An untidy desk can be distracting and make it harder to find things.

The same applies to your computer desktop – if it’s littered with downloads and icons you rarely click on, it will slow both you and your device down.

Here are ten ways to keep your laptop tidy and make you more productive as a result:

Be consistent with naming your files. Whether it’s a photo, presentation or spreadsheet, having an organised naming system means you can use search tools like Spotlight to find files quickly. Include the project title, file type, date and anything else useful in the subject heading.

If you’ve got a Mac, split your files into Stacks, categorised by anything from date to project. Under settings, you can automatically file new items into the correct Stack as they’re created.

Keep your frequently-used apps on the taskbar, so you’re not constantly minimising windows to access icons on your desktop.

Organise your ideas into Collections when using Microsoft Edge to track what you’ve been looking at online - whether it’s a work project, holiday or shopping. You can save webpages, images, and text in a Collection and access it from different devices or share it by email. Similar systems are in place for grouping tabs in Chrome and bookmarking in Safari.

Tag groups of folders and files on your Mac. You can search for your customised tags, give them different colours, and files can have several tags if they fall under multiple categories.

Use full screen mode when you need to concentrate on a task, so you don’t get distracted by notifications.

Open the webpages you’ll be using automatically when you start Chrome, such as your email, company webpage and a search engine.

Schedule a regular clean-up to delete unnecessary files and empty your bin. There are apps to do this for you - such as CleanmyMac and CCleaner, or schedule a regular reminder to delete dealt-with emails, purge unwanted downloads and close unnecessary tabs.

Check where new downloads are automatically saved. If the default location is a downloads folder, make sure you move files into designated folders once you’ve viewed them.

Use third-party apps to organise your files. Unclutter provides three useful tools - a clipboard summarising your activity, a files organiser and a notepad - all in one window to keep you focused and tidy. Spotless remembers where you keep files of certain types and tidies them away to the right place when you drag them onto the “drop target”.