HOW TO PURGE YOUR DIGITAL CLUTTER

Cleaning out inboxes, documents, photos, and other digital junk can reduce stress and improve productivity.

- JILL DUFFY

A few times a year, I get an urge to purge. Whether it’s spring cleaning or taking a moment to archive last year’s emails, I find it incredibly gratifying to dump (or sometimes simply put away) stuffI don’t need. I feel less stressed and more able to focus when the junk is gone.

If you, too, enjoy a good purge and have a messy digital life, here are five places to start:

• Files on your computer desktop

• Messages in your email inbox

• Photos on your phone

• Apps on your phone

• Your open browser tabs Here’s some advice on how to do it.

1. CLEAN UP YOUR DESKTOP

Sometimes we place a file on the computer desktop so it’ll be in our line of sight and we’ll remember it. Then we do the same thing a few more times. Before you know it, the principle defeats itself: How can you see and remember a file among a messy heap?

The easiest way to clean up the desktop is to start by viewing your files in a list rather than in a graphical representation of the desktop and file icons. In other words, open a Finder window in macOS or File Explorer in Windows. This view can make it easier to see which files you should delete or put away.

You don’t have to trash all the files on your desktop. Instead, make a few folders with names such as In Progress and Photos to help you sort what you have. Don’t think too deeply about the correct classification for each file; keep it simple. Folders called, say, Work, Personal, Fun, and Old are fine. Or you might have one folder for storing PDFs, another one for photos, and so forth.