Seven Tips to Manage Your Files Better

Use these tips to help manage your files.

1. Use My Documents. For many reasons, it’s smart to take advantage of My Documents feature in Microsoft Windows. To open My Documents in Windows, click Start, and then click My Documents. My Documents provides an easy way for you to store your personal documents. By using My Documents, you will be better able to:

2. Find files. Windows provides easy access to the My Documents folder (and its subfolders) in many places: through the Start menu, the task pane in Windows Explorer, common File Open and File Save dialog boxes, and other places. Note Windows Explorer displays the structure of files and folders on your computer. To open Windows Explorer, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, and then click Windows Explorer.

3. Back up files. Keeping all your files in one place is an essential first step in developing a practical backup strategy. Learn how to backup your files and folders. Keep files separate from programs. By separating document files and program files you reduce the risk of accidentally deleting your documents when you install or upgrade programs.

4. Adopt consistent methods for file and folder naming. Develop a naming scheme for the kinds of files you create most often and then stick to it.

5. Keep names short. Even though Windows allows you to use long file names, it does not necessarily mean you should. Long names produce cluttered displays. Brevity promotes clarity.

Let your folders do some of the naming. For example, rather than create a file called Great American Novel Chapter One First Effort.doc.

6. Avoid big folder structures. If you need to put so many subfolders in a folder that you can’t see all of them at a glance, consider creating an alphabetic menu. An example is shown in Figure 2.

7. Use shortcuts and shortcut links instead of multiple copies. If you need to get to the same file from manifold locations, don’t create copies of the file. Create shortcuts to it instead. To create a shortcut, right-click on the file and click Create Shortcut. You can drop-and-drag the shortcut to other locations.

8. Separate ongoing and completed work. To keep the My Documents folder from becoming too unwieldy, use it only for files you’re working on. This reduces the number of files you need to search through in addition toward the amount of data you need to back up. Every month or so, move the files you’re no longer working on in the direction of a different folder or location—if possible not in My Documents. You can archive them on a folder on your desktop (you could even label it Archives) or move them to a backup tape or recordable CD. Your My Documents folder, which you should back up frequently, remains relatively small.

9. Store like with like. Restricting folders to a single document type (or predominantly one type) allows you to take advantage of folder templates in Windows Explorer. This makes it easier for you to find files. For instance, with all your graphics in a single folder, it’s easy to use the Filmstrip view and slide show feature in Windows Explorer to find the right picture for your newsletter.