safari…preferences/settings..general..save to downloads folder or always ask where to save. Good computer hygene is to save to Downloads and then move items to a permanent location, use and discard, etc. The downloads folder like the Trash folder is never treated as a storage location.
In your post you show all your categories up to Maps. Would you share the rest of the categories with me? I may not need all of them, but I’d like the guidance. A screenshot or a list would be fine. Whatever’s easiest for you.
The following is the output of the windows TREE command for my Sources directory. Names have been redacted for privacy and, in certain cases, sub-folder listings curtailed where the number of folders was very lengthy (denoted with ⁂)
Some folders, such as “Death+Obituaries+Funeral” have both sub-folders and individual loose files. Others have only loose files, named with my specific file naming conventions.
Note that “Death+Obituaries+Funeral” is undergoing re-org to move out obituaries into the appropriate Newspapers area. Eventually the folder will be renamed “Death+Funeral” and will contain only death certificates, funeral rememberance cards, etc.
One folder, Maps, contains old maps found on various sites but also contains Shapefile collections for use with Google Earth Pro and ESRI ArcGIS Earth. Those are all being used for ancestral geo-location evidence and correlation.
You might notice that there’s not a “Photos” directory. I don’t treat personal photos as sources / evidence and so they have their own storage elsewhere.
This should give you a pretty good sense of how I organize my digital evidence. I hope gives you some useful insights for your own strategy. 
C:\My Stuff\Data\Genealogy\sources
+---Birth
| +---{surname redacted} - Children of {redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - Children of {redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - Children of {redacted}
| \---{surname redacted}
+---Burial
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| \---{surname redacted} - multiple individuals in family plot
+---Census - US City
| +---1953 City Census - Lewis Edwards County Kansas
| +---1954 City Census - Lewis Edwards County Kansas
| +---1956 City Census - Lewis Edwards County Kansas
| \---1961 City Census - Protection Comanche County Kansas
+---Census - US Federal
| +---1790 Census
| +---1800 Census
| +---1810 Census
| +---1820 Census
| +---1830 Census
| +---1840 Census
| +---1850 Census
| +---1860 Census
| +---1870 Census
| +---1880 Census
| +---1890 Census
| +---1900 Census
| +---1910 Census
| +---1920 Census
| +---1930 Census
| +---1940 Census
| \---1950 Census
+---Census - US State
| +---1841 State Census - Mississippi
| +---1845 State Census - Mississippi
| +---1855 State Census - Wisconsin
| +---1885 State Census - Iowa
| +---1885 State Census - Kansas
| +---1895 State Census - Kansas
| +---1905 State Census - Kansas
| +---1915 State Census - Kansas
| | \---individual sub-pages
| +---1925 State Census - Kansas
| \---1950 State Census - Alabama
+---City directories
| +---City Dir - 1949 & 1951 Texas Houston
| \---City Dir - 1956 Texas Amarillo
+---Crime+Punishment
| \---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
+---Death+Obituaries+Funeral
| +---Find a Grave burial marker photos
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---⁂numerous additional per-individual sub-folders
+---Divorce
+---Education
+---Employment + Appointments
| \---NARA Pub M841 Record of Appointment of Postmasters 1832- Sep 30 1971
+---Family Bible records
| \---Family Bible - {surname redacted}
+---Immigration+Naturalization
| \---{full name redacted}
+---Maps
| +---Google Earth Pro - Birth location labeling example
| +---Map - Massachusetts 1822 - F Lucas + J Yeager Sculp
| \---Shapefiles
| +---Ireland
| | +---geofabrik OpenStreetMap data extract - ireland-and-northern-ireland-latest-free.shp
| | +---Ireland - OSi Administrative Areas Ungeneralised
| | \---SimpleMaps Ireland counties
| +---North American Rail Network Lines
| +---SimpleMaps national borders extract from OpenStreetMap
| +---Switzerland
| +---US County boundary files
| | +---cb_2021_us_county_500k
| | \---cb_2021_us_cousub_500k
| +---US Places
| +---US Region boundary files
| +---US State boundary files
