I’ve kept my desktop completely clean (with a few moment-of-weakness exceptions) since Using NeXTstep back in the 90’s (which didn’t support the ‘desktop’ as a folder/directory). Instead, I create a “Temporary” folder for any account I set up at the root of the home directory, and drag that into the sidebar for quick access. Then I go into the preferences of Safari and every other app that normally downloads to the desktop and direct everything to ~/Temporary instead. This prevents stuff from landing on the desktop.
Then I use an Applescript to move everything from Temporary to the trash at logout. This gets rid of the downloaded ‘container’ files that accumulate, as well as scratch files that I’ll generate as part of a larger work process. Since things get moved to the trash instead of getting deleted for good I’ll still have a chance to recover things later before deliberately emptying the trash. One other bonus of things ending up in the trash is you can’t launch or otherwise open them without first moving them back out of the trash, which is a conscientious action that should trigger an organization decision.
The only problem with this approach is that with fast user switching and the reliability of OS X, I don’t log out of my account very often and thus accumulate a lot of stuff in the Temporary folder over time. But at least this keeps the desktop clean, which has a psychological benefit whenever one hits F11 or hides all their apps down to a single focused window. It’s kind of like leaving one room in your house completely cleared of clutter and being able to walk in there when everything else seems overwhelming.
I wish Apple established a per-user (as opposed to the system’s own ‘/tmp’) Temporary folder as part of the default file structure and left the desktop out of the mix. Then all the developers could count on it for their scratch files and download needs.
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It is entirely the fault of Ethan Schoonover. Ethan is a photographer and geek based in Hong Kong. He’s fond of music. More about him here.
Re: Kinkless Desktop 1: The "No Mercy" Cleanup
I’ve kept my desktop completely clean (with a few moment-of-weakness exceptions) since Using NeXTstep back in the 90’s (which didn’t support the ‘desktop’ as a folder/directory). Instead, I create a “Temporary” folder for any account I set up at the root of the home directory, and drag that into the sidebar for quick access. Then I go into the preferences of Safari and every other app that normally downloads to the desktop and direct everything to ~/Temporary instead. This prevents stuff from landing on the desktop.
Then I use an Applescript to move everything from Temporary to the trash at logout. This gets rid of the downloaded ‘container’ files that accumulate, as well as scratch files that I’ll generate as part of a larger work process. Since things get moved to the trash instead of getting deleted for good I’ll still have a chance to recover things later before deliberately emptying the trash. One other bonus of things ending up in the trash is you can’t launch or otherwise open them without first moving them back out of the trash, which is a conscientious action that should trigger an organization decision.
The only problem with this approach is that with fast user switching and the reliability of OS X, I don’t log out of my account very often and thus accumulate a lot of stuff in the Temporary folder over time. But at least this keeps the desktop clean, which has a psychological benefit whenever one hits F11 or hides all their apps down to a single focused window. It’s kind of like leaving one room in your house completely cleared of clutter and being able to walk in there when everything else seems overwhelming.
I wish Apple established a per-user (as opposed to the system’s own ‘/tmp’) Temporary folder as part of the default file structure and left the desktop out of the mix. Then all the developers could count on it for their scratch files and download needs.