best practices organizing files

Sort of: macOS Sierra: Organize files in folders

macOS Sierra: Use tags to organize files

That has some ideas and links on the bottom for others. It was for Sierra but pplies to High Sierra as well.

Some of this will be personal preference and what software and Apple features you use. If you use Apple applications such as iTunes and Photos the files are best left to be organized by the applications themselves and you shouldn't really need to see the actual files. They will of course be put into the Picture and Music folders. Other Applications may also have automatic folders for storage. Some other folders are also Apple standards and are best used the way Apple intends, particularly if you are going to be using iCloud and iCloud Drive.

One of my personal preferences for organizing files (I'm old school) for certain categories is to start the file name with a date code, so today is 20180814. So, for example, I may have a folder called "Home financial" and then inside that "2018 Federal tax" and "2017 Federal tax". That way the tax folders will appear sorted by date as a name without having to actually sort all the files in a folder by date "kind.

I also have my preferences set to display file extensions (such as .jpg) so I know what kind of file it is.

One tip: Start a file or folder name with a blank space will force it to the top of a column. I may also have a file or folder located by normal sort order near the bottom of a long list but make an alias of it and start the alias with a blank space so it forces a shortcut to the folder to the top of my folder list if I am using it frequently. So "Taxes 2018" may occur pretty far down my financials folders list but I make an alias called " Taxes 2018" (note the blank space) which will force a shortcut to my current taxes folder to the top of my general financials folder.

speaking of old school.

I have found that spotlight is inconsistent when searching by filename. To search by filename, try:

FindAnyFile

"This is a free program for Mac OS 10.4 and later that lets you search for files on your disks, primarily on HFS formatted ones." FindAnyFile allows you to search for all files on your harddrive. Do the search from an administrator account. Hold down the option key then click on return.

http://apps.tempel.org/FindAnyFile/

way old school:

find / -iname 'python*'
find -x ~/Desktop/iMac -type f  -exec grep -il "" {} \;
find -x ~  -iname "*.jpeg" -type f  -exec ls -l  {} \; 2>/dev/null | sort -r -k 8,8 -k 6,7M
find -x ~  \( -iname "*.jpeg" -o -iname "*.png"  \) -type f  -exec ls -l  {} \;
find /Users/robert -user  1000  -exec ls {} \;
find /Users/robert -user  1000  -exec chown robert:staff  {} \;
find . -maxdepth 1 -name '.bash*' -type f -exec ksh -c 'for file; do; echo "$file" |  od -ct x1; done' sh {} +

This terminal command will search all files in folder Desktop/iMac for a string like boot when I insert the word boot between the double quote.

find -x ~/Desktop/iMac -type f -exec grep -il "boot" {} \;

R

EasyFind is free. FaF is now shareware I believe.