How to keep your data tidy
O.K.M. Series - Organization 3
Think of all the time we spend interacting with digital files.
Opening, viewing, editing, saving, moving, sending files are actions that we execute very frequently. Although individually small, the cumulative time invested in those may add up and become quite significant.
Moreover, the mental effort it takes to remember where to find files, or to search for one inside a very disorganized folder ends up draining your energy and willpower.
Hence, it makes sense to approach these interactions with an economy of scale logic. One way to reduce the time and effort spent in interacting with files is to organize them in an efficiently structured file system.
In this post, we will see:
How should you segment your data?
How should you organize your directories?
What is your desktop for?
Although there exists file management software that can solve these issues in part, we will mostly focus on very simple good practices and solutions at personal scale, that require as little specific install as possible.
How to segment your data?
All the files that you own should fall into one of the two following categories: current work files versus archived data.
Current work files
Those are files that you are likely to interact with within a short-term period (the definition of short-term may vary depending on your activity).
Those files should remain very easily accessible, and changes made to them should be saved and backed up online in real time, so that you do not lose your work in case of any technical incident on your computer.
Unless high confidentiality is a critical concern, and unless you manipulate very heavy files (individually heavier than 100Mb) on a daily basis, standard personal cloud solutions (such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox…) are good options.
Indeed, using the desktop clients provided with those solutions even allows to work on the files conveniently, as they will seamlessly appear as part of your computer’s directory (as shown below).
Additionally, applications corresponding to those cloud solutions allow you to access your files directly from your smartphone, which can be helpful if you are usually quite mobile.
Current work files should be regularly reviewed, and those that you no longer need to access frequently should move to your archived data, in order to improve visibility.
Archived data
Archived data should also be backed up regularly, but does not require speed of access or live synchronization, since you less often need to interact with it.
Depending on how heavy your archived data is, cloud solutions may remain appropriate. If not (if it is too big and expensive to store on a cloud), physical hard drives still work. Then however, you should always ensure that your saved data is duplicated on two separate drives, stored in distinct physical locations, to prevent losses in case of any technical failure or disastrous event.
In any case, archived data should be separated from current work files, so that it does not get in the way every time you interact with the latter.
How to organize your directories?
In a generic, raw and adaptable first approach, we can say the following: at the root of your current work files folder (or archived data folder), and recursively in every one of its sub-folders, the following type of structure should be in place:
The naming convention “XX - Name” allows you to sort folders in an order that is meaningful to you, rather than alphabetically (as it is by default).
Category folders
Category folders contain your work files organized by topics, so that you can retrieve them easily. Depending on your activity, some thought must be put in how to segment your categories in a way that feels the intuitive and natural.
Within each Category folder, you may recursively iterate the same structure organization - for as many levels as you need.
Support folder
The support folder (which you may rename differently if you prefer) contains data that is transverse to this level of your work directory.
The support folder should be named starting with either “00 -” or “99 -” so that it always appears on top or at the bottom of the directory, hence making it easy to find.
If the support folder becomes too crowded at some point, you may then want to reconsider your category segmentation.
Personal example
I personally apply the following structure at the root of my current work file folder.
“00_Personal documentation” is my support folder, it contains files that I may need in any circumstance, such as official documents or photos, certificates, templates, etc.. Being able to quickly access and manipulate those items, even from my phone, is typically very helpful.
The following folders are my categories, which I choose to segment by project. For instance: my current job (“01_WORK”), or even the O.K.M. Series, which is one of my many “personal projects”.
How to use your desktop?
The desktop should have only two uses: first as a shortcut list, second as a short-term buffer for new files that you have not moved to your current work files’ directory yet.
Shortcut list
Shortcuts for files and folders that you currently interact with on a frequent basis should be created and placed on the desktop.
This allows you to quickly access those items, even if they are stored very deep in your current work files directory, under several levels of folders and sub-folders.
(Tip: create your shortcuts after organizing your folders, else their links will become obsolete as you move the target files).
Short-term buffer
It is perfectly normal and reasonable to use your desktop as a buffer where to quick-save new files that you just downloaded or created, and which you have no time to sort immediately.
In fact, using your desktop as a buffer forces you to conduct regular reviews, as the accumulation of unsorted files acts as a clear visual indicator and reminder. Reviewing your desktop should then include:
- Sorting your buffer of unsorted files and moving them to your directories,
- Creating new relevant shortcuts,
- Removing shortcuts that are not useful anymore.
Visual presentation
Given the two uses described above, the desktop should be organized by designating dedicated areas for buffered files and for shortcuts, which may also be split into sub-categories (cf. example below).
You could even create your own desktop wallpaper with graphically designated areas to position your icons if you wish so (in such case, please feel free to share your designs in the comments section of this article!) In all cases, your desktop should be kept simple and good looking.
Let’s sum up before closing: your digital files should be organized in a meaningful hierarchy, with current work files segregated from archived data.
Your desktop should be readable, by only presenting shortcuts to content or applications that you currently work on, and a buffer for files that you do not have time to classify immediately.
Personal note: maybe one reason why those simple principles seem to work well is that they structure your digital files the same way the human brain is structured regarding memory, with the following analogies:
- Archived data as long term memory,
- Current work files as short term memory,
- File buffer on your desktop as sensory memory,
- Folder organization as categorical thought, and
- Shortcuts as brain connections, reflexes and automatic habits.
Thank you for reading! I welcome your feedback, so please feel free to react, comment, like and recommend the article if you enjoyed it. Take care!
Disclaimer: This article belongs to the O.K.M. Series (Medium article series dedicated to personal Organization - Knowledge - Motivation). To learn more, please follow this link to the series’ index:
