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Documents folder: Do you use it?

Do you use your Documents folder?

  • Yes [IMG]http://upload.yo-momma.net/uploads/smilies/heart.gif[/IMG]

    Votes: 98 72.1%

  • No [img]http://upload.yo-momma.net/uploads/smilies/wtf.gif[/img]

    Votes: 14 10.3%

  • Yes, but probably not how you're "supposed" to use it :p

    Votes: 24 17.6%
  • Total voters
    136
B

Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
I'm now running from a clean install of Tiger on a new HD and some newly-installed apps have got a horrible habit of dumping stuff into the Documents folder, tarnishing what should be my space.

Have cleared some out but I know as time goes on, it just accumulates... haven't even fired up some Adobe apps yet.

Still in there are these folders:

• eBooks
• Roxio Converted Items
• Microsoft User Data

Anyhow, I never use the Documents folder at all despite most apps wanting to open or save there as a default. I usually have 2-3 important folders on my desktop and maybe a couple in my home folder.

Am I alone by being strangely repulsed by the Documents folder or do others feel the same way? :D
 
Except for a few items on my desktop, I keep everything else in subfolders within Documents. I color-code a few of them to help them stand out amongst the other folders placed there by applications...works well for me.
 
Blue Velvet said:
I'm now running from a clean install of Tiger on a new HD and some newly-installed apps have got a horrible habit of dumping stuff into the Documents folder, tarnishing what should be my space.

Have cleared some out but I know as time goes on, it just accumulates... haven't even fired up some Adobe apps yet.

Still in there are these folders:

• eBooks
• Roxio Converted Items
• Microsoft User Data

Anyhow, I never use the Documents folder at all despite most apps wanting to open or save there as a default. I usually have 2-3 important folders on my desktop and maybe a couple in my home folder.

Am I alone by being strangely repulsed by the Documents folder or do others feel the same way? :D
Click to expand...

Nope, i rarely use the documents folder. Most stuff is saved to folders on my desktop. seeing as most of my stuff has to do with school reports and what-not i have folders setup for each class and each quarter.

Nothing is saved to the documents folder unless i get lazy.
 
I know what you mean...

I WANT to love the documents folder, but it unnerves me to find applications writing stuff into it. Makes me feel slightly - I don't know - invaded, defiled.

I guess I want to feel in control of my own space, I don't want random software coming in and rearranging the furniture.

Plus perhaps it reminds me unconsciously of a "My Documents" folder :eek:

Still, I use it, and make subfolders in it.
 
Mine is essentially a storehouse for all PDF receipts of on-line purchases, licenses, etc. - instead of printing them, I save them to PDF files. I should just rename the folder "Receipts".... ;)
 
jsw said:
Mine is essentially a storehouse for all PDF receipts of on-line purchases, licenses, etc. - instead of printing them, I save them to PDF files. I should just rename the folder "Receipts".... ;)
Click to expand...

Great minds think alike™. :D

I use mine for all my documents - oh, and my fonts. I used to have a bad habit fo keeping things on the desktop, but no more.
 
I have the following folders within my docs folder:

finances (downloaded monthly statements, budget on omnioutliner etc)
magazines & ebooks
to-do (a repository for stuff that I need to file. basically an inbox)
university (all my school lecture notes, docs etc)

I too despise the way developers stick stuff in there. So far its Roxio, Microsoft, Sports Interactive and Apple. Drives me crazy. Use the library!
 
I could never use my Desktop for general document storage. All that I have there are: my HD, the local train schedule, and a folder of material that I need to remember to transfer to my wife's computer (i can't wait to get down to just the first two).

The Documents folder holds all my documents, nicely organized in a variety of subfolders. I find that it makes things a bit easier to find and open when I use Word (90% of not personal-enjoyment use is notetaking). I actually never used the my documents folder on my old pc, so for me the Documents folder was a bit of a novelty.

Like everybody else, the non-my creation subfolders torque me. Does anybody know what I can delete w/o destroying my computer?
 
I have a disk image in the Documents folder called "Documents" for all that stuff. It's completely organised with subfolders etc. It's all stored in the one place if I need it on a usb key or whatever.

