Folders and Files Organization ... Best Practices

Where is that file??? Damn! 
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We've all been in that situation before. When you need a certain file badly, and you can't remember where you saved it. You start opening several folders with no avail. Try searching the file name.. Opps... You even forgot the exact name of that file. Damn! 

Why did that problem occur?

The root of the problem

It occurred simply because you didn't put the file in its proper folder. And in most cases, you didn't have that proper folder.

The solution is easy then:  create the proper folder for that file.

Easy, huh... But in real life, you sometimes can't decide which folder or subfolder should be the suitable one.

You need to have a good, solid folders structure then.

How to Design the Best Folders Structure

"The best folders structure is the one that helps you find what you are looking for in a few clicks, and never fails you."

And the best way to create such a structure is to follow your personal line of classification. That is the way your mind is used to classify things.  

We all differ in the way we classify everything in our lives, from the persons we deal with, to the books we read or even the food each of us prefers.This difference is a natural human phenomenon. It reflects the variety of our personalities.

So when deciding on your folders structure, just follow your own line of classification and your own needs.

You'll find lots of ideas out there about the best way to design your folders structure. Each of them might be great for the approach it took. But there is no universal "one fit all" folders structure.

Let me clarify this point with an example:

Examples of Best Folders Structure

Let's say you want to save a novel of Tolstoy, Anna Karenina for example, the following structures are all "Best Structure", but each is Best for a specific kind of person:

D:/Ebooks/Literature/Tolstoy/Anna Karenina.epub (General reader of literature)
D:/Ebooks/Literature/Russian/Tolstoy/Anna Karenina.epub (Advanced reader of literature)
D:/Ebooks/Literature/ Literary works/Russian/19th Century/Tolstoy/Anna Karenina.epub (Student of literature)

Got the idea? the first one, the general reader would look for the works by author only, and that's it.
A more sophisticated one, might prefer to have a higher level of classification, according to language or culture; while a student of literature would need more detailed classification because that's how he treats his subjects and studies.

Tips for folder structuring and naming

1. Main classification = Parent folder

Main classification is something at the level of "Movies", "Ebooks", "Work" etc. These must come at the parent level. ex. D:/Movies, D:/Ebooks, D:/Work etc.

2. Folder naming: Short and Expressive

Folder names must be expressive of their content, but without being too long or too short. Fo example:  D:/Movies/Comedy  

But NOT D:/Movies/com (too short. Might confuse you with, for instance, commercials if u like to save funny ones in that category).

And NOT D:/Movies/Comedy movies (why add an extra word? If the subfolder Comedy is under the parent folder Movies, it sure means comedy movies).

3. Using dates in folders/subfolders/files names

Sometimes you'ld want to include a date in a file or subfolder name, to make it easier for you to find. Like for example your assignment files at school or college, or small tasks you receive from your boss or client if you are a freelancer. If you want the files to be automatically sorted by date, start the name with the date. Ex. 2017-05-12 Math assignment.docx. 

And always use this formula for the date: YYYY-MM-DD 

Why this formula specifically? Because the computer treats the file or folder name as letters and digits, never as dates. So to preserve the correct chronology go from the general to the more specific, Year, then Month, then Day, always respecting the leading zeros (September is month 09 not 9).

4. Using Capital and Small letters in folders/subfolders/files names

It's always a good practice (the best in my opinion) to Capitalize the first letter of every word in file and folders names, with spaces between the words. It's also faster to read and catch the meaning of words (most books titles use this standard). Using all capital letters makes it harder to read, the same goes for all small letters too.

Final word about using or not using the default folders (Documents, Downloads, Pictures etc.)

Personally, I prefer saving all your data files in D:/  with appropriate folders and subfolders, and never in the default Documents, Downloads, Pictures libraries on the C:/ drive. I'll discuss the reason behind this choice in a coming article.

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