Use Smart Folders to organise files

Launch a web browser and direct it to the Addictive Tips website to visit the Smart Folders download page. Scroll down to the foot of the page to find and click the Download Smart Folders link, being careful not to click the various ‘Free Download!’ buttons (which are in fact adverts). If the File Download Security Warning dialogue box appears, click Save and choose a location for the file. Firefox users should select Save File to save the download to Firefox’s default download folder. Once the download is complete, double-click the file (called Smart-Folders-Installer.exe) and, if a Security Warning dialogue box appears, click the Run button. In the Smart Folders box that is displayed, click the Install button and then click OK once the installation is complete.

Now use Windows Explorer to locate two files that you would like to include in a new folder. Click on one of these files, keep the button pressed and then drag one file on top of the other – a label that reads ‘Move’ should appear. Release the left mouse button and the two files will be added to a new folder. In the dialogue box that appears, type the name you would like to use for the folder before clicking OK.

You are not limited to working with two files at a time; it is also possible to select multiple files and use the same drag-and-drop technique to create a new folder. If you experience a problem when creating a folder involving particular file types, that file type may need to be ‘registered’ in order to work with Smart Folders. Relaunch the installer (as per Step 1), type the relevant file extension in the File Extension field (such as .docx for Word 2007/10 documents) and click the Register button. If you later decide that Smart Folders is not for you, run the installer once more, click the Uninstall button and that’s that.