The SIMPLEST Way to Organize Your Files and Folders

[@wasimulti-media6421]

Great & Clear Explanation, ❤ I believe organizing things is one of the best skill in life👌

[@LeaDavid]

Couldn't agree more! 💯 Thanks for your feedback :)

[@Stratelier]

One _huge_ reason the standard "date created" attribute is unreliable is because when you start copying files across folders or drives (e.g. as part of a backup strategy) the "Date Created" field typically records when _that copy_ of the file was created, irrespective of the original file or its actual contents.

[@LeaDavid]

Couldn't agree more! Thanks for adding!

[@philippruizlozano]

I'm planning on selling my desktop PC and getting a powerful laptop, and I've been organizing my files in a specific way since I was 13 years old (I'm 30 now). I started naming a folder HOMEWORK in my dad's laptop, haha, and since then my method has been very arbitrary against default Windows folders. Sometimes you can't choose to install something outside "ProgramFiles" and then the things start getting funky. Thank you so much for this video.

[@kapinism]

I am an administration staff. I adjust my section very messy NAS folders. It took ±3 years to finish and running well. A year ago, they moved me to other section which has much more messy than the first one. I dont know how many years to clean up this section folders 😢 I did your date-based & name-based arrangement and it suits me very well. It works until now. Your video will be very inspiring for many staff out there.

[@LeaDavid]

Oh thank you so much for your kind words and sharing your feedback! All the best, Lea

[@giovannesouza6870]

Thanks for your input! Through the years, I've always searched about digital file organization. It's kinda hard when you work with different projects and a lot of file formats and versions of the same project. For now, I'm using like this: Desktop > Projects > Client Name. Inside the client name, there are many projects folders that I name like this: 2024.04 - Project Name. Inside the project name folder, there's this structure: 00_Documents 01_References 02_Project_Files 03_3D_Model 04_Images 05_Textures 06_Assets In inside every folder, there are files in .pdf, .dwg, .max, .obj, .jpeg, .png, .tiff, .rvt, .3ds... and the list goes on. That's the best way I find to organize everything, it's the simplest way that I've found. I didn't decided yet if I work if - and _ on files, with everything with upper, lower or mixed case. Didn't decided how do I do with files that I can't change the name to organize. Because if I change the name, will broke the file path.

[@haze7754]

I'm sure this works for you, but I wouldn't say it's the simplest it could be. It doesn't flow in a logical progression. For instance, Desktop > Projects > Project Name ... or ... Desktop > Clients > Client Name. If I open a folder named "Projects", I would expect to see the names of projects inside, not clients. Also, in your lowest level, you have a folder named 02_Project_Files but that's vague and confusing because technically they're all project files because I got here through a folder named "Projects" and everything that's not a folder is some type of file. Perhaps rename that folder something more specific or merge its contents into the other folders and eliminate it for simplicity's sake. Of course, do whatever works for you but keep these strategies in mind if you're building a structure for a team.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks, Giovanni, for sharing! Looks like a solid structure to me - congrats :)

[@frankmeier3042]

I always argue to leave away all those dashes - underscores _ or periods . and i feel allergic against leading numbers at folder names like 01_Doc 02_Proj etc. while an alphabetic order and a single space between the words do their job (I think humans learn this in school 1st grade) the only annoyance … microsoft still struggles when sending a link to a servers path with spaces. Very late I came across the Ctrl + K shortcut for creating Hyperlinks after MS removed option. CamelCasing is nice but rather for programming not in (english) file names.

[@DBX277]

Agree -- the music confuses the effectiveness of communication to me too! It would be better for me to not having dueling audio signals coming at me.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback! I will adjust this in future videos.

[@Robert19637]

Hi Lea. Thanks for the many nice tips and tricks. There is one thing I wonder about and if you know anything about. I like to see the status of my files in the directories and have chosen to have the archive attribute in front of the file name that is in the directory. The problem is that I have to program it into the weather directory I have under the directory my documents. Do you have a suggestion for how this could be made easier? With best regards Robert.

[@reefhound9902]

The single hardest part of categorizing documents is category overlap. Few documents seem to fall exclusively under one category. Does a loan document to pay the college tuition of my daughter fall under Finance, Education, or Family?

[@preppertuck]

Finance because it is not a document with educational material. It's a document pertaining to your finances. All receipts go in your finaces folder. A receipt for tooth paste goes in finces folder because it is a financial document. Does that make sense?

[@suchdevassociates]

Feels good to know that I've adopted all of this (and some more) at my practice, since 1995. Clients are zapped when i (and my team) are able to hand them the historical data in the blink of an eye.

