The SIMPLEST Way to Organize Your Files and Folders

Learn the simplest way to organize your digital files and folders.
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In this video, I will show you the easiest way to organize your digital files and folders. Following this file management strategy, you will never lose a file any more and save time searching for what you have been looking for on your computer.

[@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!

[@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.

[@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

[@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!!

[@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 👍

[@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.

[@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 :)

[@joeglennaz]

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

[@LeaDavid]

You are welcome, Joe! Greetings back to AZ

[@danrph]

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

[@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

[@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!

[@techgalaxy100]

Thank you so much for such a wonderful video.

[@LeaDavid]

You are so welcome!

[@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.

[@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.

[@Rvholmes1]

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

[@LeaDavid]

Thank you so much and greetings back to Down Under!

[@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!

[@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

[@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.

[@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!

[@jaroslavpalecek4513]

First ! Greetings from Czech republic ❤ Jaroslav

[@LeaDavid]

Greetings back to you 😊

[@raymondhinton2688]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[@LeaDavid]

Glad you liked it, Raymond!

[@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.

[@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.

[@maryd253]

Thank you!

[@LeaDavid]

You're welcome!

[@wakweikafelix]

Thank you Sir! Just signed up to the academy

[@LeaDavid]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@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?

[@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.

[@MakingDataUseful]

This is excellent 🤝

[@LeaDavid]

Many thanks!

[@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.

[@mohamed3nan]

we need the same but with browser bookmarks

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for the idea!

[@mohamed3nan]

@@LeaDavid you're welcome❤

[@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!

[@EverCraft_File_History]

Simple but useful

[@LeaDavid]

🙏

[@balasundareshwarana.766]

Already DONE ALL THESE😂, THANKS

[@LeaDavid]

Awesome! Lucky you 😃

[@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?

[@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

[@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.

[@mjz2mjz92]

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

[@LeaDavid]

😄

[@Bkim316]

Amazing thank you, WIll use this

[@LeaDavid]

Awesome, glad you like it 😀

[@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.

[@YoSoyEliasR]

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

[@LeaDavid]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@jayasekharj5892]

Good one :))

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your feedback!

[@rolandmarch7717]

Dematt is correct….lose the music

[@LeaDavid]

Noted for coming videos!

[@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..

[@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 👏

[@NicholasMcGill]

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

[@LeaDavid]

Funny, I have never read this article...

[@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.

[@SciFicAdventures]

BMW? You are probably on a MAC to..

[@LeaDavid]

Haha never ever.

[@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!

[@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

[@MIt-ql5bo]

Nonsense

[@LeaDavid]

Ok

[@DaveDFX]

Untitled1 v2.txt Presentation 3 Final final.Xls

[@LeaDavid]

😅

[@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.

[@kevinbree2382]

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

[@LeaDavid]

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

[@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

[@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 :)

[@alibrahim99]

From Egypt with respect, much appreicated 😎😎

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks, and greetings back to Egypt 🇪🇬

[@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 👍

[@reefhound9902]

The music is fine, maybe just a bit lower.

[@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.

[@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!

[@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 :)

[@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

[@ngantimmembarolain2138]

Very useful. Keep Up

[@LeaDavid]

Thanks for your support!

[@TauvicRitter]

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

[@LeaDavid]

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

[@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.

[@naderhumood1199]

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

[@LeaDavid]

You are very welcome!

[@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!

[@NilvinPerpinosas]

use everything program instead

[@LeaDavid]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@paulmcfarland2649]

So helpful, thank you for posting!

[@LeaDavid]

Glad it was helpful, Paul!

[@brendamartinez6955]

Thank you!

[@LeaDavid]

You are welcome!

[@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!

[@DerrickArtis-c7n]

The first 5 minutes of this video are pointless. please just get to the point.

[@LeaDavid]

Feel free to skip it 😌

[@altafmehrab]

This will never work. Just record the meta data with a control number in a Register, electronic one. Ask first the control number when trying to retrieve a record If not available, then customer phone, and decide based on available data and confirm from customer.

[@jdwoods2008]

That's industrial strength solution. The content of the video was addressing home or individual use. Are you robot? No offense meant. I'm just trying to notice when bots behave outside of the expected parameters.

[@LeaDavid]

Might work for you but not for the majority of private (but also professional) users.