camera.But yFlicks does some great stuff I've never seen in a full-on movie organizer before: it offers live video previews when you mouse over the thumbnail (so you don't have to open each movie just to get a look at it), complete support for the Apple Remote, a bookmarklet for downloading movies from popular communities like YouTube, Daily Motion and College Humor, and even a great temporary folder system that doesn't simply copy every movie into your movies folder when playing it, allowing you to pick and chose which movies you actually keep and catalog. The great thing about yFlicks is that the cleverness doesn't stop there; its developer, Peter Maurer - who Mat Lu pointed out in January has developed a ton of other great Mac apps, has sprinkled all sorts of handy magic throughout yFlicks, from a simple rotate button for movies that were shot with the camera rotated to Smart Folders for organizing your flicks and even one-click access to viewing your movie file in its location in the Finder. In fact, I'm so happy with yFlicks, I'm still buying it straight from Mr. Maurer. If you want to save some cash though, yFlicks is on a 40% sale today at MacZOT: its U.S. price is typically $20, but today-only it's just $11.95. That's a killer deal on one of the best darn movie organizing apps I've ever seen.Of course, before you decide, you can grab a demo from Many Tricks, Peter Maurer's software company, and take it for a spin before throwing down your cash.
Mac 101: Mimic Stacks in Tiger
Here's a simple trick that will let you approximate Leopard's "Stacks" feature in Tiger (without all the cool eye candy, of course).Lifehacker suggests moving your documents folder, a download folder, etc. into the dock. Then right click that folder (or Control-click or simply click and hold...whichever you prefer) to see that folder's contents.That's fine, but if you want to get fancy, create a smart folder to live in your dock. I made one to mimic Steve's collection of recent images: From the Finder's "File" menu, select "New Smart Folder" Set the criteria to be "Created = Today" and "Kind = Images" Give your folder a descriptive name (like "Today's Images"), save it and drag it into the dock! Now you have a folder that will automatically populate itself with all of the images you create on a given day. I clicked the folder window's chicklet (upper right hand corner) to give it more of a "Stacks panel mode" feel by eliminating the toolbar and sidebar.Yes, this only the most modest approximation of the most superficial functionality of stacks, but it's the best we have until October.
43Folders: Using smart folders in Mail
Merlin Mann over at productivity blog 43Folders is taking a look at the Smart Folders feature of Apple's Mail today. His favorites include a folder to hold "flagged" messages, a recently sent folder (within the last two days) and recently viewed (same criteria).The one I thought was clever was a collaborative effort between Address Book and Mail. In Address Book, he created a group based on geographic location (particularly, San Francisco). Back in Mail, he created a smart folder to group messages received from contacts in the "San Francisco" group. That's a pretty good idea.I'm sure you see the question coming: What are your favorite smart folders setups? I actually don't use any, as I want an empty mailbox. Any message that I think requires me to somehow do something I forward to my Backpack "Inbox" page, where it waits for me to decide what it is and act accordingly. But that's me.
Found Footage: Organizing Files with Labels and Smart Folders
To be honest I've never really gotten the Finder's colored labels. That is to say, I've never really understood how to use them to good effect. However, this video tutorial from Living With Mac convinced me I need to take another look at the usefulness of labels, particularly when combined with Smart Folders. The idea is rather simple, but also potentially powerful. Label your files for different project names, or with different status designations (e.g. "needs to be finished", "waiting for" (some other information or person), "archive") then create Smart Folders that search for those labels. That way your files can remain in appropriate (hierarchical) folders, yet can be temporarily grouped according to status, project, etc. As mentioned in the video, this can also be a good way of "Getting Things Done." I'll warn you the video is perhaps a little under-rehearsed, but nonetheless it has some great tips you can use right now.
Setting the record straight about Smart Folders
I don't use Mail.app as it just doesn't fit into my workflow. However, if I did use Mail I would most certainly take advantage of the 'Smart Folders' feature to make my life a little easier. Mac Geekery taken it upon themselves to clear up some misconceptions about Smart Folders (focusing mostly on the fact that they aren't really folders at all) and make us all aware of what is really going on under the hood.Worth a look if you have ever wondered about how smart those Smart Folders truly are.
