Even when you empty the Trash, leftover parts and pieces of files are left behind deep in your system serving no purpose other than to hog hard drive space.Ī better solution is to use a tool like CleanMyMac X, which scans your system for junk files and removes every trace of a file at the click of a button. Plus, the way in which Mac works means that simply moving files to the Trash doesn’t guarantee full deletion. You can delete anything you don’t need manually by dragging it to the Trash but be warned: if your desktop is particularly cluttered this may prove a time-consuming task. There’s bound to be files on your desktop that you no longer need so before you do any organizing these will need to be cleaned up. In the General tab, untick the boxes next to Hard disks, External disks, CDs, DVDs, and iPods, and Connected servers.Click on your desktop and select Preferences from the Finder menu.You can hide desktop device icons using the Finder Preferences. You can choose to hide selected icons or if you want to go full minimalism, hide all icons. Hiding desktop icons is the quickest way to remove clutter. The fun part is present as well - with Declutter, you can color code your folders and add fancy icons. All you have to do is specify the rules for sorting and let the apps work on their own.

You can use desktop organization tools like Declutter and Spotless to schedule cleanups. You define the rules, Setapp apps clear away the mess. Get a pack of apps for decluttering and organizing desktop files. By right-clicking the desktop and selecting Sort By, you can also choose Snap to Grid to automatically have files snap to a grid. Once you’ve created a grid you can modify its spacing in Show View Options by right clicking on your desktop. Choose an option from the following: Name, Kind, Date Modified, Date Cleated, Size, Tags.

When you’ve grouped things into folders you can sort them into grids.

Drag items from your desktop into the folder.

Right click on a black space on your desktop.

You can do this by grouping files into folders of related items. The first step is to add some kind of structure to your desktop. Follow these tips to clean up and organize your desktop.

Let’s get back to how things used to be when your Mac was all shiny and new. But to help you do it all by yourself, we’ve gathered our best ideas and solutions below.įeatures described in this article refer to the MacPaw site version of CleanMyMac X. So here's a tip for you: Download CleanMyMac to quickly solve some of the issues mentioned in this article.

How to show mac desktop icons