Some people think that having a messy desktop is a sign of how busy and important your life is. They believe spending time on “cleaning” the desktop is fruitless. However, what they don’t realize is that the messy desktop is really hurting their productivity and stopping them from accomplishing more than they are. Keeping your desktop declutter enables you to know what tasks you need to complete and focus on the task at hand rather than jumping from one task to another. How do you help yourself by decluttering the desktop? Continue to reading to find out.
Time to get ruthless
First of all, you need to open up your desktop in file explorer. This way you’ll get a bird’s eye view on everything that’s there, all in a logical order. From there you need to decide which applications you use, and those that you don’t.
Delete old programs
Don’t fool yourself into thinking that program you use to rip CDs is now isn’t redundant – most organizations don’t use CDs anymore. It’s time to delete. Any software program that you used in your previous role, but now have someone else to do the job for you, can be deleted as well – there’s no point in keeping it.
Hunt for junk
Scour the screen for junk. That old report from 2006 lingering in the corner – it’s time to file it away. Picture of your colleague’s dog that you were too afraid to delete – she won’t know. If you’re set on keeping something, then create an archive folder. Don’t get in the habit of creating new folders all the time though. Otherwise, you’ll have a screen full of them.
Go from old to new
With file explorer, you can sort by date. Go from oldest to newest, and you’ll be surprised at what you’re actually storing on your desktop. Maybe you’ll even find documents for a job that you never completed in 2014.
Use third party tools
It may be time to bring in some help – and by that we mean third party tools. Office 365 offers some interesting ways of keeping your desktop clean and organized, such as Office 365 Planner.
Use Outlook to reduce email clutter on desktop
Emails are a pain to manage, and sometimes you need to segregate certain messages from the rest via a file on the desktop – i.e. a client email folder. You might also drag and drop an email to the desktop, so you don’t forget about it later.
Well, with Outlook – which is part of the Office 365 package available at Bytes, you can save emails within certain folders in their email software system. This means no more complicated emails folders cluttering up your desktop.
Trust Dexpot to clear your desktop
Dexpot is a handy tool which allows you to spread shortcuts and files around a number of screens, allowing you to keep things much tidier than the conventional set-up.
For example, one desktop could be for client information, the other for files on your subordinates and another for personal applications – a place where you can go on your lunch to forget about work.
While it costs for commercial use, Dexpot is a free tool for use in the home. So why not give it a trial in your spare time and if it’s great for work, then convince your boss to purchase the full package.
