macOS Productivity - Part 1

macos productivity symlinks workflow engineering

Welcome to the first part of our macOS Productivity series. Key points covered in this article include Finder tips, organizing files and folders, symlinks and search techniques.

Introduction

Let's start exploring "Workflow Engineering" on macOS. This is the first part of a series of articles that will cover various tips and tricks to enhance your productivity on macOS. In this article, we will focus on low hanging fruits that can make a significant difference in your daily workflow. The time and effort to get value from these tips is minimal, so let's dive in!

A brief overview of macOS

We need to know in simple terms how to move around in macOS to get started. Here are some key points to understand:

Finder: The file manager for macOS, similar to Windows Explorer. It allows you to navigate your files and folders. How it's tuned and organized is opinionated and can be a source of frustration for new users.
Dock: The bar at the bottom of the screen that contains shortcuts to your favorite applications and folders. You can customize it to suit your workflow.
Desktop: The main screen area where you can place files, folders, and shortcuts for easy access. I prefer to keep it as clean as possible to avoid distractions. macOS supports multiple desktops (Spaces) that you can switch between using Mission Control.
Menu Bar: The bar at the top of the screen that contains contextual menus and system icons. It provides access to application menus, system settings, and status indicators.
Mission Control: A feature that provides an overview of all open windows, desktops, and full-screen applications. You can access it by swiping up with three fingers on a trackpad or pressing the F3 key.
Spotlight: A powerful search feature that allows you to quickly find files, applications, and other content on your Mac. You can access it by clicking the magnifying glass icon in the menu bar or pressing Command + Space.
Launchpad: A list of all your applications, similar to the Start Menu in Windows. You can access it by clicking the Launchpad icon in the Dock, the F4 key or pinching with four fingers on a trackpad.
Terminal: A Unix-based command-line interface that allows you to interact with your Mac using text commands. It is located in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder. Advanced users install custom terminal emulators like iTerm2, Alacritty or WezTerm for better performance and features.

Planning your File and Folder Organization

Before we dive into specific tips, it's essential to figure out what you have, and start planning how to organize it. Ask yourself these questions:

What do I access most frequently?
What do I access sometimes during the day?
What do I access rarely, but my boss asked me for it during a customer meeting last week?
What do I never access, but I need to keep it for legal or compliance reasons?

Secondly, you need to look at different real estate for storing your data:

Local on your Mac

Desktop : The Prime real estate on your Mac. It is highly valuable for productivity as long as you keep it clean.
Your Home Folder: Mid-to-Low tier real estate. It is a good place to store personal files and folders. Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music and Movies are the default folders provided by macOS. You can create additional folders as needed.

Cloud Storage

For Business data, you should use your Company's approved Cloud Storage solution. For Personal data, you can use any Cloud Storage solution that you prefer.

Some popular options include:

Microsoft Teams: If your company uses Microsoft 365, you can use Teams to store and share files with your colleagues. The files in Teams are abstractions on top of SharePoint and OneDrive.
SharePoint: A web-based collaboration platform that integrates with Microsoft 365. It allows you to create sites, libraries, and lists to organize and share files with your team.
OneDrive: A cloud storage service that allows you to store and sync files across multiple devices. It is integrated with Windows and Microsoft 365.
Google Drive: A cloud storage service that allows you to store and sync files across multiple devices. It is integrated with Google Workspace.

Tips and Tricks

What do I access most frequently?

There are certain documents you need to access multiple times a day. These could be project plans, contracts, or any other files that are critical to your daily work. They need to be available on the Prime real estate on your Mac: the Desktop. For best practises, I use the word available instead of stored. The reason is that you should avoid storing files on the Desktop. Instead, you should create symlinks to the actual files stored in a more appropriate location, such as your Cloud Storage or your Home Folder. A symlink is a shortcut that points to the actual file or folder.

Example: Microsoft Teams Folders

You need at least a Microsoft Business Basic License and Microsoft OneDrive installed on your Mac to follow this example.

Log on to Microsoft OneDrive using your Microsoft 365 Account.
Access Teams Web and navigate to the Team and Channel where the files are stored.
Click on the "Files" tab to view the files in that channel.
Click on "Sync" to sync the files to your local OneDrive folder.
Open Finder. You should see a cloud folder named "Onedrive - Shared Libraries - Default Directory" or similar under "Locations" in the left sidebar.

To make it easier to access, you can create a symlink to the folder on your Desktop:

Open your Terminal application.
Create a top-level folder on your Desktop to store the symlinks. For example:
```
mkdir -p ~/Desktop/MyCustomer
```

Create a symlink to the folder in your OneDrive folder. For example:

 ln -s "/Users/jihillestad/Default Directory/MyCustomer - SOP/" "$HOME/Desktop/MyCustomer/"

You should now see a folder named "MyCustomer" on your Desktop. This is a symlink to the actual folder in your OneDrive folder. This is easily accessible and does not clutter your Desktop as long as you keep the amount of folders on your desktop to a minimum. If you are a business continuity manager, you need to review SOPs for your customer team multiple times a day without wasting time looking for them.

What do I access sometimes during the day?

These are files and folders that you need to access occasionally during the day. They could be project plans, reference materials, or any other files that are not critical to your daily work, but you need to access them from time to time. These files and folders can be located in synced Teams Channels or other Cloud Storage Solutions. You can make them easily accessible by adding them to the left sidebar in Finder.

Open Finder and locate the folder you want to add to the sidebar.
Drag and drop the folder to the "Favorites" section in the left sidebar.

What do I access rarely, but my boss asked me for it during a customer meeting last week?

You look at these files and folders once in a while, maybe they contain some price quotes for some services or products Management need you to review before a customer meeting. Syncing the files should be sufficient, so you don't have to spend time logging on to a web portal or searching for them. A Spotlight search should be sufficient to find them when you need them.

What do I never access, but I need to keep it for legal or compliance reasons?

Business

These files and folders are critical to your business, but you don't need to access them regularly. They could be contracts, legal documents, or any other files that are required to be kept for compliance reasons. These files and folders should be stored in a secure location, such as your Cloud Storage. You do not need to sync these files and folders to your local machine, as you don't need to access them regularly. You can access them when needed using a web portal or a search function in your Cloud Storage solution.

Personal

These files and folders are critical to you, but you don't need to access them regularly. They could be tax documents, legal documents, or any other files that are required to be kept for compliance reasons. These files and folders should be stored in a secure location, such as your Cloud Storage or an external hard drive. You do not need to sync these files and folders to your local machine, as you don't need to access them regularly.

Want to learn more?

There are more cool things you can do to enhance your productivity on macOS. We are not diving too deep in this article, but I'll share some links to some of my learning resources:

Mac Settings That ACTUALLY Make A Difference

How I Use Wezterm & Zsh For An Amazing Terminal Setup On My Mac

Conclusion

In this article, we have covered some low hanging fruits that can make a significant difference in your daily workflow on macOS. We have discussed how to organize your files and folders, how to use symlinks to make frequently accessed files easily available, and how to use Finder to access files and folders quickly. By implementing these tips and tricks, you can enhance your productivity and make your daily work more efficient.

What's next?

In the next part of this series, we will look at how you can organize your workspaces in macOS using multiple desktops (Spaces) and Mission Control. We will also look at how to use keyboard shortcuts to navigate between desktops and windows quickly. Stay tuned!