One spot

Least cluttered Windows Desktop:

- Gotta arrange by penis
Can you sort this by penis? Internet Explorer needs to be at the tip or I won't be able to find it.
- Aww, I love TWID! Thanks for the reminder, haven't watched it in awhile
Man, zooming in and looking at these icons was like a blast from the (not too far) past.
Where's Bonzi Buddy?
Oh, that's easy to clean up. Just open explorer, go to desktop, Ctrl+A, Ctrl+X, make a new folder called 2025-Jan, and then inside of that folder, Ctrl+V. Problem solved, forever.
- Where was that file? Oh, My Documents/Old Desktops/2023 November/2023 April/2022 December. Of course.

I absolutely do it the other way. Nothing is on my desktop except for the trash bin. There is a shortcut to the file explorer and browser pinned to the task bar. And that's it.

There is nothing at all on my desktop except for a text document created by my girlfriend saying that she loves me that she snuck on there when I wasn’t looking.
- Bro you didn’t have to come here just to brag…
i don't even have icons enabled on my desktop. Now I don't have to feel stressed about cleaning it up
- Ah, a person of culture! Though I admit everything that I regularly use is pinned to the taskbar.
- Yeah, this is the way. Disable icons and recycle bin too.
You're ready for GNOME.
- What's gnome?

Microsoft: put it in OneDrive. We will use your content to train our AI models. No really this is fine.

Also Microsoft: If you ever try to leave us we will delete all of your data on all of your devices. We might even do it at random just for fun…No, we won't warn you.
- I love the random deletetion. They deleted a whole year of my university notes just because.

Good god. Putting stuff in the desktop is a big yuck. Your desktop probably looks like your room.

The desktop is like the inbox of files, inbox-zero it and it's a tidy place to keep things in focus until they're sorted and filed away or deleted.
If a cluttered desktop is a sign of a cluttered mind, what does an empty one signify?
- Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.
  The visitor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself, "it is overfull, no more will go in!".
  "Like this cup," Nan-in said, "your desktop is full of documents and shortcuts. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"
- Zen
  I alternate between a cluttered and empty desktop.
Can confirm.
take it back
- No

Me: "I've got an elaborate folder structure for all my documents."

Windows: "You want to put this in the root directory of OneDrive."

Me: "No, I want to put it in \SpecialFiles\ProjectName\IterationNo\DetailedSchematic

Windows: "Root directory of OneDrive it is."

I fucking hate onedrive sooo much for this, it kills me a little everytime and it happens all the time. Im just a husk at this point. God damn fuck you onedrive.
- and it gives you that shitty prompt with like 3 locations to dark pattern you into using it instead of just putting you in the explorer window so you can go right to where you want to fucking save it. Wasting a shitload of time.
Exactly.
Because My Documents is where Windows keeps all your save games from the last decade and beyond, because why would I use it to store MY DOCUMENTS?
That's why I debloat windows anytime I do a new install. Drop that box 🥊
- It's a work computer, so my options are limited

Microsoft and application developers treat the Documents folder like a total dumping ground for whatever random nonsense they can dream up. No wonder people look elsewhere. Need to store user files? Documents. A database? Documents. Giant cache files? Documents. Config? Documents. Executables? Fuck it put those in Documents too.

Why would I ever store my real documents in a folder so littered with shit that I can never find anything? It's not like the search actually works.

Also as a Linux user myself and to head off any smugness, developers do the same thing with the home directory so users end up inventing weird ways to stay organized.

I don't ever search for files/folders in explorer's browser anymore. I just use Everything and TreeSize at this point. Windows' search function is pointless.
I have my files meticulously organized in hierarchical folders that sync across all my devices through One Drive and to my NAS through One Drive.
I hate that Microsoft wants to dump everything in Documents.
Also, for SOME FUCKING REASON, my work system, wants to put everything into the root of One Drive. Like fuck please put it in Documents at least. I don't want ANYTHING in the root folder if I can avoid it, aside from maybe the occasional super special thing.
- Today I used Alt+Space to open krunner, typed the name of a C script I'm working on, and it pulled up search results for the file, as well as relevant websites I visited related to that title, and in that moment I realized how much I missed out growing up with Explorer.

I'd be happy if those apps were asking to save to Documents like in the screenshot. But alas, reality is much more cruel. They always want to save to some vague OneDrive location, and won't even show you the local file browser without extra steps.

