Computer Filing Made Easy

Keeping track of electronic files can be a challenge even for Professional Organizers.  One solution is to let your computer do all the filing work for you.

Your computer reads files names from the left whether they include numbers or letters.  It will automatically file letters by alphabet.  Alpha filing is great when you have a few files so it is a good solution for folder names.

Consider labelling series of files such as minutes, agendas or regular financial reports by number and let your computer keep track of the order in which they ought to be files.  Try starting a monthly series of files with the numbers 1 through 12.  The beginning of your year - regardless of what month it starts - will always be at the top of our file list.  Using dates can accomplish the same thing.  If you have files that make up a series or are date sensitive, start the file name with the date rather than finishing the file name with the date.  Remember to put the yymmdd format so that the computer will file in chronological order.  Here are some examples:

• 1 Financial Statements Jan 2010
• 2 Financial Statements Feb 2010
• 1 Minutes ABC School Council Jan 23, 2010
• 2 Agenda ABC School Council Feb 18, 2010
• 2 Minutes ABC School Council Feb 18, 2010

Let the computer do your filing work for you so you can get on with more important things!

Labelling Digital Photos

Organizing photos on your computer can be a challenge. Many people handle the challenge by using photo management software. If you use such software, here is a tip for labelling your photos.

Computers don't read or count. They recognized yes or no. When labeling your files, the computer will automatically try and sort either alphabetically or numerically depending on the symbols you have chosen (letters or numbers). If you want a file sorted by it's name in a date order use a number to represent the date. Use "0" placeholder for single digit months i.e. Jan to Sept otherwise your computer will put October first in the list.

Date sorting is often the easiest and most intuitive sorting method for photos. Depending on your volume of photos, set up a file for each year and then for each month within the year. Use the above number method to label the months. Now you can sort your photos by whichever label you choose within the months.

Desktop Disco

What's dancing on your computer desktop? Virtual clutter can be just as bad as the stuff kicking around the floor of your office.

Do you habitually leave documents sitting on your desktop so that you can find them easily the next time you want to work with them? It's not a bad idea - until there are so many files or shortcuts on your desktop that you can't find any of them. That's right; just like the top of your physical desk.

Don't panic, the solution can be relatively simple. Set up folders as hot files on your desktop to house the material you are currently working on just like the hot files on your desk. Keep them specific and time limited. When the project is over or completed, purge the folders and move them off your desktop. By then there will be other files that need to be moved into hot files.

Lighten up the Inbox

Like me, many of you are probably inundated with email. After my four days away, I found over 200 of them in my inbox on the family manager email. That’s a pile of time and effort to clear out. Also like me, and almost everyone else I talk to, you are probably challenged to keep your inbox streamlined. As storage issues become less and less of an issue, and digital data gets easier and easier to store, some people choose to never clear out their inbox. That is certainly one management method, but not one I recommend to my clients. The more stuff you have, be it digital or otherwise, the more energy and effort to manage it. Here are some suggestions that I offer my clients on how to lighten up the inbox.

1. Dump the Junk – if you haven’t already, use your rules and alerts function to get rid of as much spam as possible. Set up a rule to delete anything with words you find offensive or prefer not to read. You know the ones I mean. We all get them!
2. Program the Project – if you are managing a project, event or particular subject (I just finished coordinating almost 100 runners on my son’s cross country running team at school) use your rules and alerts to manage the incoming mail. I set up a rule to send all message with X Country in the title or body into a separate inbox. I set up the inbox specifically: X Country Inbox. Everytime I sent a message to the team, I included X Country in the title. And obligingly, every parent used the reply button to respond; with X Country in the title. You could use the same technique for managing email for your children especially if you have several children in different schools.
3. Sort out of Context – this is a strategy that works for almost everything. Sorting items away from their usual context, whether clothes, dishes, paper or email, helps you to see it and sort it in a with a fresh viewpoint. If you usually keep your email, like 99% of us, by date, click on the From header at the top of your inbox and sort it by sender. You’ve finished with all George’s email, don’t need to keep your mom’s, file away the teacher’s etc. etc.
4. File and Filter Faithfully – Many of us keep a filing cabinet of digital folders on our email desktop. These can be very useful if you struggle with the delete key and are positive that that email will surface as useful next year. (Remember, it rarely ever gets read again). Take a few moments a couple of times a year to clear these folders out too. Use the same technique; change the context or set up a new rule to help you out. If your daughter is finished with hockey, run a rule to identify into a separate folder anything with ABC Hockey League. Scan the items for relevance than delete the folder.

It just takes a few minutes to delete as many as hundreds of email. If you review and decide on 10% of your backlog daily, you will go a long way to getting out of the muck.