Using stationery as a folder magnet (before System 7.5)
When you save a file for the first time, the Mac generally saves it into the same folder as the program you’re in. For beginners — and even power users — this means lost files; new documents frequently get stuck deep within some folder (such as the Word folder) instead of on the desktop or in a Documents folder, where they’d be easy to find.
Life is sweeter on the Performa or in System 7.5, where you’re offered the chance to have newly created documents saved into, say, a Documents folder. For everyone else, here’s an ingenious solution.
For each of your applications, create a blank document, and turn it into a piece of stationery. Call these documents New Word Document, New ClarisWorks Document, or whatever. Put these stationery documents into the desired “magnet” folders (Documents Folder and so on).
From now on, double-click the appropriate stationery document to launch a program instead of double-clicking the program icon itself. Then, when you save your work for the first time, the Mac will propose storing it in — yes, indeed — the Documents folder (or whatever folder contains the stationery). As an added bonus, if you had taken the trouble to set up all your margin, font, and preference settings in the blank document, they’ll all be in place for every new document you create this way.
