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Chapter 7: Folders and Files structure Fotini Grigoriadou

Chapter 7: Folders and Files structure

Introduction

Organizing files on your computer is just like organizing anything else. Say you want to organize your clothes. You might sort each type of clothes into separate stacks. Then you might pair the socks or group all the shirts by color.

Or, you could throw everything into one drawer and hope you can find the right pair of socks when you need it. And that's how we typically treat our files: we save files randomly to our Desktop and Documents folders, then waste time searching for files every day.

Folder structures can help, just like drawers and dividers can keep your clothes organized. A folder structure is the way folders are organized on your computer. As folders are added over time, you can either keep them at the same level—like Folders 1, 2, and 3 in the chart below—or nest them within each other for a hierarchy—like Subfolders 1B and 1B-1 below. Nested folders generally make it easier to find specific files later, because you don’t have to sift through all your files at once. In this chapter we are going to present 4 effective structures of how we can organize our files into folders with Mac OS X Mavericks or newer.

Picture a file cabinet, with three drawers, and several folders in each one—that's how this folder structure would look in real life. Here’s how that same folder structure would look on a computer if you view your files and folders in List mode:

Folders and subfolders like these can keep your files organized in a logical way. It’s easy to get into a trap of creating a subfolder for everything. If you have 15 subfolders under every folder, though, you might want to reconsider your strategy. At this point, subfolders stop being helpful and start causing workflow problems.

3 Effective Folder Structures to Organize Files

Figure out your top-level folder

The first step to building an effective folder structure is figuring out your top-level folder. Do you want to simply make a new folder for every new project? Or perhaps you could organize by time, with folders and subfolders for each year and month? Maybe you work on a couple different types of projects, and could organize based on those types (e.g., copywriters might work on advertisements, blogs, emails, and landing pages, while graphic designers may divide tasks by medium, like print or digital)?

Once you’ve worked out your top-level folder, it’s time to organize your subfolders. Here are some strategies:

1. "Working," "final," and "archive" subfolders

For this example, let’s assume the top-level folders have already been organized by year then project type. You can see from the screenshot that we’re looking at the year 2016, and the main projects are advertisements, blog posts, customer emails, and landing pages. Those are the four categories in which you’ll put your different projects or tasks.

Four categories

Figure 1: File folders organized by project

Inside the "advertisements" folder, I have three tasks listed. Here’s where I put Edward Smith’s tips to use. For each task, I used the folder name to describe the due date (mmyy), type of project (pay per click or PPC, in this case), and which product the task is focused on. These folder names act as both keyword tags and add an extra level of organization. If you sort the folders by name, they’ll automatically be ordered by date due then project type. If you search by product name or ad type, your folders should pop up easily.

Figure 2: Folders organized by dates

Another three tasks inside folder “advertisements” foldet“advertisements” folder

Inside the "0116 PPC product x" folder is where you’ll find all the working, final, and archive files that have to do with January 2016 pay per click ads focused on product X.

Figure 3: Working, final, and archive folders

Here’s how the working/final/archive system should work:

· Working: Anything you’re currently working on. In this example, this folder might contain any ad copy, banner designs, or targeting information for the January PPC campaign that hasn’t yet been finalized. This is also a good place to keep native or source files.

· Final: Anything ready for public consumption. Don’t put files into the final folder until they’ve been completely approved and no more changes will be made to them. In this example, the final folder would only contain ads ready to be posted live.

· Archive: Anything that doesn’t fit into your working or final folder. Put your notes, brainstorms, research, and other miscellaneous info in here. Any false starts can be dropped in here too if you change direction mid-project. A false start, in this case, might be an ad concept you started working on but later got scrapped completely. Don’t clutter up your working folders with files that will never be considered "final;" throw them in the archive instead.

This folder structure is particularly useful if you’re working on a project with multiple pieces. In this example, you’d most likely be creating more than one PPC ad at once. This system also works well for teams working on a project where several people are working on the same deliverable. The person who writes and designs the ads, in this instance, likely won't also post the ads. If that’s the case, the person posting the ad will know when files are ready to go live by checking the final folder. They won’t have to ask the ad creator whether they’re ready or not, saving everyone time.

