You work with documents, presentations, pictures, and other files all day-and you have a lot of them. Which would mean it takes some time to find the document you need. Even if it's just a couple of minutes here and there,it all adds up.
Digital files are no different than paper files, and when you have a good method of organization, things don.t get lost quite so easily.
Here are a few ways to manage your files and folders better:
Use Documents (Documents In Windows 7 and Vista, My Documents In Windows XP).
- Find files. Windows provides easy acces to the Documents folder (and its subfolders) in many places, including: the Start menu, the task pane in Windows Explorer, and common File Open and File Save dialog boxes, among others.
- Backup files. You should back up files regularly. Using documents and libraries to organize them helps make backup a snap.
- Keep files separate from programs. By separating documents files and program files you reduce the risk of accidentally deleting your documents when you install or upgrade programs.
Adopt consistent methods for file and folder naming
develop a naming scheme for the kinds of files you create most often and then stick to it.
Use common names
to make it easier to search for documents, name your files and folders with easily found names, such as model numbers, project names, or the project lead in the title.
keep names short
Even though Windows lets you use long file names, that does not necessarily mean you should. Long file names are harder to read.
Let your folder structure to some of the naming. For example, rather than creating a file called "bench3 artile to share - powepont tips", you can build a structure like
D: \ bench3 \ Articles \ Powerpoint \ filename.ppt
Separate ongoing and completed work
To keep the documents folder from becoming too unwieldy, use it only for files you're actively working on. As a result, you can reduce the number of files you need to search through and the amount of data you need to back up. Every month or so, move the files you're no longer working on to a different folder or location (e.g. D: Drive of your computer)
Store like with like
Restricting folders to a single document type (or predominantly one type) makes it easier for you to find files. For example, with all your graphics in a single folder, it's easy to use the Filmstrip view and slide show feature in Windows Explorer to find the right picture You can use the arrange by command to sort files by criteria such as author, date modified, and type. These criteria can change based on the file type (documents have different arrange by criteria than photos, for example).
Avoid large folder structures
If you need to put so many subfolders in a folder that you can't see all of them at a glance, consider creating an alphabetic menu.
Use shortcuts and shortcut links instead of multiple copies
If you need to get to the same file from multiple location, don't create copies of the file. Create shortcuts to it instead. To create a shortcut, right-click the file, and then create shortcut. you cn drag the shortcut to other locations.
Use Recent Items
To find a file you just worked on, use Recent Items (called My Recent Documents in Windows XP) in the start menu
