Apparently, people take their desktop shortcuts seriously because my recent article on working with shortcuts got quite a bit of feedback. A couple of people suggested another good way to organize your desktop shortcuts: with folders.
I can’t remember if I’ve written about this idea before, but it’s a good one. Basically, you can group your shortcut icons by creating a folder and then stuffing all the related shortcuts into it. For example, suppose I want to group all my Microsoft products into one spot. I could create shortcuts for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint then put them into a folder called Microsoft Office on the desktop. When I open the folder, I see all those shortcuts ready to go.
To set it up, right click your desktop and choose New|Folder. A little folder icon appears on your desktop with the name New Folder highlighted. You can change the name to something a little more meaningful by typing a new name. Now you can drag any icons you want into the folder. Just click a desktop shortcut icon and drag it over the folder until the folder name highlights. When you let go, the icon is inside. (Double-click the folder and you’ll find it in there.)
On my desktop, I also have shortcuts that point to folders on my hard disk, which could be confusing, since they use the same icon as a folder to hold your shortcuts. If you have this problem, you can change the icon by right-clicking the folder and choosing Properties. In the Customize tab, click Change Icon and select a new icon for your folder.
Another reader wrote in to point out that my article on typing the first letter to find an icon wasn’t particularly clear. You can type more than just the first letter. You can keep typing the rest of the desktop shortcut icon name until you find the right one. For example, if you have one icon named Excel and one called Explorer you can type the first three letters to get to the correct icon. This technique works in Control Panel and Windows Explorer as well. (You need to type multiple letters quickly — if you pause too long, Windows seems to think you’re starting over with a new letter.)