[@LeaDavid]

Love it! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@Bretto73]

Love your channel Lea! So glad I found it. Thank you for the great content and the effort you put into each tutorial. Appreciate it.

[@mvg2x34]

One of the issues is despite having a low (3filesdeep) depth folder structure and using a naming structure that is descriptive, I’ve run up against the character limits. So, I am back to the drawing board and saving important files to the desktop.

[@LeaDavid]

Try to keep names short, simple and try to avoid using whole sentences but rather use keywords.

[@xemtuvi-nhiettinh-az]

The question keeping in my head over years is why there are more people prefer to using - instead of space

[@LeaDavid]

Good one. I believe it's just a matter of preference. - and space offer the same (dis-)advantages. Some people say it looks more organized, some prefer space. You do you :)

[@reefhound9902]

They may be old enough to remember when filenames could not contain spaces. And if you ever have to type the filename at a command line or in a script you'll need quotes around it if it has spaces.

[@charudattakulkarni9799]

It's great to see your video about file management. I have been using date-based file convention for the last 17 years. So can reproduce any document in a while. Your tips are always useful. Thank you so much.

[@LeaDavid]

That sounds great! Thanks for your feedback 👍

[@j.scottanderson4417]

I use folders more than I like because Apple has not given us a robust tagging system. Thank, Apple's Spotlight search is strong enough to overcome a lot of that. Even with Spotlight, I would like to have a real tagging system integrated into the Finder. Back to folders…the biggest problem I have with folders is that they do not handle documents that are related but cross may topics. For example, I may have an invoice with an option for payment on terms over time for a health issue like a big surgery. Does this document go into the Health folder? A Finance folder? An Insurance folder? Maybe a Legal folder because it is part of a personal injury suit? Tagging the document allows me to find this document for any of these issues.

[@The_paradox_of_Youth]

I charged using aliases a lot when it comes to Mac and lieu of tags. They don't take up space and appear as if you have a copy of the file, but it's a link that opens behind the scenes so you could have that same file in all of those folders that you mentioned and then it's literally only taking up space in one folder and the rest of them are just links that open instantly as if the file is there but takes you to wherever the actual file is hosted in your hard drive

[@j.scottanderson4417]

@@The_paradox_of_Youth Alias usage is fine, but I like describing my objects in a meaningful way. I can't imagine how unmanageable my system would get with my thousands and thousands of files using the alias approach.

[@Rio-by1eh]

I remember in the old days using “smart folders scripts” been a 24 year , so it’s a while now …Apple scripts

[@Rio-by1eh]

I fell in love with APPLE’s FILEMAKER - an AMAZING TOOL FOR KEEPING THINGS SUPERBLY UNCHAOTIC… AS I WAS LEARNING FILEMEAKER IN 2021 , THE THING THAT BLEW ME AWAY WAS ----- the CONCEPT OF “RELATIONAL DATABASE” that idea was an EYE OPENER ..

[@j.scottanderson4417]

@@Rio-by1eh I used to live and die by Filemaker. Today it is out of reach for many small businesses because of the cost. I can't speak for it today, but in its day it was a fantastic productivity tool. It will be interesting to see how pre-structured data will work with the coming AI-powered tools that will build (potentially remember) relationships on the fly. Yes, pre-structured is faster and is why traditional relational databases may be an important part of the future, but I'm not so sure. Hardware continues to get faster so that task may no longer be needed.

[@jerry5149]

You can make your life easier by looking into the concepts of tags and keywords. Using tags and keywords greatly reduces the need for more descriptive file names. Also, there are concepts such as flags, but that's another story.

[@LeaDavid]

Fully agree. That's why I mention the use of tags and keywords as well in the video :)

[@sevketevli6927]

Thank you very much for explaining the most straightforward, simple, and truly effective method I have seen in a long time (I say this with at least 10 months of experience).

[@LeaDavid]

Thank you! Much appreciated and all the best, Lea

[@bernardobenvegnupasinatto7090]

So amazing, make it simple, and avoid stress when you need to find some documents in the future....Well done!! I loved it

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks, Bernardo, for your feedback :)

[@onnobeckerhof5790]

Love to follow your explanation but the music is really stopping me. Can you disable the music please?

[@LeaDavid]

Hi, unfortunately I cannot. I have realized this a bit too late and will make sure this does not happen again.

[@AshifuddinFikri]

Thank you for the knowledge

[@LeaDavid]

My pleasure!