| \---USA_Rivers_and_Streams
+---Marriage
| +---Marriage evidence (secondary) - {bride and groom names redacted}
| +---Marriage evidence - {bride and groom names redacted}
| +---Marriage License - {bride and groom names redacted}
| +---Marriage License - {bride and groom names redacted}
| +---Marriage license and cert - {bride and groom names redacted}
| +---Marriage license and cert - {bride and groom names redacted}
| +---Marriage license and cert - {bride and groom names redacted}
| +---⁂numerous additional bride+groom sub-folders
+---Military Service
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| | \---NARA Publication M246 Revolutionary War Rolls 1775-1783
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| | +---OMPF (Official Military Personnel File) original files
| | | +---National Personnel Records Center original files
| | | | \---Requested_Documents
| | | \---National Personnel Records Center unlocked files
| | \---The Winter of Discontent - The Battle of the Bulge by Akhil Kadidal
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| | \---Georgia 1864 Census for Re-Organizing the Georgia Militia
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---⁂numerous additional service record sub-folders
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted} GA Confederate Widow's Pension Application
| | +---Application
| | \---Index card
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted} (3ggf cousin)
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| | +---NARA {full name redacted} Compiled Civil War Records
| | | \---watermarked
| | | +---med_cards
| | | +---pension
| | | \---service_record
| | +---US Records of Headstones of Deceased Union Veterans 1879-1903
| | \---VA Civil War Pension
| \---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
+---Newspapers
| \---US
| +---AZ
| +---CA
| +---CO
| +---DC
| +---FL
| +---GA
| +---HI
| +---ID
| +---KS
| +---KY
| +---LA
| +---MA
| +---ME
| +---MN
| +---MO
| +---NM
| +---NY
| +---OH
| +---OK
| +---OR
| +---PA
| +---SC
| +---TN
| +---TX
| +---WA
| \---WI
+---Real Property
| +---{full name redacted}
| +---{full name redacted}
| +---⁂numerous additional real property sub-folders
| \---{full name redacted}
+---Research notes
+---Taxation
+---Vital records (misc)
| \---maine vital record extracts
+---Voter Registration
+---Webpage captures
+---Wills + Testaments + Probate
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| | \---Loose Guardian Papers
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| +---{surname redacted} - {full name redacted}
| \---Probate records
\---Writtten Histories
+---family history writeups
+---KS
+---MA
+---ME
+---NY
+---OH
\---TN
Thank you so much! This will be very helpful in determining how I file my things.
1 Like
My pleasure 
. I added a cross-link on my old post to yours, so if someone goes searching in the future and finds mine they can benefit from yours too. 
Avoid one big jumbled media folder in favor of subfolders organized by families, record type, etc. If you have all media for smith john & doe Jane in one folder it is much easier to see file duplicates, items not yet linked to people/facts, etc.
Jerry; the mac Finder (ie find command) and apps like FindAnyFile make searching very easy and effective. I personally find Windows Explorer very clumsy along with most Microsoft features and software.
I agree, even though I’m an enthusiastic Windows user in general. I use a free app called Agent Ransack for searching for files. It’s a very strange sounding name, but a very great product. It has full Boolean logic, with separate search options for file names as opposed to file contents, lots of filters like dates, regular expression support if you need to go that route, and lots of flexibility about which folders to search and which to exclude from the search.
Searching in Windows File Explorer was actually much better, for example back in the Windows/XP days. But Microsoft decided to make Windows File Explorer so easy to use that I actually find it nearly useless. It seems to me to be lacking nearly every search feature I need and use.
If it really gets large and unmanageable enough, you can try using a digital asset manager. digikam is a great free, open-source product, that focuses on organizing photos and the like.