File Management tips to keep your Electronic Files Organized
Keeping your electronic documents organized is a challenging task in this wired world. Isn't it? Personally, I have hundreds of files and documents store on my PC and sometimes it becomes very hard for me to find them easily.
It consumes a lot of time when you don't put your documents properly in an organized manner and create problems when you have tons of data.
The documents and files are stored locally on a desktop, laptop, or smartphone but the trend is shifting towards cloud storage. Businesses and even normal peoples are using cloud storages to store their data. Cloud storage is the convenient and the best option because you can access your stored data from any device at any time and from any location only you need is an active internet connection.
In the corporate world, many businesses need to share documents between their employees within an office this is basically done by the file server or network-attached storage devices also known as NAS.
This could be a file management nightmare because some of the documents are stored locally and some are on the cloud.
The organization is the key to Electronic file management
Wherever your files or documents are stored it is very important to keep them organized and up to date always. The goal of electronic file management is to ensure that you can find the exact document or file in a very short time without any problem.
It becomes very embarrassing for a business while having a customer call and not being able to find quickly the relevant documents related to that customer like invoice etc. The same situation can be faced by an accountant in a company to showcase accounts at the end of the year.
Proper organization of digital documents is very critical in a shared environment - if in case any of your employees is absent you should be able to access and locate any documents created or managed by that employee.
Below are some file management tips that will help you to keep your files accessible all the time.
1 - Use the default installation folders for program files
Always install your applications to the default locations on your computer. Under windows by convention application program files reside under the - Program files directory. Installing applications on any other location becomes confusing and unnecessary.
2 - Create folders in a logical way
These are the drawers of your computer filing cabinet. So always use plain language to name your folders so that in the future you don't get confused to see the name of the folder that what TPK folder is all about. So try to specify the folders in a plain easy to understand words and language/
3 - Use one place for all the documents
Place your documents all in one place(in a root folder). For the single users in a windows environment the default locations in on my documents folder.
4 - Nest folders within folders
Create other folders within these main folders as your need increases. For instance, a folder called invoices might contain subfolders like 2019, 2020, etc. The folder named a client might include the folder's customer data and the correspondence. The goal is to have every file in a folder rather than a different folder.
5 - Follow the files naming culture
Some OS like Unix etc they don't allow spaces in their files and folder naming so that if your computing environment is mixed. Instead of that use the underscores like(pc_counter.doc etc).
Other characters such as / ? < > : | * " ^ are also prohibited in a file or folder name under windows.
Use a simple and descriptive name for easy identification and retrieval but don't go overbroad - file/path names have length limits that may vary with the operating systems.
Under windows, the maximum full path length for a file is 260 characters. Use common abbreviations where possible such as Mar for March or Corp for Corporation etc.
6 - File as you go
The best time to file a document is when you first create it on your device. So get in the habit of using the Save as dialogue box to file your document as well as name it and putting it in the right place in the first place.
7 - Order your files for your convenience
Sometimes we have some files or folders we frequently have to access, force them to the top of the file list by renaming them with AA at the beginning
8 - Cull your files regularly
Sometimes what is old is obvious as in the example of the folder named "Invoices" above. If it is not then keep your folders uncluttered by clearing out the old files, folders, or documents.
9 - Create Backup your files regularly
You are copying your files into another drive or device always try to keep the backup of your data for any error in case you lost the files.
10 - Be specific
Give electronic files logical, specific names and include the dates in the file names if possible for more precision.
The goal when naming the files on your computer is to be able to tell what the file is about without having to open that file and look.
So if the document is a letter to a specific customer reminding him that the payment is overdue, name it like overdue_20194859 rather than something like the letter, etc.
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