[HappyDude]

When I 1st got OmniFocus my entire Mac OS X was unorganized. Folders, documents, and every file you could think of was scattered all over my Mac.

When I got OF I spent a few hours placing everything in folders, repeating the David Allen GTD mantra of creating a folder for everything, even something as small as a scrap of torn paper. Then I placed everything in my "Documents" folder and switched to the 3rd view in the finder showing me everything in alphebetical order. Personally I think this was a crucial step in helping me be more productive.

Well, to the point, this "Document" folder now have well over 250 folders with various things.

In all of our lives we have different things of importance on a weekly basis. Well, I would create an alias of the original folder located under the Documents folder and place it at the desktop, though have always hated a cluttered desktop. So I created an "@Next Actions" folder which I placed at the right side of the dock and also create a pane in the left of the finder and defaulted it to be the one to display everytime I opened up the finder.

The purpose of this thread is not for me to tell you that this method for me has only been just okay..but instead i'm more curious to hear what you guys do. Where do you guys place supporting folder that help your current projects? Simply the desktop or something else? I have the feeling here at the OF forum i'll be hearing completely different, unique answers. I'm all ears guys; seriously, I'm willing to learn something new.

Check out the photos of what I mean concerning the "NExt Actions" folder in the dock and Finder.

Side Note: I just wanna mention that a bit less than a month ago I posted a couple of threads in these forums asking for advice concerning a roadblock in me getting my next/available actions done. Since then I've managed to see my daily available action lists of 40-50 go down to less than 5! I've been doing so well, that i've manage to "mark complete" an array of projects that have certainly freed up my summer. I'm so happy that OF is being utilized on a daily basis. Though really thought this thread to be of importance regarding that the few projects I still have are very important, yet are the ones that have been the least touched.

[curt.clifton]

I'm not really happy with my Documents folder. I have subfolders, roughly by area of responsibility, then a huge mess under those. It doesn't bug me enough that I've been compelled to change it.

I use Ethan Schoonover's Kinkless Desktop approach. Unfortunately, his blog is no longer on-line. Essentially I have three folders on my desktop: Inbox, Outbox, and Active. These folders also live on my dock and in the sidebar in Finder windows. Inbox gets all downloads. Outbox gets temporary files and stuff to be sent/uploaded. Active gets aliases to the folders of my active projects. I'll occasionally toss a single file there also when I'm working on it and haven't decided where to file it yet.

I have Show Item Info turned on for the desktop view, with label position right. (Click the desktop then Cmd-J.)

[nikpel]

Hi,
I have a desktop folder GTD which includes a PSM and a REFERENCE folder. PSM is for Project Support Material.
As I create a project in OF, a place a * near the title just to let me know that I have a folder in GTD folder, with the same name and everything that I want is there. You can add an alias shortcut of each folder in the notes of each project in order to find them "quickly".

OF can embed every file you want in the notes of each record (action). But since I have large video files, I prefer to keep them separately. Small files, like a PDF or Photo or Docs and XLS, are included and synced with iPhone through MobileMe (although I never used them). I use iPhone as a viewer and collector mostly not as a planning machine (this is done on my Macbook).

BUT, an external not electronic organization supplement is needed. For example, in order to keep some documents that you need in the original form, you need a folder organization system to keep them in, and find them quickly. Not store and Forget. For this purpose, I have a cupboard full of folders and boxes with documents, filed with a code (ex A1, A2, D2 etc) and store the scanned image or the description of this document or thing in OF and the file code in the notes or the title.

After a project is completed, I zip the folder with all the data in PSM and move it to REFERENCE folder. The OF project is COMPLETED (with the tick) and transfered to a REFERENCE folder in OF. The same is in the Cupboard. I use a separate place as REFERENCE.

[KeithFK]

I have been using DEVONthink Pro Office and I think it is terrific. I use a ScanSnap scanner with it, which is also fantastic. In DTPO I have separate databases for Personal and Work information. All scanned documents are automatically OCRed and put into the Inbox of the current database. There are clipping tools that make it incredibly easy to grab articles and pieces of text or pages off of the web. I use a combination of folders and comments - because the folders help feed information to the search engine and AI tool. I've also been using Bento for a couple of things - like medical records - because I like the way I can enter and retrieve that type of information in such a tool. I just started using MailTags, but I don't have much experience with it yet. And, I tend to store important email information in DTPO through a very handy shortcut built into the Mail menus.

[hypotyposis]

I use Todd V's Ready-Set-Do! scripts for cleaning up my desktop. I preserve the hierarchy it establishes even when I'm not using it, as it makes a lot of sense to me. His "Get INBOX to empty" is part of my daily review and works beautifully for me.
Now that I've finally gotten around to using Dropbox (thanks again whpalmer!), this is bliss as far as files are concerned.

[Grail]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

I'm not really happy with my Documents folder. I have subfolders, roughly by area of responsibility, then a huge mess under those. It doesn't bug me enough that I've been compelled to change it.

I, too, have this mess. But that's by design. The computer is there to help me find stuff when I need it. Command+Option+Space to open Spotlight, type in the stuff I'm looking for... et voila!

I use Ethan Schoonover's Kinkless Desktop approach. … Essentially I have three folders on my desktop: Inbox, Outbox, and Active. These folders also live on my dock and in the sidebar in Finder windows. Inbox gets all downloads. Outbox gets temporary files and stuff to be sent/uploaded. Active gets aliases to the folders of my active projects. I'll occasionally toss a single file there also when I'm working on it and haven't decided where to file it yet.

Ditto. I've also modified my ZSH shell so that I can refer to each project folder as "~project" (ie: each project is set up as a named folder in ZSH) based on the name of the symlink in the Active folder (on my system, that's ~/Library/Projects rather than "Active", but it's the same deal).

I use Outbox every now and then - when I'm preparing a package of things to email to someone for example - and I make sure it's empty by the time the work session is over. If something is going to live in the Outbox for longer than that, it's really a project.

I use OF on the iPhone exclusively. It just tracks actions. When I want stuff related to "Prepare presentation on ePub for CLUG" - I can open Spotlight and search for "&CLUG &ePub". All the files will be appropriately tagged in their Spotlight comments as part of moving them out of the Inbox.

For me, the tags are the equivalent of Dave Allen's "folder for everything". There are folders inside ~/Documents for "FY 2009-2010" and so forth, but they are for specific types of documents. Bills, receipts, invoices, contracts all go into FY folders. When I start a new project, it gets a folder in ~/Documents. User manuals, warranty cards, etc go into "References". Other stuff gets moved into "X Stuff" folders as I find the collection of "X Stuff" things growing beyond about 10 or so (if I can be bothered to do the housekeeping).

So under ~/Documents I have a hodgepodge of stuff like this:

• FY 2008-2009
• FY 2009-2010
• Europe 2011
• Mapping Resources
• CLUG Presentations
• References

With the advent of the iPad, heaps of stuff that used to live in "References" is now migrating into the iTunes book collection (wherever that is).

When I want to find stuff, I rely on Spotlight. I have far too many documents that could be filed under two or three categories, I'd never find them again if left to a manual filing system and my own devices.