Files proliferate rapidly on personal computers, and without a bit of planning, users can end up searching through a long list of miscellaneous files with names that seemed sensible when they were created, but now seem very mysterious.
Windows automatically saves new text files to My Documents and graphics files to My Pictures, unless you tell it otherwise. Great for knowing where your files are, but not so great when it’s time to find them again. A little planning will help you create an easy-to-use organization system for all your documents.
Using nested folders is an easy way to organize your documents. Do you use your computer for personal and business projects? Consider creating a separate folder for “Personal” and “Business” documents. Within these folders, divide them into additional categories.
In the “Personal” folder, you can find a hodgepodge of letters to friends and family, letters to the editor of your local newspaper, complaints to companies about unsatisfactory products, downloaded recipes, and web site pages on a variety of topics, and so on. A “Mail” folder could be divided into more folders labeled “Friends and Family” and “Business Correspondence”; the “Friends and Family” folder could be subdivided into folders for each person, assuming they communicate regularly; you can add a “Miscellaneous” folder for those with whom you communicate infrequently. If you communicate by email, you can also copy and paste or download your own emails and the responses you receive, especially when the letters contain valuable information. Your “Friends and Family” folder can also be a good place to store personal photos.
Take a good look at the website downloads and the miscellaneous files you’ve gathered. Do you have a lot of recipes or information about vintage cars or alternative energy sources? Create broad categories and then subdivide them; “Alternative energy resources” suggests several subcategories: “Wind”, “Solar”, “Biodiesel”, etc.
On the business side, you may have correspondence, project notes, background materials, completed and in-progress writing, and a variety of financial files. Several organizational options are presented; in terms of financial files, do you want to group them all in one folder and subdivide them as needed? Or do you want to keep the financial files with the corresponding project files?
Let’s say you are self-employed for several companies and have a variety of files for each company. One method of organization is to create a “Freelance” folder, then a folder for each client; subdivide each of these into “General Information”, “Projects”, “Invoices”, “Correspondence”, etc. The “Invoices” folder for each client could be further subdivided by year and contain all the invoices you have sent to the client. The “Projects” folders can be subdivided into “New projects”, “Work in progress”, “Completed but not submitted” (for files you need to submit) and “Submitted”. This not only helps you save finished files, but also allows you to organize your work while you’re at it.
In the “Freelance” folder, you can also provide a “Financial Summary” folder that contains one or more files that summarize financial information for all clients.
As you plan to organize your files, also think about naming your files. Helps create a systematic way of naming files. Invoices, for example, might include “Invoice” plus your client’s name, project, and date sent: “Harvard Stephen Crane Invoice 10-20-2005.” Correspondence about the project could be labeled “Harvard Stephen Crane Correspondence 10-20-2005”. It’s easy enough to rename existing files to fit your new organization plan; on Windows, just right-click the file icon, scroll down to “Rename,” left-click, and type the new name.
Don’t forget to backup your files! Burn a CD to save your data and free up your hard drive in the process. And apply the same type of schedule with your backup files as you do with your hard drive. A little organization can make your computer life so much easier.