[@TarickTheDemonSlayer]

Hi Lea, Im interested to know if anyone has experienced a problem with moving their files into a new partial or complete file structure. I have found that this is time consuring and sometimes problematic with windows seeming to cause issues with duplicate file names, permissions in some cases and a range of other issues from time to time. Do you know of any software tools that might assist in this reorganising process?

[@techgalaxy100]

Thank you so much for such a wonderful video.

[@LeaDavid]

You are so welcome!

[@peterholthoffman]

It’s important at each folder level to make sure the folder names do not imply any overlap between the contents. An example of bad naming would be animals, cats, and dogs. You should have animals/cats, animals/dogs, and animals/others.

[@LeaDavid]

Great addition, Peter!

[@stephanied5629]

Great ideas! I'm working on digital decluttering and this was really helpful.

[@LeaDavid]

Glad it was helpful, Stephanie! Good luck with decluttering :)

[@WealthyGinGebw]

Thank you, very helpful

[@LeaDavid]

You're welcome!

[@joeglennaz]

Hello from Phoenix Arizona USA. Thank you for your wonderful videos!

[@LeaDavid]

You are welcome, Joe! Greetings back to AZ

[@EnigmaticCanadadaSpectra]

The guy at 2:25 was the "sir, is it plugged in?" Customer lmaoo

[@grantsimsdds]

Thanks for this!

[@LeaDavid]

My pleasure!

[@raymondhinton2688]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[@LeaDavid]

Glad you liked it, Raymond!

[@my-smalltowns]

Is it best to name files with underscore or dashes or space between words?

[@LeaDavid]

Depends on your personal preference. However, using space or - has some advantages (moving quickly within folder names) over underscores.

[@Rio-by1eh]

I remember , learning the org tools back in 2001 - I used File Maker - wow what a fantastick tool it was ….

[@LeaDavid]

Haha, but there are also great tools these days

[@RodrigoRocha1980]

📂 Organizar arquivos e pastas por tópicos selecionados. 🎯 Mantenha o número de pastas entre 5 e 8. 🧱 Gerencie o conteúdo das pastas por categoria ou por nome. 📄 Utilize nomes de arquivos apropriados para facilitar a busca.

[@YoSoyEliasR]

what's the name of the song? I like it, very chill

[@LeaDavid]

Not sure, sorry. But glad you like it :)

[@paulmcfarland2649]

So helpful, thank you for posting!

[@LeaDavid]

Glad it was helpful, Paul!

[@GeorgeMoholo-Geogyy]

File organization is the big challenge, n i think ur video will be of great Assistance

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks, George, glad to hear that!

[@MakingDataUseful]

This is excellent 🤝

[@LeaDavid]

Many thanks!

[@hansjhansen2217]

Use date format yymmdd, that Way you Can sort it in the correct order

[@LeaDavid]

Yes, makes sense 👏

[@aarez_a]

->The SIMPLEST Way to Organize Your Files and Folders by topic. 1. LESS IS MORE 2. Keep it simple 3. Think like a child Category > Topic Name + Content based.

[@mohamed3nan]

we need the same but with browser bookmarks

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for the idea!

[@mohamed3nan]

@@LeaDavid you're welcome❤

[@EverCraft_File_History]

Simple but useful

[@LeaDavid]

🙏

[@danielerinaldi3123]

Lea, thank you for this video❗. Method and systematicity are fundamental as the complexity of archiving grows. Personally, I assign an evocative .ico image to the key folders so that their name becomes superfluous, and I create hyperlink shortcut files for the cross-navigation among different folders.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for sharing and your feedback, Daniel!!

[@ngantimmembarolain2138]

Very useful. Keep Up

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your support!

[@alibrahim99]

From Egypt with respect, much appreicated 😎😎

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks, and greetings back to Egypt 🇪🇬

[@deemat100]

I had to turn this off, I'm afraid. Anyone with any measure of hearing difficulty simply can't cope with music and voice at the same time. It sends stress levels up high right away, and it means that focusing on the speech is such a struggle that it's far easier to give up, as did I. Sorry.

[@stevewatson1364]

I turned the sound off and turned on closed captioning. Much better video😊

[@442caleb]

I can't pay attention unless there's additional music

[@silentjellybean]

I found it helpful, but thats ADHD maybe

[@tigrezno2626]

dude then dont listen to youtube at all

[@pride.productions]

I agree. The background music competes with the talking volume, which takes away from the importance of the talking. As a future fix, I’d suggest the editor to turn down the background music volume. Even by another 3-6db would make this much easier to listen to.

[@wakweikafelix]

Thank you Sir! Just signed up to the academy

[@LeaDavid]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@Rvholmes1]

Great Video! I'm going to basics! Cheers Russ from Australia

[@LeaDavid]

Thank you so much and greetings back to Down Under!

[@cliffkwok]

Can I have a discount for digital architect ?

[@LeaDavid]

Hi Cliff, sure! Just sign up for my newsletter (link in the video description) and you'll get it right away 😀have fun with it and let me know how you like it! Thanks and all the best, Lea

[@veeaaraar]

Not available for India?

[@LeaDavid]

What do you mean?

[@balasundareshwarana.766]

Already DONE ALL THESE😂, THANKS

[@LeaDavid]

Awesome! Lucky you 😃

[@logicalparadox2897]

You make it look easy… but should a doctor’s bill go under finances with other bills, or in medical/health? A file and folder system is actually a broken and outdated metaphor, we need filessystems that fully support tagging to allow for a file to be associated with multiple topics/categories rather than relying on location to denote meaning.

[@JohnMacKay-JMK]

I find hard to decide to which one folder/topic something applies as well. How about a tool like 'Tabbles' or 'Tagging for Windows' ? Could that something for you as well?

[@logicalparadox2897]

@JohnMacKay-JMK Thanks for the recommendation of Tabbles! Tagging for Windows also looks great, except that I use both Google Drive and Dropbox and a majority of the time I access files from my mobile devices. So fully cross-platform support is an important feature for me. Which, it looks like Tabbles has! I’ll definitely be checking this out.

[@ptkpittiklong4116]

Thank you its meaning for me.😊 This is what i find for a long time. It’s very helpful. 🎉❤

[@LeaDavid]

Glad you liked it!

[@copernicus633]

Good information but music is annoying.

[@christinetinsley1683]

Solid content so far, but the music is too loud.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks, Christine! The loud music was a one time mistake and won't happen again.m

[@rickbird8796]

I really found the PARA Method to work the best for me. Kinda like this but adding a layer on top of what you described: Areas of Responsibility, Resources, Projects and Archive

[@wawifpv]

Facts same here!

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for sharing, Rick. So you mean using the PARA method as a foundation and then adding my tips or the other way round. Maybe you can share an example?

[@wawifpv]

@@LeaDavid I only you the PARA method and adjust it to my need

[@Sntdeca93]

Thank you!

[@LeaDavid]

You are welcome!

[@christianmichaelperdigonde898]

Hi Lea, Thank you for sharing your insights, however background sound is so annoying.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback, Christian. I have realized this a bit too late and will make sure this does not happen again.

[@jaroslavpalecek4513]

First ! Greetings from Czech republic ❤ Jaroslav

[@LeaDavid]

Greetings back to you 😊

[@mjz2mjz92]

Give time to organization.... And you will find a way.....

[@LeaDavid]

😄

[@purplewildflower]

My Queens!

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks so much!

[@naderhumood]

Aptly great subject....Thank you very much indeed.

[@LeaDavid]

You are very welcome!

[@melanielawrence3574]

Same. No music. We’re here to learn.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback, Chuck. I have realized this a bit too late and will make sure this does not happen again.

[@divyv20]

Hey Lea , very good video . I can do better editing in your videos which can help you to get more engagement in your videos . Pls lmk what do you think ?

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks, I am good.

[@eskinox]

Why would you ruin your "perfect amount of accent" with unnecessarily high volume of music? 🙄

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback. Will adjust this in future videos.

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

Music was to loud,

[@JusticeAintFree]

@@LeaDavidmusic and sound was just fine. Thanks so much for sharing this information. It was easy to understand and needed. Please keep them coming. ❤❤❤

[@TheChrisvining]

The theory and principles made complete sense. Im shocked that some people found the background music too loud, seems a little silly.

[@LeaDavid]

Thank you so much for your support! Much appreciated!

[@Bkim316]

Amazing thank you, WIll use this

[@LeaDavid]

Awesome, glad you like it 😀

[@rolandmarch7717]

Dematt is correct….lose the music

[@LeaDavid]

Noted for coming videos!

[@shyguy1051]

Great video. It has come up at a time when my external drive crashed and I had to do some data restoration. Now I have to go through a manual process of organizing it into a better structure than it is in now

[@LeaDavid]

Great opportunity!

[@martinsvideos7556]

I cant hear you!

[@jayasekharj5892]

Good one :))

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback!

[@bruno.luciano87]

Awesome tutorial! Your tips for organizing folders in Windows are super helpful. Thanks for making it so easy to follow!

[@LeaDavid]

You're very welcome, Bruno!

