Organizing Computer Files and Stop Losing Important Information!

admin — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:15:11 +0000

Organizing computer files means a bit of work, but the result afterwards is totally worth it. We’ve all been in the situation where we start a directory and end up with so many subfolders that we don’t know where all the files went. Instead of opening up each folder and looking for the file, learn to rename your files and your subfolders in a simple way so that you can find the file instantly. Moreover, you won’t have to do any rework anymore since your files will no longer be missing.

Naming the Files Correctly

One of the messiest folders for all people will be your photos folder, so let’s look there as a prime example of how to start organizing computer files. There are so many photos from so many different people and different times that after a year or two, you have no idea when or where that photo was taken. We can start by creating a main folder, “My Photos.” Afterwards, for each event, create a separate folder. For example, if it’s your Mothers Birthday, remember to create a subfolder within the main folder that is named accordingly.

Keeping the Dates in Order

Just because you name the subfolder correctly, how do you keep track which year or date it was? You should probably put the date first. For example, a folder named “081210_Moms_Birthday” will tell us that this folder contains pictures from Mom’s Birthday in 2008, on December 10th. Never use slashes or other symbols in the name, always use the underscore. This way, no matter what year or what date the event occurred; it will always fall in order in terms of year first, then month, then date.

Just a few rules can help you keep your files organized. Organizing computer files doesn’t need to be hard once you start following a system, so always remember how much time and energy you save from correctly naming your files. Hopefully this should give you enough incentive to spend a little time to always name them the efficient way!

Return from Organizing Computer Files to How to Organize your Life

How to Tips for Organizing Electronic Files

admin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:52:03 +0000

These tips for organizing electronic files will help you turn a cluttered computer into a work of organizational art. If you’re currently suffering from a messy computer don’t feel bad because you’re certainly not alone. The problem is that no one took the time to show any of us how to set things up in the beginning. You’ll learn how to fix that in a few moments – just keep reading.

First of all, take a moment to think about what kind of files you have on your computer and how you can divide them into simple groups. Some examples of groups like this would be Work Items, Photos, Music, Personal Documents, and School. Your list may be different, but it’s best if you can break your files into as few generic categories as possible. Doing this will set the foundation for a clean and organized computer.

Once you have your list of categories, go ahead and create directories for each category. While widows will always try to get you to save things into the ‘My Documents’ folder there are a few reasons why this isn’t always the best idea and here’s why:

Reasons Why Not to Use the My Documents Folder:

Not enough categories to store things properly
Documents are stored in a generic way that may not suit your personal situation
Difficult to move, sort and back the files in the future.

If Multiple People Use Your Computer

For Families or people with shared computers, a good idea would be to create your own folder first with your name on it and then create the broad categories inside of your named folder. This will make sure that everyone’s documents are nicely separated.

Tips for Naming Folders and Files

If you are saving things that are time sensitive like photos, monthly reports, or invoices, you may want to name your directories with a prefix of the year and month. If you went to Mexico in November of 2008, instead of creating a Mexico folder within your Photos folder, you would create an 0811_Mexico Folder. Notice that the year comes before the month to give us 0811 which means November of 2008. By naming time sensitive files or folders this way you can always sort things alphabetically and very quickly find the time period you are looking for.

You can do the same kind of thing with your files, but if you have proper directories and sub directories set up.

The Best Tips for Organizing Electronic Files

The best thing that you can do is to save your files and folders with meaningful names. When you are in a rush it’s easy to save files with names like “qqq.doc” but when you need to look for the information contained in that file in the future it could be a nightmare to find – especially if you have hundreds or even thousands of improperly named files like this.
The last tip is to take a second when you are saving your files to make sure that you are saving them in the proper folder. The extra second that it takes to complete this step could save you hours down the road when you are trying to locate a file.