How to Organize Folders on Mac & Build a Personal Knowledge Base (Local‑First)

Keywords woven in: organize folders on Mac, clean up Mac files, best way to organize photos on Mac, self‑hosted Notion alternative, personal knowledge base

---

TL;DR

• Finder alone ≠ system. It stores files but gives zero context.
• Tokie turns every folder into a mini Notion‑style page + database—offline and cloud‑free.
• Follow the 9‑step workflow below to go from chaotic downloads to a searchable PKB(Personal Knowledge Base) in about an hour.

---

1 · Why Finder Eventually Breaks Down

Symptom	Pain
Scattered PDFs & images	Minutes lost hunting the “final‑final” version
limited structure	Designed for storage and not a workflow
Duplicate clutter	SSD space vanishes; Photos fills with triplicates

Finder shows what you have, not why it matters. Tokie adds meaning on top—without a subscription.

---

2 · Audit & Clean Up (10‑Minute Sprint)

1. Trash obvious junk

   • Delete DMGs, old screen recordings, large archives.
   • Finder → ⌘ F → File Size > 100 MB to spot hogs.

2. Create a single _Inbox folder

   • Drag everything from Desktop & Downloads into _Inbox.
   • You’ll process it after the new schema is ready.

Photo purge tip: Side peek panel = fastest free way to tidy pictures.

---

3 · Design a Top‑Level Taxonomy You’ll Stick To

Limit yourself to 4‑6 root folders:

Drag items from _Inbox into these buckets, then delete _Inbox.

---

4 · Install Tokie (2 Minutes)

1. Download the latest build from tokie.is.
2. Drag to Applications and launch.
3. Go to your root folders and set it as your main knowledge base workspace.

Tokie works out of the box—nothing leaves your Mac.

---

5 · Turn Folders into Living Documents

1. Open any folder → customise its layout.
2. Add a Markdown note describing purpose, keeping related notes in the same folder.
3. Pin key files to the top, by dragging them up and down.
4. Embed links to external websites or sources that you don't keep locally.

Instant context + content = PKB vibes.

---

6 · Database‑ify Your Files with Custom Fields

Field	Type	Use Case
Status	Select	WIP / Final / Archive
Topic Tag	Select	“AI”, “Marketing”
Source URL	Text	Original spec link
Reviewed On	Text	Cleaning cadence

Sort by Reviewed On or any other custom labels to spot stale docs.

---

7 · Best Way to Organize Photos on Mac (Tokie Edition)

1. Open Assets/Photos.
2. Move your projects into Assets/Photos.
3. Add a Rating (1‑5) number field for quick culling.
4. Go through your photos and rate them by using quick preview in side peek panel.

Lightroom feel, minus the subscription.

---

8 · Keep the Engine Running

Frequency	Mini‑Task (≤ 15 min)
Weekly	Tag new docs, archive finished work
Monthly	Rate‑and‑purge photos
Quarterly	Delete unused fields & dead links

Consistency beats complexity—Tokie makes it painless.

---

Conclusion: Finder Evolved

With a simple folder taxonomy + Tokie’s local‑first power you have:

1. Cleaned up chaotic files.
2. Added context via markdown & metadata.
3. Built a self‑hosted personal knowledge base—offline, future‑proof.

The next time you ask “Where did I save that?” the answer is two clicks away.

Go to the bottom of the page and download tokie now.