#Mac PowerUser Tricks : Working Smart with Smart folders and Smart Mailboxes.

On every Mac device, there are little ideas and tricks that power users use to get things done faster, get more organized and work smarter, and often the average user is unaware of them. 

One such feature is the Smart Folders feature on your Mac. 

Smart folders use the Search function on your Mac to automatically gather your material by type or subject. The benefit for you is that these folders then automatically update as you change, add or remove files from your device. Importantly, it doesn’t move your files and folders from where they are - it just gathers the information into one place where you can find it easily. You could think about smart folders as an automatic, saved search that is continuously being done according to a criteria you’ve set out. 

Sounds great! So, lets see how this works in practice. 

On your Mac, open up a new Finder window via File > New Finder Window

In the Finder, choose File > New Smart Folder

You can now search for files, enter a topic, a phrase, or another parameter in the search field. In our case, just to illustrate how this works, we are going to do an easy search for all the JPEGS on our Mac. 

In the search field, enter JPEG into the search you will see that it gives you the following options:

In this case its asking : “ Should I return results where the name matches JPEG ( Filenames ) or should I return the file Type JPEG ( Kinds ) ?” 

Choose File Type 

Now you will see that the search will return all the values you asked for ( all your JPEG file types - i.e.: Your photos ). Now, this is where it gets interesting. 

What if you want this to be a permanent search ( I want to have a folder that updates and shows me all my JPEGS all the time )? 

Save As JPEGS and note the Add the sidebar checkbox. Click Save. This will create a Saved Search and then add the search to you sidebar for easy access.

Note that this adds a folder to your sidebar that will gather all your JPEGS. This folder will be continuously updated while you add more content to your device. So if you add more JPEGS, they will be automatically referenced into this folder. 

In its basic form this is very useful. But you can narrow down your searches and make them unbelievably specific. 

Right Click JPEGS in your Sidebar, and select Show Search Criteria.

This reopens your search criteria so you can add more attributes ( fields). Underneath the save, you will see a Plus and a Minus button. 

Click Add (+) below the search field, then make choices using the search attribute pop-up menus appear. On my Mac, it opens with Last opened Date

If you click Last Opened date, you will get a menu of options:

The menus work in pairs and in our case we have asked search to gather our JPEGS PLUS another criteria. Lets choose Other 

You will see an overwhelming number of criteria that you could add as a sister criteria to our search. The key here is to know what you are looking for. For example, I’m really only looking for the JPEGS that have been added in the last month. So, I can search for “added “ 

There you go : Date Added. Select Date Added, and click OK. 

Don’t forget to give it the info it needs to sort: I need the JPEGS added in the last 1 month.

Click Save, and our Smart Folder is updated. 

Where can I use this? Well, it’s up to you and what you think is important, or require most often. If I was a Photographer, creating folders that gather all my files that have a specific aperture or focal length may be useful. It is really up to you and what you need. 

A good example I use in my day to day is I use this feature in conjunction with TAGS. When I am working on a piece of content like a training course, I will TAG each item I work on with the name of the course. 

I can then have a easy reference to those materials in my sidebar:

Where perhaps you will benefit the most is the use of Smart folders as Smart Mailboxes. If you open your Mac Mail client, you will see the option to create a Smart Mailbox from the Mailbox menu.

You are offered criteria that you can use to create smart Mailboxes:

For example, maybe you want to group all the emails from a particular sender, with a particular subject or a particular date range. Be aware that this is not that same as creating a Rule, because all the Smart Mailbox will do is gather - it does not move your mail from your folders, but rather groups it into an easy to access folder. 

Finally, this magic applies to almost all of Apples applications in one way or another. The one you may be most acquainted with would be the smart folders in Photos for Mac. Photos already has Smart Folders at work on your device, something close to what I have here:

To create my own smart folders I would go to File > New Smart Album 

Next up, enter in my criteria. 

In my case, I want all my iPhone photos from this year. So I select what camera and I put in a date range:

Hint: Make sure you make the right selection with the “Match any/all of the following conditions. In my case, theres something quite specific that I am looking at creating so I want to apply the exact criteria = match ALL of the criteria 

A Smart Folder will be created with a grouping of all the pictures according to what I have typed in. 

Heres to finding ( and using ) all your files easier! If you want to see some more great ideas on smart folders you can create, have a look at this article on makeuseof.com

8 Smart Folders You Need on Your Mac & How to Set Them Up

References:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH22188