How to organize your digital files — Part 2: Organizing files and folders

We have found that many people waste a lot of time trying to find files. Every so often, they try to organize their files, but give up before completing the cleanup. The next time they try, they have to start from the beginning because they cannot remember how they were doing it last time.

Sound familiar?

In part 1 I covered:

• Why you should aggregate your files
• How to aggregate them

Here I’ll go into:

• How best to organize your files and folders
• Optimizing files names for searching and browsing

General advice

If you have tens of thousands of files, it is unlikely that you will be able to re-organize them in a few sessions. Be realistic about what can be accomplished.

Come up with a new system (covered later in the article) and start using it for new files. As you start to enjoy the benefits of your new folder structure, you will naturally be motivated to spend some time every week cleaning up older files (start with the most recent ones, as they are the ones you are most likely going to want to access).

As you start going through files, decide if you really need them. For example, do you really need those out of focus photos? Do you really need old drafts of a document that you will probably never open again? It is best to delete these files immediately, but if in doubt, archive them to a junk folder or external drive just in case they are needed in future.

Setting up folders

Although it may not be feasible to rename all your old files, it is often possible to create a new folder structure and to use it for new files as well as for relocating old files.

There are many ways to organize your content to make it easier to find and browse. The best way is the way that fits how you work. That said, a structure like the one below works for many people:

Start with the biggest categories (Work and Personal in the example above) and keep breaking them down by the next biggest categories, such as Travel, Finances and Hobbies. The folder names are important. If well-chosen, you can search for them instead of drilling down to find them. Try to have as few sub-folders as possible in each folder. Later on this makes it easier to scan the options available when drilling down the folder structure.

Keep current related files in folders that can be easily archived. In the example above, the 2023-Japan travel folder can be moved to Past travel following the trip. Similarly, the Project 3 folder in Work in progress can easily be moved to Completed projects once the project is completed.

Naming files for effective search and browsing

The suggestions below are intended to be used for new files. If you have accumulated thousands of files over the years, it is not likely that you will have the patience to rename all of them.

When saving a file for the first time, be mindful of the file name and where you put it. It is tempting to use the name offered by an application, such as Book1.xlsx, and to save it on your desktop. It is convenient, but you are delaying the inevitable and, in the meantime, adding to the mess. Instead, take the time to put the file where it belongs and name it using the advice below:

• Keep the name short so it is easy to read, such as Project_3_Final_Report.docx.
• In the future, your files may need to be stored in places that do not allow special characters to be used in files names, such as / \ : * ? “ < >. For this reason, and for greater legibility, it is advisable to stick to letters A-Z and numerical digits 0–9.
• Prefix the file name with the date in YYYYMMDD format, such as 20210419_Car_Repair_Invoice.pdf, so that you can sort or search files by date. For files that are part of a series, you may find it more useful to append the date, as in:

Project_3_Weekly_Status_Report_20211022.pptx
Project_3_Weekly_Status_Report_20211015.pptx
Project_3_Weekly_Status_Report_20211008.pptx

• If you are working on a document and need to keep older versions, append the version number. For example, Project_3_Final_Report_V1.docx and Project_3_Final_Report_V2.docx. As soon as the document is finalized, get rid of the older versions so that they do not clutter your file system.
• If you are collaborating with others on a document, ask them to preserve your version number when they send it back with their comments, so that it is easy to understand which file their feedback applies to. For example, you may send them Project_3_Final_Report_V1.docx. They should return a file with the name Project_3_Final_Report_V1.1.docx. When you incorporate their feedback, you should create the next version Project_3_Final_Report_V2.docx and so on.

I hope this article provided you with some helpful suggestions. Everyone’s files and style of working are different, so there is no “one size fits all” solution. Adapt some of the suggestions here to your situation, come up with a few of your own, and you’ll be in control of your digital files in no time. And if you have your own tips and tricks, please respond to this story so that others and I can benefit from them!