[Libid21]

I'm a freshman college student who just finished his first semester. I love my Mac, but could really use some organization tips - especially for next semester. I have folders all over the place, applications and application directories all over the place such as my documents, desktop, etc.

What I'm asking is for some organization tips for a college student. What are some basic guidelines or tips and tricks that you can provide? Or perhaps you can provide a specific organization of how your laptop is neatly made?

Thanks!

[turtle777]

A good, organized, logical folder structure is a must, but that's just the start.

I recommend using some app that lets you tag documents.
I personally prefer Gravity Applications - Tags - Simply Organized, which lets you tag documents easily and fast.

In addition, I like Default Folder X, for two reasons:

1) Most used folders are easily accessible, it cuts down time in the Save As dialog
2) You can enter tags directly in the Save As dialog

I would also recommend Evernote for note taking.

-t

[Big Mac]

Folder organization for school is rather simple IMO. It just depends how deeply organized you feel like being. I used to have folders for each term of each year, and then sub-folders of those for each class in which individual notes and class work go. Try to keep your notes and the files you create to store them in organized. And hard drive backups (Time Machine for instance) are very important.

[angelmb]

Also, Smart Folders.

I would also recommend Evernote for note taking.

As long as you don't mind the Evernote EULA terms…

you grant Evernote a license to display, perform and distribute your Content, and to modify and reproduce such Content to enable Evernote to operate and promote the Service. (You also agree that Evernote has the right to elect not to accept, post, store, display, publish or transmit any Content in our sole discretion.) You agree that these rights and licenses are royalty free, irrevocable and worldwide, and include a right for Evernote to make such Content available to, and pass these rights along to, others with whom Evernote has contractual relationships related to the provision of the Evernote Service, solely for the purpose of providing such services, and to otherwise permit access to your Content to third parties if Evernote determines such access is necessary to comply with its legal obligation

[Libid21]

While we're on the same topic of organization, how do you guys usually organize your dock? I just left all the default programs on there, but now I feel like I need a fresh start on my laptop. The only things worth keeping here are my pictures and school documents, which I can transfer to a flash drive and reformat. I feel like that would be a good way to start a new year off - clean, and organized. Empty slate.

[turtle777]

What does the dock have to do with a fresh OS install ?

-t

[Libid21]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

What does the dock have to do with a fresh OS install ?

-t

At first, I was asking for tips to organize docks.

And then in the middle of the psot I figured I might as well reformat, sorry for the confusion.

[OreoCookie]

There are a few things I recommend:
(1) Get an external harddrive and use Time Machine to make regular backups. I speak from the experience of a student, the computer-savvy brother and a teacher at university: do backups. Do not under any circumstances save money here. External harddrives of reasonable size cost ~$100.

Just to give you a flavor: my sister has a HP notebook. While she was writing her master's thesis, it began acting up and she had the brilliant idea of following HP's suggestion to reinstall Windows XP. Fortunately for her, HP's installation is clever enough to not delete personal data. My personal machine also died about two months before handing in my master's thesis. Knowing you have a recent backup soothes your mind under these circumstances.

(2) Sort by semester and course. Add subfolders if necessary, e. g. specific assignments or lecture notes, material, homework problems, etc.

(3) Keep current assignments in your Dropbox. Dropbox is free and the 2 GB barrier not really limiting if all you're working with is text and a few images. I always keep current projects in my Dropbox. This gives me an extra layer of security, easier access and I can share my work with others quite easily (good for group projects!).

Other than that, the degree of sorting depends on your personal taste. My recommendation is quite pragmatic: don't add too much complexity so that it's more work to manage your work than actual work. You can benefit greatly from maintaining the right degree of `bureaucracy.'

I can wholeheartedly recommend David Allen's `Getting Things Done' and OmniFocus (which is a GTD app). Memory dumps are amazing. The only things that fall through the cracks for me are those that I forgot to put into OmniFocus.

Oh, and yeah, re-installing OS X serves no purpose whatsoever. It's a Windows habit that is in almost all cases completely unnecessary on the Mac.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by angelmb 

As long as you don't mind the Evernote EULA terms…

Not really a concern for me. This is a standard term in TOCs of internet-related services. See here:
Evernote User Forum • View topic - Evernote can publish my content without my permission??

