Organizing Your Computer Files

When I began using computers it was easier to sort and store files as we saved them all to floppy disks and we would place a label on the disk and write on the label the file type, or name, etc. Because the files were so much smaller back then I would typically save my word processing documents to one location and my spreadsheet files to another disk, etc. However, this was also back in the days before the office quite came along and a 20MB hard drive was over $300.00. So space was a premium and it was rare that my spreadsheet information was incorporated into my word processing document because that would require about 5 hours of special conversion, etc.

Nowadays with Office Suites, sharing the same space and Operating Systems that provide a person a specific profile and space to save documents it seems that we don't pay much attention to organizing the files. We just keep saving them to the 'My Documents" folder in hopes of finding the files later. For the most part, this works, but there is still a better way. At least in my opinion, and here are a few of my suggestions and tricks to make life easier at times.

It seems that all things make their way to the "My Documents" folder, but for me I like to limit this space to only legitimate documents. Believe me I have all types in "My Documents" folder; from Word, Excel, Database, PowerPoint, graphic files, PDF and even just plain text files in this folder. What I do not like to put into this folder and sub-folders are downloaded programs, drivers, and zip files. I like those to live in a different place. Why not? Because these files tend to be on the larger, side and are harder for the index utility to sort out.

The operating system has a built in file organizer called an indexer and this utility goes through your files to gather key words, name, and other attributes to help you find them faster later on. Nevertheless, the indexer does not always like zipped files or executables. Therefore, I like to move the files elsewhere. Another aspect is that when your profile loads (kinda, more or less is keeping track of) these items into memory, and this can slow down your system. Therefore, I place all my program files and zip files somewhere else on my hard drive.

Because files are related or used in other documents these days, meaning that your Excel sheet has info that you copied into the Word doc, I like to store my files by project or same subject. A good example might be my doing my taxes. I have an Excel sheet that I am using to sort out some of my deductions and I have some PDF or Word doc that is a receipt or document needed for another part of my taxes. Therefore, I would save these items under 2009 taxes because all items are for the purpose of my taxes.

Nonetheless, I like to take this a bit further and make document cleanup easy. When dealing with documents that have a lifespan, so again I will use my taxes as an example. I am working on my taxes, and I know that I need to keep all documents for seven years after the year that I submit my taxes, so I am submitting my 2009 taxes in 2010 and want to add seven years for good measure, well that is now 2017 before I can even think about deleting those files. I have a folder called "Important Tax Files". Under this folder, I have another folder called "2009 Taxes Discard after January 2017." The benefit of this folder name is two-folder. First, you know that this folder contains your 2009 taxes. Second that the folder can be deleted after January of 2017. Therefore, in a few years when you are looking through your folders to see what you have out there, it will remind you to look for files and folders that are ripe for deleting and you will quickly know which tax folder to send to the trashcan.

Make your life easier, name your folders a good name that make sense and then keep only those items in that folder. With a little work, you will be able to organize your files and folders, be able to find things quickly, and even be able to determine items that you can delete. If the file is not needed for a long length of time, place it in a folder that is labeled for deletion and give it a deletion date. You can always change the date, etc if needed.

I too am trying to take my own advice as I have lived with the attitude of just keep everything indefinitely, since they are only electronic documents and not taking up real space in my file cabinet.