[@O3ZN]

Thanks 🙏 I'm just waiting for an AI that will arrange all my files and folders 😂

[@LeaDavid]

You are welcome! Haha yes, there are solutions out there already, but imo not nearly as good as a human brain can do it.. let's see :)

[@danrph]

The music is not necessary. It would be distracting in a classroom

[@kevinbree2382]

I can't listen to this because of the music.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks, Kevin, for your feedback! Will adjust this in future videos.

[@reefhound9902]

The music is fine, maybe just a bit lower.

[@Schjoenz]

With hundreds of thousands of files in my 4 SSDs right now, it would take me a month or two to fully organize them. Just images alone has more than 52,000 of files in different folders and locations. Some were already organized in years. Most (I guess 80% or so) are still scattered. Imagine all the other files?

[@LeaDavid]

Sounds like a lot to do but in the end, I believe, it's worth it :)

[@Schjoenz]

@@LeaDavid Absolutely. I can already imagine the worth of your tutorial if I can finally finish organizing my files.. Thanks by the way..

[@johnsullivan7995]

would of been better if you turn down the music, it put me off.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback, John. I have realized this a bit too late and will make sure this does not happen again.

[@pakane24]

Good tutorial and tips however the music is really distracting. I would rather it wasn't there

[@MegaLifeHappiness]

I really wanted to listen to the end but the loud background music is such a distraction.

[@biran44r]

google indexing vs yahoo organization/categorization.... after indexing was invented, i stopped organizing my files. i can find any file in a second or two from among thousands of files... #keywords

[@TauvicRitter]

Can you please repeat, I'm confused by that irritating muzak.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback. Will consider this in future videos!

[@NicholasMcGill]

This is literally a rehash of the HBR article that was out last year.

[@LeaDavid]

Funny, I have never read this article...

[@NilvinPerpinosas]

use everything program instead

[@LeaDavid]

Hi Nilvin, sure, that's another solution :)

[@ShadiMuhammad]

Programming taught us to take care of *"Naming Conventions"* and to *"Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)"*. Even more when it comes to Sorting & Searching; *"Algorithms"* will be the clue. Learn programming guys. 😎😂

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for adding, Shadi :)

[@ShadiMuhammad]

@@LeaDavid You're most welcome Lea. Keep it up 👏

[@acreguy3156]

Great ideas, Lea BUT I'll come back and watch this video after the background music is turned OFF. It's at the same level as your narration. This is a very common error by YT producers. Music on instructional videos is not needed. In fact, it's just something else people with learning disabilities need to process.

[@degaben]

Would love to listen, but that annoying music loop in the background is just unbearable.

[@craftystudios5417]

That music 😞

[@BernhardSchwarz-xs8kp]

Elevator pitch - you missed the target - way too long talking about what you will talk about - landing in a "blunt sales pitch" - all accompanied by music clips that are totally disconnected from the content Whatever your talents are - presenting your know-how is not your strong side.

[@silversolver7809]

I'm a minute in and really hoping the goddamn music gets out of the way of the content!

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

It doesn't

[@yoosufmmahees2857]

BG music is annoying. Contents good

[@sanxela183]

Seem interesting but the background music is just too loud and distracting. Please re-upload the video without it.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback. I am sorry, have noted this and will improve this in my next videos.

[@madnessofmymind]

Music is WAAAY too loud. Don't even have any, that would be best.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback, Chuck. I have realized this a bit too late and will make sure this does not happen again.

[@called-matii]

I think your videos would be much better if you would hit straight to the action instead of talking too much about the topic it self. The attention span is very short these days with Insta and TikTok around

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback!

[@Dantes-pt3hr]

Music very annoying. It is a pity

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback. I have realized this a bit too late and will make sure this does not happen again.

[@SciFicAdventures]

BMW? You are probably on a MAC to..

[@LeaDavid]

Haha never ever.

[@lorikmor]

I could focus better without the background music.

[@studyonline4763]

Could you please remove the loud music? It's drowning your voice

[@MahmudulHasan-pm3pd]

This music is so much disturbing!

[@chuckinhouston9952]

The “music” is HIGHLY annoying. I stopped listening at about one minute. I’m giving you a thumbs down.

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback, Chuck. I have realized this a bit too late and will make sure this does not happen again.

[@IntegrityLandGroup]

This video is WAY to long

[@LeaDavid]

No one forces you to watch it!

[@sarawaldburg7988]

Music is so distracting! Impossible to focus on subject

[@josemanchurian2238]

🙏 Please please SLOW DOWN you sound like a Nascar on the run. That cheese music gotta go its just annoying people. Need to tune it down. Take a deep breath and SLOW DOWN

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks, Jose. You can always pause the video and/or reduce playback speed via the video settings. Hope this helps, Lea