Folders

Mac OS uses folders to organize files and other folders on disk. You can create a folder, give it a name that makes sense to you, and move files and other folders into it. It's a lot like organizing paper files and folders in a file cabinet.

Mac OS X 10.4 support three different kinds of folders:

• A standard folder is for manually storing files on disk. You create the folder, then move or copy items into it. Throughout this book, I'll use the term folder to refer to this kind of folder.

• A smart folder works with Mac OS X 10.4's new integrated searching feature to automatically organize folders that meet specific search criteria. I explain how to work with Smart folders in Chapter 5.

• A burn folder is for organizing items you want to save or "burn" onto a CD. I explain how to create and use burn folders later in this chapter.

Tips

• A folder can contain any number of files and other folders.

• It's a good idea to use folders to organize the files on your hard disk. Imagine a file cabinet without file foldersthat's how your hard disk would appear if you never used folders to keep your files tidy.

• As discussed earlier in this chapter, your home folder includes folders set up for organizing files by type. You'll find that these folders often appear as default file locations when saving specific types of files from within software programs. Saving files from within applications is covered in Chapter 7.

To create a folder

1.	Choose File > New Folder (Figure 25), or press . A new untitled folder (Figure 26) appears in the active window. Figure 25. Choose New Folder from the File menu. Figure 26. A new folder appears.
2.	While the edit box appears around the new folder's name (Figure 26), type a name for it (Figure 27) and press . Figure 27. Enter a name for the folder while the edit box appears around it.

Tips

• You can rename a folder the same way you rename any other icon. Renaming icons is discussed on the previous page.

• Working with windows is discussed in Chapter 2.