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97<header id="title-block-header">
98<h1 class="title">Tidy up your PC!</h1>
99<p class="author">chris</p>
100<p class="date">2026-02-01</p>
101</header>
102<nav id="TOC" role="doc-toc">
103<ul>
104<li><a href="#desktop-directory" id="toc-desktop-directory">Desktop
105directory</a></li>
106<li><a href="#tidying-up-all-the-files"
107id="toc-tidying-up-all-the-files">Tidying up all the files</a></li>
108</ul>
109</nav>
110<p>As in, move your files to the most appropriate location, so that you
111can find them after a long time. Put it there, where you will look
112first, if you need access to it.</p>
113<p>I get it, it’s really hard to tidy up an over-year-old mess, I am not
114just talking about digital data here. And because there are probably
115more important things in your life that take up time, you can just skip
116this tedious task and use your PC like you used to. Once in a while, you
117will be overwhelmed by the sheer mess you created, but fortunately,
118there are ways to mitigate the problem, like file searchers. And that is
119fine. As for many things, do as you want.</p>
120<p>For me, keeping my PC clean was always an important topic. Here you
121can see my <em>home</em> directory:</p>
122<div class="sourceCode" id="cb1"><pre
123class="sourceCode bash"><code class="sourceCode bash"><span id="cb1-1"><a href="#cb1-1" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">[chris@deskpin:~]$</span> ls ~</span>
124<span id="cb1-2"><a href="#cb1-2" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"></a><span class="ex">downloads</span> projects uni</span></code></pre></div>
125<p>It consists of only three directories, and believe me, the
126subdirectories are also very clean! But what do I get from it? First and
127foremost, I have a good overview of stuff that is on my PC and
128especially where it is. Also, I just have a good feeling when using my
129PC, because I feel like I understand my machine.</p>
130<p>From my personal experience, this is very rare. Most people I know
131undervalue the tidiness of their data on their PCs. One reason I suspect
132is the implication of using the Desktop directory on systems that have
133it.</p>
134<h1 id="desktop-directory">Desktop directory</h1>
135<p>‘In the digital age, the Desktop serves as a central hub for quick
136access to files, folders, and shortcuts, making it one of the most
137frequently used locations on any computer.’ (<a
138href="https://computerknown.com/where-is-desktop-folder-in-windows-11/">computerknown</a>)
139I think this is a good description of what most people would
140(implicitly) describe the Desktop as. The real-life analogy works well:
141You throw things at the top of the desk, so you can access it quickly
142again. But people tend to overmess their desks: After some time, so many
143things are gathered on the desk that the amount of time and energy it
144would take to clean it up is just not manageable anymore.</p>
145<p>And the same goes for the Desktop directory: Temporary text files,
146downloaded zip archives and their respective unzipped directories, your
147photo albums from the last four trips you went on, all that stuff is
148lingering around on your Desktop, and now, you obviously don’t know what
149to do. Additionally, you don’t even get the outside pressure to tidy
150this mess up: While you will be judged over your mess at home, no one is
151interested in the (missing) structure of your files on your PC.</p>
152<p>What I describe here is the scenario I was facing, and I think I’m
153not alone. But don’t get me wrong, theoretically you
154<strong>can</strong> have a tidy Desktop. I just never met a person who
155has.</p>
156<h1 id="tidying-up-all-the-files">Tidying up all the files</h1>
157<p>I’ve been using tiling window managers for years now. Starting with
158i3, I switched to sway for Wayland, and now I’m trying out niri. And the
159very first thing I noticed when messing with i3 was that you cannot
160create directories on your Desktop. That got me thinking: All the time
161after using the Desktop extensively, what now? And I started to
162categorise my data and to create a hierarchical structure for my
163files.</p>
164<div class="note">
165<p>I think this is not the natural implication of not having a Desktop.
166I have seen plenty of people who use their <em>home</em> directory the
167exact same way I described before in terminal heavy systems like tiling
168window managers.</p>
169</div>
170<p>This process can get tedious because every time you have a new file,
171you have to actively decide on a place for it. I often found myself
172stacking up a mess in my <em>downloads</em> or my <em>home</em>
173directory. But before it got too bad, I was able to tidy up that mess
174again.</p>
175<p>While this sounds hard, I think this process is super rewarding, at
176least for me. Especially if you are using your PC daily and have
177important and personal data.</p>
178<p><strong>Doesn’t it take an eternity to access a specific file, which
179may be in an appropriate, but not quickly accessible,
180directory?</strong> That’s a valid concern, which I also had in the
181beginning. Over time, I tried out various tools for that purpose, here
182are my most used ones:</p>
183<ul>
184<li>I use the cd alternative <a
185href="https://github.com/ajeetdsouza/zoxide">zoxide</a>, which allows me
186to change to any directory on my system in bash, based on a ranking
187system that remembers used directories. This can single-handedly solve
188this problem in the scope of the terminal.</li>
189<li>Additionally, I use a simple <a
190href="https://git.krinitsin.com/dotfiles.git/blob/main/bin/zathura-fzf">script</a>
191that lets me fuzzyfind all my PDFs on my PC and opens the selected one
192in my PDF-viewer. That sets the following mental model in my head: I
193store the PDFs in the thematically best location (for instance
194~/university/course/week/task/task1.pdf) and only have to know some of
195the context. It doesn’t matter anymore where the file exists.</li>
196</ul>
197<p><strong>Look, you only have three directories in your <em>home</em>,
198so you don’t even have any data to create a mess with! What’s with
199photos, job applications, or my <del>il</del>legally downloaded video
200games?</strong> Stuff that doesn’t need to be on my PC gets moved onto
201my archive SSD, which is structured the same way. If you don’t have one,
202then those directories should also be in your <em>home</em>.</p>
203<p><strong>What should I do if I don’t work with the terminal primarily,
204or don’t use Linux at all?</strong> Well, the main reason I love Linux
205so much is its flexibility, so I don’t have a concrete answer for that.
206But if I had to use a Windows system again, I would strictly prohibit
207myself from putting any data on the Desktop. Instead, I would structure
208my files the same way I do now and put shortcuts for important
209directories on my Desktop. This reflects the way I use my PC right
210now.</p>
211<p>A disclaimer in the end: I don’t know why, but the whole process
212around it is fun for me. That’s why I’m fine with spending time on this.
213I know that there are people who don’t have the time or motivation to do
214this - or simply don’t think my reasons are valid for them - and that is
215obviously fine.</p>
216<p>So - Tidy up your PC! But only if you feel the need to.</p>
217<div class="note">
218<p><em>AI-Note: Grammarly was used to fix grammar mistakes.</em></p>
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