-t

[Cold Warrior]

An additional option is to keep a lot of that organization in Dropbox. Then all your stuff is synced and backed up and easily available if you go to a computer lab or the library without your Mac but need to grab a file or two.

However, I kept it simple when I was in college: folders by academic year, then by course.

[Curiosity]

The way the system set up my accounts to start with gave me an idea about the general organization for the accounts. I organized all the data files based on what was created in the account - text files to Documents, and subdirectories within that, pictures in the Pictures directory, movies in Movies, music categories within Music. I also created another Applications directory in my standard account and then subdirectory categories inside that, such as Utility, Graphics, etc. and installed applications in those category directories whenever possible. With shortcuts to the main directories in the sidebar of the Finder, it makes all the files or applications easy to access, and having things organized into large directories makes things easy to back up.

[ctt1wbw]

I've bought Things for the Mac, iPhone and iPad. I've gotten Omnifocus for the iPad and the iPhone and soon for the desktop. So far, honestly, they seem to about the same, based on my limited experience. They are both very polished and functional to the point of being very near an Apple built-in app.

I'd like some tips as to how to set up Omnifocus for school. I can't seem to find good directions on how to set up each class as a project, with each week and each assignment as todo parts inside them. I'm kinda confused on this aspect of it.

[OreoCookie]

I've bought Things for the Mac, iPhone and iPad. I've gotten Omnifocus for the iPad and the iPhone and soon for the desktop. So far, honestly, they seem to about the same, based on my limited experience. They are both very polished and functional to the point of being very near an Apple built-in app.

I'd like some tips as to how to set up Omnifocus for school. I can't seem to find good directions on how to set up each class as a project, with each week and each assignment as todo parts inside them. I'm kinda confused on this aspect of it.[/quote]
Both, Things and Omnifocus seek to integrate into the GTD (= Getting Things Done) workflow so what I'm saying applies to both apps. I'm an avid Omnifocus user so my explanations will revolve around Omnifocus rather than Things, but what I'm saying can easily be modified.

You should have a look at David Allen's Getting Things Done. You don't necessarily need to read the whole book, but the introductory chapter. The idea is to get everything out of your head into one (or at most two) `trusted' repositories that hold your tasks. This is what the Inbox and the Quick Entry dialog are for. The quick entry dialog is how I enter most of my tasks actually and I have assigned a shortcut to it.

Roughly, there are five steps:
(1) Acquiry of new tasks and projects. Pour your brains out, literally.
(2) Processing. Once a day or so, you should process your inbox. Split up items into tasks (e. g. renovate the bathroom is not a task, but a project consisting of many steps).
(3) Organizing. Complete tasks that take less than 2~3 minutes immediately (the idea is that this is the time it takes to put them into your system). Sort them by affiliating it to a project and assigning a context. The project part is clear, I think. The context is the mode you're in. For instance, among others, I have the contexts shopping, city, university, home and phone. If I'm in the city, I want to see which tasks I can complete while being in the city. There, I don't want to sort by project, because for some things I need to be physically in the city to complete these tasks and it's more efficient to finish as many as I can in one swoop. I also keep a few projects `misc work' and such for things that are not necessarily associated to a project or where it is too cumbersome to create a project.
(4) Review. Once a week, you should review all your projects. This step is most prone to procrastrination, and I'm guilty of this myself. The idea is to keep an overview of all active projects so that deadlines and such don't escape your attention. Finish things that take less than 2~3 minutes to complete.
(5) Completing the next task. Now you have a system that keeps your tasks, complete them in the order you see fit best.

It sounds complicated, but it has helped me a lot to get more organized. The things that fall through the cracks are usually those that haven't made it into my GTD system. I use the notes feature of projects and tasks to keep links and other documents.

[ctt1wbw]

I bought the book on Amazon yesterday. I'll just have to practice doing it in Omnifocus. I bought Omnifocus for the Mac yesterday as well.

[turtle777]

GTD is great, but it takes a lot of discipline. I like it, but I'm not quite there yet.

-t

[OreoCookie]

@turtle
`Der Weg ist das Ziel.' At least that's how I see it.

[turtle777]

I'm taking too many detours

-t