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File organization tips: 9 ideas for managing files and folders



The tips in this article can help you master file management by supplying some tips to help you better manage and organize computer files. After you’ve decided on a strategy for organizing and managing files and folders, we bet you’ll see improved time management skills and increased productivity.

The tips in this articlecan help you learn how to better manage and organize computer files. After you’ve decided on a strategy for organizing and managing files and folders, we bet you’ll see improved time management skills and increased productivity.

Check out the reader tips. We've gotten hundreds of great comments on this article from the content feedback tool at the bottom of the page. And many of you left fileorganization tips and even suggestions for naming files and folders. We updated this article to include some of the tips we received. If you have a file organization tip that works well for you, please share it with us.

Tips to manage your files better
Use these tips to help with organizing your computer files.

1. Use Documents. For many reasons, it's smart to take advantage of theDocuments feature, which is called Documents in Windows 7 and in Windows Vista and is called My Documents in Windows XP. To open Documents in Windows 7 and Vista, click Start, and then click Documents to discover an easy way to store your personal documents.
In Windows 7, the Documents feature is actually a virtual library. By default, the Documents library includes your My Documents or Documentsfolder and the Public Documents folder. You can customize the Documents library (in addition to the Music, Pictures, and Videos libraries that are also included by default) in Windows 7 to group files and folders from any location on your computer—without actually moving them. Or you can build your own libraries to easily organize your files. Learn more about working with libraries.[pic]
Libraries are a flexible way to organize your files in Windows 7 without moving them into one location.

By using Libraries in Windows 7, Documents in Windows Vista, and My Documents in Windows XP, you can more easily:
o Find files. Windows provides easy access to the Documents folder (and its subfolders) in many places, including the Start menu, the task pane in WindowsExplorer, and common File Open and File Save dialog boxes, among other places. Read about the search feature in Windows 7, or read these tips for finding files in Windows Vista and Windows XP.
o Back up files. You should back up files regularly. Documents and libraries can help make backups a snap.
o Keep files separate from programs. By separating document files and program filesyou reduce the risk of accidentally deleting your documents when you install or upgrade programs. To move files or folders from one location to another, right-click the file or folder name in the existing location and then click Cut. Navigate to the new location, and then click Paste. You can also drag a file or folder from one location to another. To display two folder windows simultaneously inWindows 7, hold down the Shift key when you click to open the second window.
2. Adopt consistent methods for file and folder naming. When learning how to manage files and folders, it is important that you develop a naming scheme for the kinds of files you create most often and then stick to it. To change an existing file or folder name, right-click the name in the folder structure. ClickRename, and then type the new name.
3. Keep names short. Even though you can use long file names in Windows, you should not necessarily do so. Long file names can be harder to read.
Let your folder structure do some of the naming. For example, rather than creating a file called Great American Novel Chapter One First Effort, you can build a structure like this:

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