If yOU dOn'T uSe oNEdrIvE iT is IMpOssiBle to AuTO sAve! The technology just doesn't exist to save on a timer without involving the cloud!
F12
Documents, Desktop and Picture folders are just moved from the user folder into the user folder\OneDrive folder.
Other than that it work exactly the same.
OneDrive also always has a local folder. Usually in your user folder.
You can blame a lot on OneDrive, but this isn't one of them.
- I don't want any of my files uploaded to OneDrive; therefore I don't want to save them in the OneDrive folder. I have other folders where I'd like to save my files instead.
  So the behaviour I described is a persistent annoyance for me; despite you telling me it isn't a problem.
- You see, I have OneDrive disabled and set to not sync.
  It still wants me to save to a OneDrive directory, simply because I'm signed into my Microsoft account.

Saving to desktop is insane behaviour and the OP just told on herself.

Rebuttal, with a physical desk you put things you need right now on top in the open. You wouldn't grab something off the printer and put it into a drawer first, then reopen the drawer to get it out of your need it now.
The desktop is "right now" workspace. Why bother to put it into a folder whose only purpose is not to take things out of to put elsewhere? I could at least understand people who download direct to documents... but that still leaves a mess to clean up with installers and such.
Downloading to the desktop is not only sane, but more efficient.
Leaving everything on your desktop is a different conversation though.
- I definitely would go ahead and put the printed document directly into a hanging file in my desk drawer if I could read/use the document without ever moving it like I can on a computer...
- I just do everything out of my file manager. I use Krusader, which has twin panes and tabs.
- You reminded me of this funny tweet
I agree, but I think the tone of the joke suggests that OP is at least somewhat self-aware

I am the opposite and I absolutely hate it when I have to work on someone's laptop with cluttered desktop and folders. Mine only has a taskbar at bottom and clock widget at bottom right corner. All temporary files goes to downloads or to organised directories. What's the point of having a nice wallpaper if you can't enjoy it.

I'm the same way. I will tolerate no icons on my desktop. It's widgets or nothin'.
Now, my physical desktop, on the other hand...
You do at least have some shortcuts on your desktop, right?
Otherwise, why have a desktop?
You can open a picture if you want to look at it
- You do at least have some shortcuts on your desktop, right?
  Not OC, but no, that's what the taskbar is for, I use my iconless desktop as a space to drag windows around and multitask
- Everything from start menu shortcuts. Much cleaner and nicer that way.
  Edit: I am using KDE plasma so not the full screen start menu like in windows but the small box on bottom left with about 15 icons that I regularly use.
What’s the point of having a nice wallpaper if you can’t enjoy it.
That's what the aecond monitor is for

Everything downloads to the desktop, that way it's in my face so I have to deal with it.

The clutter on the desktop annoys me into cleaning it up, but I'll ignore a downloads folder once I've grabbed whatever I just downloaded.

you are the first person i’ve know to also do this! it really does help
- I do this too. I do not like anything on my Desktop, but I download files to there, which forces me to deal with them. Interestingly enough, my Downloads directory is a barren wasteland.
But... You can just download things to their deserved spot in the first place?? Why the extra step
- Desktop is my temp space. There are files with a very limited shelf live (logs I downloaded to search something, screenshots, ...) so I have to clean them up on a regular base before my desktop becomes too crowded and I get annoyed.
- A lot of stuff don't have a spot. And no, I'm not putting that meme template I will need for 5 minutes into the tmp folder, I'm not insane.
- That requires effort up-front every time I click download.
  I'd rather just click 'download' and let it go to an easy to find default location. The desktop means I won't just forget about it for months. It may sit there for a day or two, but it definitely won't get ignored the way a folder I rarely look at does; because the clutter right in my face annoys me into cleaning it up.
  Working around/against my own procrastination.

People who save files on the desktop deserve to use Windows.

I use downloads instead, it mainly functions as a temporary folder where anything unimportant can live and once it gets a scroll bar it all gets deleted. For the very rare things that are important I could then move them after.

How do you move a file after deletion? I need to know this black magic.
- Well first off, through ~~God~~ Linux, all things are possible. You can have multiple hard links to a file, where a given hard link is deleted, but you can still manipulate the file through any other other links. Alternately, you can open a file, and while you have a valid open file descriptor, delete the file. The file descriptor is still valid until you close the file though, so you can still save (thus move) it to a new location.
  Windows locks files when you open them, preventing these kinds of shenanigans.

The cursed Linux alternative of this is usually putting things directly in the home folder – I used to do this until I got better. Desktop is simple to keep clean when you don't have one in your "desktop environment" by default.

Some people who've used MacOs before OSX dump everything to the root filesystem out of habit. It works just as poorly as a file management strategy as one might expect, albeit better than putting everything on the desktop. Not sure how often that happens but I've known multiple people to do that.

For some reason I hate the idea of just dropping everything in the Home folder, yet Downloads just ends up becoming exactly that anyway lol

I would expect nothing less from a filthy outlook user

This is a word document. Where should you save a word document?

