Whether it’s a desktop crowded with screenshots you took seven months ago, or a browser window that’s doing its best to display all 35 tabs you have open at once, digital disarray is something we all deal with. As we continue on with October’s theme of organization, then, we had to touch on organization in the digital world. So, today, we’re so excited to share with you some of our favorite tips and tricks for getting (and staying) digitally organized. Get ready to clear that cache and regain sight of everything on your screen—we’re sharing some seriously helpful tools for you today.
Finder Tabs on a Mac
If you’re using a Mac and not taking full advantage of the Finder Tabs feature, you’re missing out on a serious time-saving trick. Tags (which you can assign to files from any finder window by choosing File>Tags, or by navigating to tags in the sidebar of any finder window) organize your files without you having to actually put them in separate folders. So, you can create tags for things like “travel,” “personal,” “client paperwork,” etc. and assign those tags to any document, file, image, folder, etc. that’s saved on your Mac.
To see everything you’ve labeled under a certain tag, simply type the name of that tag (i.e. “client paperwork”) into the search bar from any finder window and—voila!—all of the files you’ve tagged as “client paperwork” appear. We especially love the idea of creating tags for weddings (i.e. “Smith Wedding”) and assigning those to every file you have saved for that specific wedding. Once you’re done with that particular wedding, you can simply delete the tag. Genius! (P.S. You can read all about getting the most out of Mac’s Finder Tabs here.)
Aisle Planner’s Auto-Syncing Calendar
When we created Aisle Planner, we really wanted to create something that easily integrated into your daily life—and, if there’s an Aisle Planner feature that truly epitomizes the cohesive, intuitive nature of our platform, it’s our auto-syncing calendar. When you add hard due dates to any checklist items or add payment due dates to an invoice, that information will automatically sync to your Aisle Planner calendar (which you can also setup to sync to your personal online calendar). Learn how to do that on our Community Support page here. Plus, we’ll send you notifications and reminders when a due date is approaching—ensuring all of your important to-dos and hard deadlines are at the forefront of your mind, without cluttering your screen space.
“Pinning” Tabs on Safari
You know those moments when you have more Safari tabs open at once than you have pairs of shoes? We sort of hate those times...which is why we’re huge fans of Safari’s “pin tab” feature. Essentially, pinning tabs in Safari takes those tabs and tucks them away in the corner of your window as teeny-tiny, space-saving favicon—helping you ensure your screen space (and your sanity) stay fully in tact.
We recommend pinning those “evergreen” tabs that you’re constantly checking (your email inbox, your Aisle Planner account, your Facebook page, etc.)—allowing you to free up more browser space for the tabs you’re only using at the moment. To do so, start with multiple tabs open in one Safari window. Then, choose the tab you want to “tuck away in the corner” and, with that tab selected, choose Window>Pin Tab (or, alternatively, you can simply click and drag that tab to the far left of your browser window). Safari will then turn that tab into an out-of-the-way icon that you can still access whenever you need, but that doesn't take up too much of that precious screen space of yours. Those tabs then remain in your Safari browser (even after you quit Safari and reopen it) so you don’t have to spend time navigating to your Gmail account or Facebook page or favorite yoga studio schedule every single time you open Safari.
Overall, there are so many time-saving tricks and tools we can use to stay digitally organized (and somewhat sane)—but these just happen to be our top three. Have any must-share tips you use for staying digitally organized? Share them with us in the comments section below. We’d love to hear what you’ve got! Cheers, Aisle Planners, to staying organized (both on and off the screen) this year!
Hero photo courtesy Shane and Lauren Photography
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