This guest post is from Beth Flarida, owner of Get It Together.
Reorganizing your computer files can be a large undertaking. It can take you several hours to several weeks depending on the number of files you have to go through.
One of the most difficult aspects of doing this is to keep track of what you've gone through and what you still need to go through
In my experience most people have one of two scenarios going on with their folder systems. The first one is that they have a folder called My Documents on their desktop. Then within My Documents they have all of their folders and other files.
The other thing I see fairly often is when you have several folders right on your desktop for different categories of files. (This is adaptable to Mac users, just insert the names of your folders and use the same process I describe below).
My best recommendation is to make a new folder called something like Files To Go Through. Then from My Documents, drag all of the folders and files that you want to sort through and reorganize into that new folder. These folders and files now represent your project.
If you have several document folders right on your desktop just drag them right off your desktop and into your project folder.
They're not out of sight, they're right there if you need them before you get to go through them all, but they are separated enough so you don't lose track of your progress.
Now you can create the folders you need in My Documents or on your desktop and as you go through the files in the project folder, rename them if necessary, and then drag them into their new home.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Beth Flarida is the owner of Get It Together. She is a Certified Professional Organizer, productivity coach & efficiency expert for businesses since 1991. Visit Beth on the web at http://www.getbeth.com and sign up for her free weekly newsletter, Answers From The Organizer®. Then claim your free 20-minute Problem Solving Strategy Session and jumpstart your organizational goals!
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2 comments:
Thanks - a little different but helpful and common-sensical.
This is a good strategy for people who have not yet organized their files and folders - helping them keep track of what is yet to organize. A related suggestion would be to use the Search function to help find related files, then move all of those files at once into a suitable folder.
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