In the documents folder. The documents folder.

That's right! You save it to the desktop!

no... No please...

What about this picture file? Where would you save a picture file?

In the pictures folder. Cmon...

That's right! You save it to the desktop!

oh god why....

I just downloaded this file... Where should I save it?

The... The downloads folder?

That's right! You save it to the desktop!

: '-(

For those that don't know... This is a reference to this video. https://youtu.be/cUbIkNUFs-4?si=4kxIC8qsvdW0FVAZ

I love GNOME for this. No desktop icons. Windows/super key, type the first letter or two, boom. It's so pretty.

My phone on the other hand? The first screen is nicely arranged. The second screen is just a chronological list of the apps I've downloaded, because they automatically go to desktop, and they'll clutter up my home screen if I don't have a separate sacrificial screen for them

This is actually the one thing I hate about GNOME. I keep a nearly fully empty desktop but I like having one as sort of a staging ground for temp files. I like just being able to chuck a file there and then drag it into another program, all without having nautilus open
- Yeah, desktop as the temp location is great for a few reasons.
  I can easily see what is in the queue.
  It reminds me to do something about it.
  I can rearrange the dozen or so icons for fun when I am having trouble picking what to do. Kind of like inventory management in an rpg.
  When I hit about 15 it prompts me to clear the list by either finishing them or putting them all away so I can start again with a clear screen.
- Iirc, there's an extension to allow for desktop icons? I may be misremembering, it might be a setting somewhere. Either way, I'm sure you can do it.
This is exactly how I use KDE, but without the GNOME look, which I am not a fan of. You don't even need to hit meta first in KDE, you can just start typing if you have krunner on.
Why not disable apps going to your homescreen instead?

People who use desktop as your unsorted downloads folder, who hurt you?

I use the desktop as a very temporary folder. Because I'll be annoyed by having stuff on there and will delete them as soon as I don't need them any more.
My downloads folder has random installers from 2021.
- As god intended (sorted by downloaded date)

These days, replace "Documents" and "Downloads" with "the root folder of OneDrive".

Yeah, that is so fucking annoying. I never save anything there, yet it absolutely always suggests that. Fucking microsoft.

I think she means OneDrive.

Its a black hole. You just drop files in there and never open them again.

Soooo true! I can’t believe how much they’ve made the damn computer fight you on this!

This is some Window level joke. BTW, I put my configs in home directory.

I find it hard to believe that Lauren, who saves everything to the Desktop, is dabbling with Office config files.
You probably keep the files she's referring to in your Documents, Downloads, etc. folder within your home directory too.
- Holy Shit.
You monster! They belong in ~/.config

Story time.

I was helping someone at work the other day....

As part of my usual process, I minimized most of what the person was using, because I dgaf what users are actually doing on their computers. I'm only interested in getting the "problem" that they're complaining about, solved, so I can go home.

When I finished minimizing everything, I shit you not, this person had two full screens of icons on their desktop. I couldn't help but blurt out "that's a lot of icons" they went on to describe how they use their desktop as a dumping ground and they clear the whole thing every few months.

Since I couldn't give a single shit about what they do with their computer, I said something to the effect of "alright", fixed the unrelated "problem" they had and moved on.

I do this. It's the "heap system". After a couple of months it gets full and I create a folder called "crap" and move everything inside it. After this, the process repeats itself and often leads to folder trees like C:\Users\dh\Desktop\crap\crap2\more crap\crap\important crap\crap.
This usually continues for the life of my computer and then, one day, it just gets wiped because buggered if I know what's in the crap folder..
I do the same thing, but mostly because I develop Doom mods for fun and it's just an easy place to dump sprites and audio files. I can drag a file directly from my desktop to the modding program I use, and then just clean up once I'm finished working on what I'm working on. Otherwise my desktop just has a few shortcuts.
- I don't get how this is easier than just having an explorer window open to a folder with the files where the exposed desktop would be.
  But hey, you do you. I'm not about to say that you can't use your PC like this. I'm not your manager, and you can do what you want.
  Whether I "get" it or not is irrelevant.

I used the desktop all the time when I was on Windows. When I moved to Linux fulltime, KDE wouldn't let you save to desktop. Eventually I figured out how to fix that, but by that time I had the habit broken. Thankfully i never reverted and my shit is generally organized because of it.

This one guy at work has 3 layers of desktop icons. LAYERS. I don't know how he manages.

L- layers??
- icons on icons on icons as there is no blank space left.
"Sir, please. I'm begging you. Use a folder. Just one single folder."
"THOG NO LIKE COMPUTER! THOG SAVE TO DESKTOP!!!"
This is why you people aren't allowed access to printers anymore.
- It's not because people kept printing their emails 40" wide on the plotter? TIL.

