Spaces is one of those applications in Leopard that you either love, or hate. Some people find absolutely no use for Spaces; others swear by it and micromanage every aspect of their desktop organization. Spaces can be a very powerful tool for organizing yourself in law school, but it does take a little bit of set-up that isn’t immediately obvious, to get the full effect. Here are some steps you can take to better organize your Spaces for optimal law school efficiency.

Step 1: Assign Programs to Different Spaces

Macworld.com just recently published a great article on how to do this. By presetting your programs into their respective spaces, you don’t have to go through the trouble of moving each program each time.

To assign programs to spaces, the easiest way is to open up the System Preferences menu, click Expose and Spaces, and then click the Spaces tab. Make sure that they are enabled, obviously, and that Show Spaces in the Menu Bar is checked (keeps things easy to find). Next, simply drag and drop applications from the Finder directly onto the space you want them to go into. To figure out how to best optimize your spaces, see Step 3.

Step 2: Fine Tune Your Programs

Lets face it, you’re not going to remember to assign every program you ever use to a space; and even if you did, there likely will be some mistakes, or places that get too cluttered. So, to individually move a program from one space to another, simply click and hold on the program’s window (I usually do this up near the name of the window), hold Ctrl, and then press the arrow keys in the direction that you want to move the window to. This sounds somewhat complex, but it’s really not. Think of it like this: Space #4 is in the bottom right corner. But you want to move an app from Space #4 to Space #2, which is in the top right corner. So, you’ll click and hold the window, then hit Ctrl+Up on the arrow keys, and voila: your app is now in Space 2. Keep in mind that programs moved around this way do not tend to stay there after you reboot or log out, so if you find yourself doing this too often, refer back to Step 1, to solve your problem.

Step 3: Program Goes Where?

Now that you know how to assign and move programs from spaces, you need to plan out where your programs are going. This is going to be an individualized process, but there are several schools of thought that might help you. First, consider leaving Space #1 open, or empty, used only for programs you haven’t assigned. This way, any programs that you forgot to assign won’t be cluttering up your other spaces, and “entertainment” related programs won’t be clumped in with your “education” related programs, which can be embarrassing if they pop up in class while your adjuncts are standing right behind you.

Also, consider lumping all of your communications related windows into one space. I have Adium, iChat, IRC, Mail, Skype, and all other similar programs assigned to Space #2. This way, when I really need to crack down on working, I’m not tempted to look at them, since they’ll be in another space; also it helps when I’m in class and I don’t want to have my professors see me chatting or emailing, instead of taking notes.

For me, Space #3 is where my school related stuff goes. OmniOutliner, Pages, iCal, etc. These all go here. Note that it’s at least two spaces away (either up and then right, or right and then up) between my work in Space #3 and Space #2 where all my distracting entertainment stuff is. It makes it that less tempting to head over and “check my IM’s for a moment”. When I’m working on two different things in Space #3, and I need them separated, I’ll quickly drag one up to Space #1. That way, it’s not in the way, cluttering up my screen.

Step 4: What DOESN’T Get Assigned?

One of the big programs that I don’t assign is Safari (substitute for Firefox or Camino if you use that). My problem with Safari is that because of the tabbed browsing, I can have my Westlaw stuff in one tab, but have Facebook in another tab. I don’t necessarily want those in the same place. So, I split off new windows, and make a window for all my Westlaw stuff, a window for all my non-school stuff, etc. Then, I move the distraction stuff into Space #2, where my IM’s and other similar stuff are, and I keep my Westlaw window either where I’m working, (Space #3) or in a clean space (Space #1 or 4).

This is one of the biggest strengths of Spaces: you can have individual windows within an app, in different spaces. Don’t overlook this, because most law students do. If you find yourself wasting too much time on ESPN.com during lecture, simply drag it off into another space. It’ll still be there for you when you’re done, but you won’t be as tempted to be there during class if it’s not on your screen.

Spaces is an extremely powerful tool if used correctly. It can help with time management, organization, and focus. With the above steps, you should be able to squeeze the most out of your desktop, and they may even make you a Spaces fan. If not, you’ll still be more organized. In the immortal words of the greatest T.V. commercial of all time, you’re slightly more efficient than you previously were.

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