Are your digital files organized? Keeping a virtual office means that you can keep everything electronically. That’s great! But, you must be able to organize electronically otherwise you’ll lose things. Losing things can be scary and panic will set in quickly.
Things can get out of control fast! You need to have a strategy in place to keep order.
Here are 3 Tips on how I strategize keeping my digital files organized:
1. Divide your files into major categories.
I divide my folders into major subject area; like clients, master biz files, financial, and blog.
2. Create subfolders to further divide things up.
Of course, files can pile up, and subfolders will be necessary. For example, in my clients folder, I have a folder for each client. Under each client’s folder, I further divide files by category such as social media, research, client setup, and a share folder where we collaborate on projects.
3. Review your file system on a regular basis.
You’ll often find areas where files are getting out of control. It doesn’t take long. How often you should do a review depends on how quickly you’re adding files. I try to take some time (up to a half hour) on a monthly basis just to look around and determine if any reorganizing is necessary.
Bonus Tip – Backup! Backup! Backup!
This isn’t an organizing tip, but this will help make sure that panic doesn’t take over. Make sure you backup your files; on an external hard drive, flash drive, or in the cloud. I use Backblaze and it works in the background so I don’t have to worry about it at all. I’ve had to recover a few files and the system was simple use. It’s inexpensive, easy to setup, and will give you peace of mind.
Keeping your digital files organized will help you find things faster and increase your productivity – not to mention you’ll have a lot less stress because nothing will get lost. Do you have any tips or tricks to keeping your digital files organized?
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