Tips To Keep Your Files Organized

Searching for files takes time. And that time is, for many, money.

Keeping yourself organized means you need to get your digital files in order too. You have a lot of options too. You can use computers to store things; others use an HDD, cloud, or are considering implementing electronic document management.

Before you can have your best-organized self, you need to note down your requirements. If you have a team, then you probably need to consider the ability to work in a collaborative manner.

Why organization matters

Your documents for work will contain sensitive data; it will contain details of the work you have done, the work you need to do, and more. Keeping them well organized will mean that you can find everything quickly.

It isn’t uncommon to misplace files or need more than a moment to find something. That time is valuable and being wasted.

Folder

This is so simple, but so many people simply don’t do it. At the start of each project, create a folder, and name it something that is related to the project. It can be the name of the client you are working for or anything else that makes sense.

Files

Make sure that your files are as well named as your folders. This will mean if you need to use the search function, you will find everything quickly.

Nesting

If you have a long term client, then it is a good idea to nest your folders. Have a single folder with multiple folders within it. You can break that down further by adding years or months to each of the folders within. This will avoid having ophan files or not being able to find something.

Monthly File Sorting

Once a month, take a look at your files and decide if you still need them. You can email clients and let them know that their files will be deleted within the next two weeks. Or you can compress the files and put them on a hard disk drive.

This allows you to use your computer memory for files you need currently.

Business files should most often simply be transferred as the work can be pulled out for new projects and research.

Cloud

There are several cloud services that you should consider. Some have bigger bonuses than the others.

Sync – Sync is quick and lets you share your files on any device quickly. You have the ability to control passwords, expiry dates, upload capacities, and email notifications. Your clients don’t need Sync to be able to access a link that you share either.

The free storage is limited to 5GB.

CloudUp – This is a very easy store and share option. You can upload or any form and then share the files with a simple link.

The free storage has 200GB.

Slack – Slack can double up as a communications tool too. You can work with your team, share files.

The free storage is 5GB.

All of them have upgrade possibilities, with varying costs and abilities.

Your file organization can save you time and money – when it really counts.