Some people have pristine work spaces and others work in more complex surroundings.
My office space and mascot, Curious
There is research, you know, connecting messy desks with creativity.
And…Einstein supposedly quipped, “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we to think of an empty desk?”
However, I have to come clean and admit that sometimes I waste time looking for a document or a file.
Having files on my desktop, in Documents, and stored on both Google Drive and OneDrive is a bit inefficient.
OK!OK! Sometimes I don’t have a clue where a document or image is, AND I know am not alone in this predicament!
So…I thought I would write about ways to organize digital files.
Then I realized that anyone who knew me would fall out of their chair laughing if I tried to pass myself off at Ms. Organization.
My desktop, but in my defense I am in the middle of a project and need easy access to images and files. 😃
Therefore, I consulted experts!
Here are some of their tips that make sense to me.
For much more detailed advice, check the links at the bottom of the post.
5 Tips for Organizing Digital Files that Make Sense to me!
1. Be concise but descriptive in naming your files and folders. Summer in Boothbay2015 will make it easier to find the correct folder of images than just Summer.
2. Design your organizational system and then stick with it. By year or by category or by task, etc. The system needs to reflect what seems the most logical to you.
3. Use sub-folders. My folder for MAMLE has multiple sub-folders that really do help me find things quickly.
4. Organize your images into folders and when possible, name them. I have my images in two different sets of folders or albums. My albums are in my Photos app, but I also keep duplicate images in specially named folders on my desktop related to special projects. The folders on my desktop keep images at my fingertips that I tend to use over and over.
5. Probably the best piece of advice–start now and stay current. Name the images when you download them, save documents immediately with a proper name, and clean up your desktop! As you can see below–I took this piece of advice to heart! My desktop is now manageable—at least for the next 20 minutes.
Links to sources I used.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15677/zen-and-the-art-of-file-and-folder-organization/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/creating-order-chaos-9-great-ideas-managing-computer-files/
http://lifehackerbook.com/ch2/
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Flawless-Filing-System-on-Your-Computer