---
title: "An easy way to fight desktop clutter"
author: "Stan Voo"
url: https://www.99rabbits.com/blog/an-easy-way-to-fight-desktop-clutter
published: 2010-06-10
summary: "Sorting every file into its proper folder is the productivity gurus' advice. For files you'll probably never need again, there's a lazier way: one Archive folder."
---

# An easy way to fight desktop clutter

It's simple: ***create a folder called "Archive" on your desktop*** and put everything in it that you won't need any time soon (today, say), but that you can't bring yourself to delete, because you might need it after all, in a week, say.

The usual advice from productivity people is to sort files methodically into the right folders: "Work", "Invoices", "Catalogs" and so on.

With important files and documents, that's what I do.

But what's the point of cataloging files you **probably won't ever need**? Besides, it's a drag. Cataloging. For an ordinary person...

**Just drop that kind of file into the archive.** When you need it, look there; once a week or a month, delete what you never needed and catalog what you did. As a result, my desktop has lately looked like this:

*(Image lost: a screenshot of my desktop.)*