Drag has one thing on the desktop.

Space Cadet Pinball.

The only thing one really needs.

The top of your desk is exactly where you want the document that you will need in a minute to go. Its what bosses demanded since before modern computing

If that is not the intended usecase, then what is?

In linux i am saving stuff in a related project folder which may aswell be that projects own desktop.

Isn't the desktop just a place for displaying a picture? People have icons there?

Idgaf as long as it isn't onedrive.

OneDrive can be configured to automatically back up your desktop. So the desktop might be OneDrive
- True and that's one of the reasons I quit Windows altogether. Linux doesn't have this kind of bs.

Save to documents surely? It's a document

I didn't think that any Windows related software was actually aware that the 'Documents' folder is supposed to be for documents. Because my 'Documents' folder gets used as a dumping ground for any old program to drop their shit in. Even though there's literally dedicated folders for app data and saved games.

Personally I make my own 'Home' folder with my own pictures, movies, documents etc. folders because whether it's Windows, Linux or Android, the concept of having your own user folder for your own things is a joke because developers don't respect that and just dump their files anywhere.

I don't use the Documents folder because of that reason, but it's still weird to me that that doesn't happen on Linux, so my Documents folder is mostly empty there
- Yeah, documents itself isn't bad but you still end up with a bunch of stuff just being chucked into the root of your user folder, despite the fact that folders like '.config' exist. Personally, I like my 'home' space to be just my files, things that I've put there myself, without random programs making new folders and leaving dotfiles lying around. I'm a bit of a neat freak on my pc, way more than in real life. Personally, /home is just another /etc for me. My shit goes elsewhere.
Yeah Documents is basically default for .local config save data trash for any and all programs and games, which is a bummer. I'd like to use it for documents lol.

All IT support immediately revoked.

If the "shopping trolley test" determines good versus evil, then where you save your files determines lawful vs chaotic.

Lawful: specific files in specific places

Neutral: everything goes in downloads

Chaotic: everything goes on desktop

Lawful Good - Saved in specific places
Lawful Evil - Saved in recycle bin
Neutral Good - Saved in downloads
Neutral Evil - Saved in downloads or documents but you're not sure which one
Chaotic Good - Everything goes on desktop
Chaotic Evil - Everything goes into a random location
- New alignment: Chaotic Lawful: I deleted my desktop folder to prevent me from cluttering the desktop
- Lawful Neutral: Saved in specific places, one of which is the desktop.

OneDrive documents --> PC documents --> desktop
why must I press so many buttons to get it where I want :/

🤮

Right click>view>uncheck show desktop icons

Don't forget to put a screenshot of the old desktop as a wallpaper for an epic prank!
Back when I still used Windows, this was step #1 for every desktop environment.

Windows 95 was easier to use simply because of saving everything to the desktop. When Windows 98 tried to introduce "My Documents" i was like nope and still saved everything to the desktop.

I found this a few months ago and after adapting it to my needs I now have my files heavily organized (makes backups much easier).

https://github.com/roboyoshi/datacurator-filetree

What exactly is the app? The GitHub page isn't the most descriptive. How does it help you with backups?
- It's not an app, it's actually a very simple repo containing folders and readmes.
  It's just a folder structure, which you can use on your system. Unzip the file and slowly fill the folders with your files. I had to create(or maybe even rename/delete) some folders to adapt it to my needs. It took me around 20days during summer to organize around 2-3tb of my laptop and my external disk.
  It was a kinda painful manual process, but I think it was really worth it, now things are well organized, I detected and removed hunderds of GB of unecessary/duplicate/unwanted files, it's easier to navigate now, the structure is cleaner and syncing a big part of my drive is relatively easy now. There some files, like installed programs and their data which are in predefined paths and I didnt move those, so these were left out. Also some games save their data in Documents, so I symlinked their data in documents. And there's the defauly downloads folder which is now more of a temporary folder for stuff I download before I move them or delete them.
  There is not exactly a standard for how to orginize your files, but this repo is a very good start:)
  Edit: I think organizing my files was my first step on the list in order to transition to linux, it would otherwise make it harder to properly backup and sync a mess of files gathering up for years. To sync my files to my external drive I just had to backup only ~10folders and one of which was the "root" (the one in the repo as you can see) which contained about 90% of my files. Much easier, much faster.

Tf...no...

Everything is saved to the Syncthing folder. I make sure there is a shortcut to it in the sidebar. From there, it gets placed in the proper folder inside of that.

Kde gives me the option to keep my desktop folder, or any other folder, or files linked to that specific activity as my Desktop.

My documents folder had 0 weeks until a few weeks ago. Everything in custom subfolders of home