Is Your Electronic Information Out of Control?

Searching your computer for a proposal you wrote three months ago? Or maybe you are looking for an email that you just know you sent to a client in June. If your email and computer files aren’t organized, you could be losing a lot of precious time searching for your electronic information.

Think of electronic files just the same as ordinary paper files in a file cabinet. A computer file system can be set up in the same way as paper files are set up. Create folders and subfolders for the files and be consistent in your naming scheme.

When saving documents be sure to click “Save As” and then navigate your way to the appropriate folder for that document. This will keep the document from going to that mysterious place that computers sometimes send our documents when we don’t specify exactly where we want them saved.

Put thought into naming your files and be descriptive. Take advantage of the 255 character limit on file names. Use descriptive words that will ensure you know what the file contains. Think about the different ways that you might think of the file the same as you would for physical files. If you are saving a budget form, when you are looking for it again, what will you look for?

Think of all of the possibilities and name your file accordingly. Taking this much time to think about it on the front end will also help to trigger your memory when looking for the file later.

If you don’t have time to create folders and move files around, your computer’s search tool can help. Search features in newer versions of Windows are much more efficient than they have been in the past. Tools like Google Desktop can also make finding documents on your computer faster and easier.

Happy Organizing!