Help me clear up the mess I've made!

[PrinceAlexander]

I’m trying to get organised! I have files and folders everywhere. Every now and then I go through and dump stuff into folders, make new ones, etc. I then promptly forget what I have, and where it is. Default folders like Movies, Pictures, etc. are great, and I access them through the finder a million times a day. It doesn’t quite work the same with all of those “other” folders though. They’re full of papers, receipts, web pages, ebooks, and documents of every sort and in every format. My ‘system’ is pretty half-arsed, and I’m to blame.

What I’m looking for is an app that will help me manage them better. I want associated file structures. I want to be able to tag and categorize all of the crap I have so that it’s findable, and useable. I’d like to be able to drag things together, like photos, web pages, text, pdfs, etc.

I DON’T want a steep learning curve. I DON’T want to fork over a fortune. I NEED something that simply works, intuitively …something Mac-like. This is because, as is probably obvious to the GTD crowd, I have NO IDEA what I’m doing!

Help!

 

[vandozza]

this app won't help to fix up the mess that you have already made, but might help you in keeping your stuff organised in the future -
http://www.stclairsoft.com/DefaultFolderX/

 

[vandozza]

or this - http://www.yepthat.com/leap/index.html

 

[pit29]

Spotlight? Although you couldn't use tags...

 

[sickmacdoc]

Spotlight? Although you couldn't use tags...

Well kind of... by entering tag type words in the Spotlight comments field for a file, but it is kind of clumsy in the end. I still try to remember to do that if a particular file does not fit cleanly into one of my several major categories that I made folders for.

 

[PrinceAlexander]

Leap certainly looks interesting.

Has anyone used Curio, or something similar for this sort of thing? A GTD type app with file integration, perhaps?

EDIT: You're all amazing, as always

 

[reclusivemonkey]

Well kind of... by entering tag type words in the Spotlight comments field for a file, but it is kind of clumsy in the end. I still try to remember to do that if a particular file does not fit cleanly into one of my several major categories that I made folders for.

Metadata is a popular method these days...

http://lifehacker.com/software/tags/metadata-as-a-filing-system-169971.php

 

[rickdude]

Clearing up your mess

or this - http://www.yepthat.com/leap/index.html

I would second this suggestion. The learning curve, arguably, isn't quite as gentle as you would prefer, but I think it's well worth it to have a file browser that doesn't care about the file hierarchy (but lets you use it when appropriate). You can just start by tagging new files and old files as you open them, so that the organization just gradually spreads out through your files.