Your hard drive is the equivalent of a filing cabinet. In years past, all your important files might have fit into a single accordion file. As life changes and you add more information to your computer, you may want to expand your hard drive’s storage capacity. However, doing so can be expensive, so a better option is to remove old files. Here are three ways to do this:
File organization system is a mess
A file organization system can be extremely frustrating. If you have no idea where to find a certain document, you’ll likely have a system that is out of control. You’ll also likely have documents with duplicate information, or no system at all. Here are some ways to improve your system. Follow these simple tips and you’ll be well on your way to having a productive and organized office. Once you’ve improved your file organization system, you’ll find that it’s as easy as 1-2-3.
Try to group files by type, project, or client. Separating files by program isn’t the best approach. If you use the same program for different tasks, you’ll end up with more problems than you solved. Instead, group files by purpose. For example, you might group files according to their file types, but they could all be Word Documents. This method isn’t optimal, because duplicate files almost never solve the problem.
Organizing files by project name
Whether you use multiple hard drives for a variety of tasks, it can be helpful to organize files by project name to make finding them easier. File names should start with the name of the project or department in which they’re stored. You can also include a keyword or two in the name. However, avoid using spaces and special characters in the file names, because this will result in errors. Also, don’t forget to put the original source of the file in the file name.
If you use a computer for business purposes, you may find that storing documents by project name makes your work more accessible. For example, you can create folders for each year of your business, and separate them into subfolders. If you are a teacher, you might use folders for each semester or year, and so on. Depending on your work habits and your personal preferences, you can even organize files by date.
Organizing files by application
If you have lots of files that you need to find quickly, organizing them by application is a good way to stay on top of them. There are several file-organizing methods that you can use. You can choose a system based on the type of file, date or client, or any combination of the three. Choose a method that makes sense for you and accomplish your goal and organize hard drive.
Another effective way to organize computer files is to group them according to the application they were created in. For example, if you are an artist, you can organize your photos in a separate folder. For a student, you can organize documents by the application they were created in. When organizing files by application, you must adhere to a standard capitalization scheme, as many operating systems will not allow special characters. You can use the “My Computer” function to search for files and edit their names and locations. You can also use the “Windows Explorer” function to delete files. Other methods of organizing computer files include grouping them by application. For example, you can sort your documents by application, and separate those into folders with corresponding names.