It's very annoying have apps dump files in there for the sake of it. :mad: Ddddiiirrrtyyy apps.
 
nbs2 said:
I could never use my Desktop for general document storage. All that I have there are: my HD, the local train schedule, and a folder of material that I need to remember to transfer to my wife's computer (i can't wait to get down to just the first two).

The Documents folder holds all my documents, nicely organized in a variety of subfolders. I find that it makes things a bit easier to find and open when I use Word (90% of not personal-enjoyment use is notetaking). I actually never used the my documents folder on my old pc, so for me the Documents folder was a bit of a novelty.

Like everybody else, the non-my creation subfolders torque me. Does anybody know what I can delete w/o destroying my computer?
Click to expand...

I removed the Office, Roxio and Appleworks folders and everything is fine. Nowhere near as bad as on Windows though. The whole "My" directory in Windows is a mess. Absolute mess.
 
Oooh. A poll... I suspect the mysterious hand of edesignuk. ;)

Interesting range of replies. I guess it depends on workflow... most of mine sits — with a job number — organised in a Work In Progress folder on the desktop (at home and at work) and when it's finished it gets zipped and put onto the server or DVD.

I would never have thought of keeping receipts as PDFs though...
 
My Documents folder is hideous. My image folders are fairly well organised, but Documents has been a dumping ground from day one. I've had this Mac for a year and a half, and haven't sorted it out yet. It's like the junk cupboard/room in your house that you can't face tidying, so it gets worse, and so you can't face it, and so on and so on.

Ugh. :(

I'm really tempted to just wipe everything and re-organise it from my back-up drive, but I have no idea when I'll get round to it. Probably not so much of a big job once I get round to it.
 
Right now I have lots of importent stuff strewn about in there, but I really need to organize it. When I made the switch to OS X three years ago I hated the Documents folder but it has slowly drawn me in...

BV, I'm curious how Tiger is working for you - I'm thinking about upgrading but have held back so far.
 
I keep all my active stuff on my desktop and stuff I'll rarely look at again in documents. After every semester I copy stuff from my desktop into a new folder in ~/Documents. I'd actually try to sort out my computer, but since I can't physically handle the files and I don't have a 30" monitor that will probably never happen.
 
My Internet Downloads folder gets most of the crap. But only the good stuff makes it into my Documents, or Pictures, or Music, or Movies folder.

Things sit in the Downloads folder limbo for a day or two before getting moved. I'm quite big on organization, and then I SpotLight, and it is all so nice.
 
I keep my desktop as clean and uncluttered as possible, so yes, I have all of my documents in <shock!> the Documents folder. I know it's a crazy place to put them, but hey, I'm a crazy bastard. :cool:
 
Blue Velvet said:
Am I alone by being strangely repulsed by the Documents folder or do others feel the same way? :D
Click to expand...

I don't think it's strange, but I do use the Documents folder. It's just convenient for the letters I write and fiction I end up with.

:)
 
Lord Blackadder said:
BV, I'm curious how Tiger is working for you - I'm thinking about upgrading but have held back so far.
Click to expand...

If, like me, you have already purchased it, then there seems to be no reason for holding back any longer. But before too long, we'll have 10.5 and that will probably be a nice jump from Panther.

Well, without dragging the thread off-topic for too long, it seems to be working just fine indeed... after only a few days use, that is.

A bit of care and attention with ensuring that all apps were updated was necessary which was the main reason why I didn't switch right away. Retrospect, for example, didn't work at all without the updater which wasn't released until the beginning of October.

I spent some time reading up on here before transferring my email accounts over and I've yet to use a single widget. :p

Most importantly for me... Quark 6.5, Adobe CS, Suitcase XI all run fine. I was in a rather smug mood until I stupidly deleted about 5gb of important data on an external HD which TechTool Pro is now scanning for recovery as I write. :eek:

I'm not a bleeding-edge person when it comes to OS upgrades. I prefer others to be the guinea-pigs so that I can avoid some of the pitfalls.
 
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