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>> Hey, I'm Donald Bell for CNET.com. Apple's iOS 4 brings a new folders feature to the iPhone, iPod Touch and eventually the iPad. Today I'm going to show you how to make and organize folders and get some ideas on how to use them. If you've ever organized your home screen, you know that if you press and hold on an icon, they go all jiggly and can be moved around until you set them again by tapping the home button. You use the same process to create folders, but instead of shifting icons around, you need to drag one icon on top of another until a little drawer pops out and then you can let go. A folder name is automatically generated based on the kinds of apps you've grouped together, but you'll be prompted to personalize it right off the bat. Hitting the little x button will clear the existing text and give you room to enter your own. When you're done with the label, press the done button to collapse the on screen keyboard. You can add other apps if you like... even pulling apps from other pages. You can reorganize the order of the apps in the folder and you can take apps out of the folder by dragging them back onto your home screen. To completely erase a folder, you just need to empty it of all its apps and it will disappear.
Okay, simple enough, but what do you actually do with folders? Unlike folders on your computer these aren't places to hide all your old documents and media and they only go one level down so there's no nesting folders within folders. Still, if you find yourself flipping through pages of apps every time you go to do something, folders are a godsend. One obvious use is to use folders like a junk drawer, collecting all the apps you don't use often, such as a calculator or weather. If you use something like an iPod Touch for a lot of games you could even organize them in separate folders such as puzzles or board games. If your kid uses the device from time to time, you can group together their favorite apps. You can also make a folder just for frequently used web bookmarks created by Safari. Another creative way to use folders is to keep them in the dock where they can be accessed from any home screen page. For me, as a music nerd, I replaced the default music app in the dock with a folder of all of my favorite music apps. So that's how to use folders in Apple's iOS 4. Hopefully you can use these tips to help declutter things a bit and make your device customized just for your interests. For CNET.com, I'm Donald Bell.
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