Mac OS X Lion Pocket Guide

Files and Folders

As you already know, folders are where you keep files. But Mac OS X also includes two special kinds of folders: the Burn folder and the Smart folder.

Regular Folders

Your Mac comes preloaded with some folders that are appropriate for commonly saved files (documents, pictures, music, and so on), but you’ll also want to make your own folders. For example, you might make a subfolder for spreadsheets within the Documents folder, or put a folder on your desktop where you can toss files that end up on the desktop. To create a regular folder in the Finder, you can either choose File→New Folder (Shift-⌘-N), or right-click or Control-click a blank spot in a folder and then choose New Folder from the Context menu shown in Figure 3-26.

Figure 3-26. Creating a new folder via the Context menu

Mac OS X names new folders “untitled folder,” and it iterates this name if you create a series of folders without renaming them after you create each one, so you end up with untitled folder, untitled folder 1, untitled folder 2, and so on. To change a folder’s name, click the folder once and then press Return or click the folder’s title. The area surrounding the title gets highlighted and you can type the new name. When you’re done, hit Return to make the name stick (until you change it again).

Burn Folders

Creating a Burn folder is the easiest way to get files or folders from your Mac onto an ...