Written by
Ciki Liu
Guide on How to Create a Folder on Mac and Organize files Effectively
Documents, images, video clips, and more files pile up on the desktop and end up being hard to find? If you are encountering this situation every time opens your Mac, it's high time to create a clean Mac desktop by classifying your files in different folders and organizing files in order. How to create a folder on Mac? This post will walk you through three effective methods to create a new folder on Mac and tricks to organize files in folders on Mac for better productivity.
Table of Contents:
How to create a folder on Mac?
There are mainly four approaches to creating a new folder on Mac.
Create a new folder on Mac with Finder
Finder shows all content of your Mac, iCloud Drive, and detected storage devices by making use of different windows and icons. You can perform multiple tasks in Finder, such as changing the file display, searching for files, and deleting unwanted data. Follow the steps below to create a new folder on Mac with the help of Finder.
Step 1. Open Finder from the dock, which should be the first icon you can see. Alternatively, you can locate to Mac desktop.
Step 2. Move to the top-left corner of your desktop, you should see Finder next to the Apple icon. Click on File and a drop-down context menu will show up.
Step 3. Select New Folder from all listed options. A fresh new folder will pop up in Finder with the name, untitled folder.
Feel free to change the folder name as you wish.
Create a new folder on Mac with right click
Although right-click on Mac is less powerful when compared with that of Windows, still, it can accomplish multiple tasks, for example, sort files by various options, use stacks to classify files, and create a new folder on Mac.
Step 1. Navigate to the Mac desktop.
Step 2. Right-click on Mac with an Apple Magic Mouse or any other mouse that connects to your Mac to open the right-click menu. If you rely on the trackpad, you can do so by placing two fingers together and slightly hitting the trackpad.
Step 3. It's easy to notice the first option, New Folder. Click on it to create a new folder on the Mac desktop.
Again, the default name of the folder is untitled folder. Change it as you want.
Create a new folder on Mac with keyboard shortcuts
Besides making use of the Finder and the right-click menu, a keyboard shortcut is one more solution to how to create a folder on Mac. With certain key combinations, a new folder on Mac is easily created.
Step 1. Navigate to the Mac desktop or the Finder, depending on where you want the new folder to be created.
Step 2. Press Command, Shift, and N together on your keyboard. An untitled folder will appear soon.
Create a new folder on Mac with Terminal
The Terminal feature in macOS is very powerful and sometimes it might surprise you. Yes, you can run the command prompt in Terminal to create a new folder on Mac. Ready to give it a try?
Step 1. Press the Command + Space bar and type in Terminal. Open it from the results.
Step 2. Type in 'cd desktop' in it and hit Enter.
Step 3. Type in 'mkdir X' and hit Enter. Replace X with the name of your folder.
Go back to your desktop, can you see the newly created folder?
Create a new folder on Mac with existed files
This method is often used to generate a folder that includes specific files you select, let's say, you want all images on the Mac desktop to be saved in one folder. Here's how to create folder on Mac with selected items.
Step 1. Go to Finder or Mac desktop that contains the files you want to categorize in one folder.
Step 2. Select desired files, such as images, documents, and others.
Step 3. Right-click to open the menu list and choose New Folder with Selection (x Items).
All selected items will soon be categorized into one folder that is named New Folder With Items.
Are the methods mentioned above helping you create a new folder on Mac? Share them with more people!
How to organize files in folders on Mac?
Before diving into managing the files in the folder, the first thing to do is to rename the untitled folder. You can do it in three ways.
- Double-click on the folder slowly.
- Right-click on the folder and choose Rename from the menu list.
- Select the untitled folder and hit Enter on the keyboard to give it a new name.
After giving a proper name to each folder, you can start to organize your files in folders with the following tips.
How to move files into folders
If you only have one item to move, simply drag it from one folder to another. For multiple items to move, select all objects and drag any one of them to the destination folder. All files you select will be moved to it then.
How to delete files and folders
Be it a single file or the whole folder, there are two ways to delete the data. One is to select unwanted files and drag them to the Trash icon located at the bottom-right of the Dock. The other is to select all files and right-click on them, choose Move to Trash.
Feel free to share the tips to organize files in folders with your friends!
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Several reasons can contribute to this situation. For example, the destination where you want to add folders is a read-only volume, the user account you own has only read permissions, and certain software doesn’t allow new folders while syncing.
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To access a certain folder on Mac, go to Finder > Go > Go to Folder… Then enter the pathname of the folder and matching ones will show up.