Putting it all together, here’s what you’re full structure should look like:

Figure 4: Finished file folder structure

2. "To review" and "from review" subfolders

This strategy starts with the same top-level folders as the example above, but instead focuses on keeping all the versions of a file intact. For example, in the "blog posts" folder, I saved three different posts. These posts are arranged by publish date (mmyy) and named by post topic, rather than by blog post title since titles often change.

Three posts inside “blog posts” folder

Figure 5: blog post organization in folders

Within the "0216 topic a" folder, the "to review/from review" folder structure comes into play. This structure works really well with files that will be going through many rounds of edits. I used this folder structure while working in publishing to keep track of all the rounds of editing, typesetting, and proofing that goes into a finished book.

Figure 6: Folders for version of files

I keep track of each draft of the blog post by saving it to either a "to review" or "from review" folder, meaning that the draft was last edited by me ("to review") or by my editor ("from review"). This helps eliminate confusion around the draft number (I edited the blog post three times, but my editor edited twice). I’ve also named every file in this folder with "v1" or "v2" according to version.

Figure 7: Versioned files in folder

Here’s how this structure works:

· 01 - draft (to review): By default, your first draft won’t have been reviewed by anyone yet. Whatever you’re working on (blog post, graphic design project, documentation, etc.), put your first draft in this folder. Name your file with a v1 at the end, so anyone who comes across the file later will be able to tell it’s a first draft. When you’re ready, send that draft to whoever has to review it.

· 02 - first edit (from review): When your editors send their feedback on that draft, put it in this folder. Keep the file name the same, but add the initials of the editor onto the end. In this example, I’m using my own initials: topic-a-blog-text-v1-CNB means that CNB has edited version 1 of this draft. Don’t do anything else with the file; leave it as is, with every edit intact. By doing this, you’ll always have a record of what edits were requested, by whom, and you’ll be able to cross reference to make sure every edit was incorporated into the second draft.

· 03 - second draft (to review): Copy and paste the file from the "02 - first edit (from review)" folder into this folder. Change the file name to include v2 on the end and remove the initials. This will become your second draft. Open the file, make your edits, and send your file back out for review.

· 04 - second edit (from review): This folder functions the same way as the "02 - first edit (from review)" folder. Because the number of reviews and drafts your file goes through can vary, repeat this folder structure as many times as necessary.

· 05 - final version (sent to publish): When edits are complete, put your final draft here. Looking back on your folders later, this will help quickly find the final version of the file.

· z - archive: You can put all the files that didn’t fit into the above subfolders here.

3. Tagging

Instead of—or in addition to—folder structures, try tagging files. The benefit of tagging is the ability to add multiple tags to a file, such as tagging an invoice for Client XYZ with an "invoice" tag and a "Client XYZ" tag. Then you can see all invoices together or all files related to "Client XYZ" together, depending on your query.

Academic and researcher William Gunn points out the convenience of tagging on the  Mendeley blog : "With tags, you don’t have to pick an organization scheme up front." Answering questions such as "Will year go underneath or on top of department?" become unnecessary because you can add both "year" and "department" tags to the file, and still easily find it. For example, if you’re working on a report for the logistics department that covers all orders made in May 2015. You could store the report within a folder structure like this:

Include all the months for 2015 inside “2015” folder that belongs to “Logistics” folder

Figure 8: Folder structure

Or you could simply add "department," "report type," and "date" tags to the file and avoid folders altogether, like this:

Add tags in Finder

Figure 9: Tags in Finder

So when you want to find this file again, you can search for it by tags:

Search for tag in folder

Figure 10: Searched tags

The key to tagging is to tag every new file immediately and consistently. Without a folder structure to fall back on, tags are all that’s keeping your files from getting lost in chaos.

Conclusion

If your files and folders are already disorganized—it will take forever to clean up. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your new file structure. So start out with this month's files, for example. Then save every new file according to that folder structure.

Consider archiving all old files by moving them into an "Old Files" or "Archive" folder. Anything you can’t see yourself needing again, throw it in there. When you have time, you can go through this "Archive" folder and store files using the same folder structure you've already started using for new files.

References

Beck, C. (2016, March 01). Find Files Faster: How to Organize Files and Folders. Retrieved from https://zapier.com/blog/organize-files-folders/

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