The Best Way to Organize Your Computer Files

Today, I'll share a simple process for organizing the files on your computer - and keeping them that way.
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⏱ TIMESTAMPS:
01:41 - Two important rules for file organization
02:22 - The tree structure explained
04:08 - In-depth look at my folder structure
07:31 - How to name your files
08:33 - The best cloud sync app (and why you need it)
10:30 - How to back up your files (cloud sync isn't enough)
13:09 - Use shortcuts and quick access
14:36 - Audible and a book recommendation
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[@Thomasfrank]

Want to be more organized? Take my FREE course on building your productivity system: collegeinfogeek.com/go/skillshare-course/ (this is an affiliate link, so using it also supports my channel 😀 )

[@not_toxic1211]

I have a very organized computer btw thanks for this video :)

[@climatechangedoesntbargain9140]

Purely hierarchical organisation does not work

[@sharmavinit9536]

4:45 CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO CREATE SUCH TREE LIKE STUCTURE

[@romeoneverdies]

i also recommend splitting root folders into personal and general folders. (personal being files you create and general being files you acquire trough public means) for example a picture of your cat is not the same as a picture of A cat. one is personal one is general in nature. in personal you can subdivide by your life categories as you called them and the general one you can subdivide into medium format. this makes it possible to organize YOUR files vs public files but also makes it easier to backup your files which you Cant find on the internet vs files that you CAN find on the internet. for example you wouldn't want to backup funny memes the same you would want the photos of your kids or something like that. ) and if eventually you want to share these general files lets say between computers of the house or maybe a partner you can easily maintain privacy by just not sharing the personal tree and only sharing the general tree (files which can already be found publicly on the internet anyway) you can even create a 3rd root folder that is personal but shared ... (called shared or shares)

[@grego15]

I am very surprised that I recognize so many of my old favorite Post-Hardcore bands that I saw live back in the early 2000's on your music folder list. Major props. I wish I could have seen the full list because there were a few I had forgotten of and I only saw the start of your list. Glad to know you have a great taste in music. 🎸🙌🤘 These are just the ones I've seen: A Day To Remember, A Static Lullaby, As I lay Dying, AFI, Alexisonfire, All That Remains, Angels & Airwaves, Armor For Sleep, Atreyu, August Burns Red, A7X, Brand New, Bloc Party, Bullet For My Valentine, Circa Survive, Chiodos, Coheed, MCR...

[@Leto85]

Tip: If you have files that belong in two folders, place the file in the folder you think it belongs the most. Then place a shortcut of that file in the other folder.

[@kosuvorov-x]

Tip: Tags solve this problem 😉

[@sharmavinit9536]

4:45 CAN ANYONE TELL ME HOW TO CREATE SUCH TREE LIKE STUCTURE

[@Leto85]

@@kosuvorov-x How does that work?

[@tulipgirl_]

@@sharmavinit9536 UP!

[@gabreiliusgen4519]

Literally me!!

[@jeffreyhuang3814]

I just move all my desktop files to a folder called "desktop."

[@doingeven5196]

Same

[@Vgang101]

They're already on a folder called desktop though...

[@jeffreyhuang3814]

@@Vgang101 Inside that folder create a folder called desktop, and inside that one create another, and inside that one another, until you have an inception 20092019 layers deep.

[@treeoflife7151]

😂😂😂

[@nishilbright2007]

😂 😂 😂

[@dvklaveren]

A trick I use is that the computer doesn't distinguish between a shortcut and a folder. If you create a shortcut to a folder, you can drag items into that shortcut and that will transport it to the corresponding folder. I use this method to simulate the whole sorting tree in an easily copied file of interlinked shortcuts that I call my 'moving bin'. Within that moving bin, I can sort my files kind of like a filtering process, moving all the way down to the bottom in batches until all files are where they are supposed to be!

[@sanjacobs6261]

That's so clever!

[@dvklaveren]

@@lauramalagodi4633 So, basically, I've set up an extra folder in my directory called "Moving Bin", which itself has folders labeled the likes of "A - Move to Work Files" (I add the A prefix so it's always at the top of the page if I sort alphabetically). And within those folders, I basically simulate my file structure, until at the very end of each tree, I link to shortcuts that lead to the actual folders where I would want to store them. Then finally, I create a shortcut to my moving bin folder(s) in the folders I'd like to sort through. Whenever you click-and-drag a file over a folder icon or a shortcut-to-a-folder icon, it will know to put the file in the folder that your shortcut refers to. This way, you don't have to drag your actual moving bin folder into any folder literally and wait for the computer to move the 100GB+ files or whatever. You can just copy the shortcut to the file and drag into that instead. I know that that sounds like common sense, but I don't think many people actually think to create a folder that's purely to move things around with. I find this a very efficient way of working, since I can just turn my brain to 50% attention and click-and-drag my files in a way that I think makes sense into this mock version of my folder structure. If I ever come to the conclusion that I've made a mistake, I just feed the things I've misfiled back up through the top (the moving bin) and then keep going without worrying too much about a couple of unfiled, 'difficult' files that are waiting for me to adjudicate on. This also is a good way of getting an intuition of what isn't working about your file directory; you shouldn't even have to think about how you're filing your files, it should be relatively automatic, so whenever you have to think more than 20 seconds about where a file goes, you should probably be making a new folder for this specific type of file. Let's say that I have a picture that I'd like to file and I go through my file structure. I go Moving Bin>A - Move to My Pictures>Creative>D&D>Characters>Lajila. Oh wait, I actually meant to but this into ongoing projects. I drag the file back into Moving Bin (shortcut); Moving Bin>A - Move to My Pictures>Creative>Ongoing Projects>Lajila>Lajila_Corbid.psd Actually, I think I need to be more specific, because this includes another character as well. Then I would create a new folder. On and on it goes until I've sorted through all my files. I don't stop until everything is sorted.

[@MK-ih6wp]

@@dvklaveren you should make a video to demonstrate this!

[@beetletiger2933]

please make a demonstration of this

[@ravenengland9232]

@@dvklaveren I agree, might make more sense if you illustrated this technique.

[@kjekelle96]

The problem with a tree-structure is that when a particular file belongs in more than one separate folder it becomes a hasstle. A better solution in some cases would be that we could tag each and every file on our computer, throw all the files of one types in a big dump, that then organizes them per tag, so that you don't have to have multiple copies of one file in multiple places in order to find them when you need them. Some people will definitely understand what I mean. Some probably won't.

[@maxdustycake]

That's exactly what I struggle with and why I arrived on this video. If I make a presentation for a specific project, should it go in that project folder or in a presentations folder... I am not sure what you mean by "organize them per tag". Do you have a specific recommendation on how to do that?

[@ammarramic]

Try having the file in one place and use a shortcut for the other places you need it in.

[@andrewest1635]

@@ammarramic Very Good Idea!

[@anacastanon5201]

Yes, like when you have several subfolders with the same name like "Material". What I started to do is adding the name of the main folder to Material like "Work Material" If it's an specific project I would add numbers to the main folder and repeat each subfolder, like 01 Project Name, 01 Material, 01 Books. I also would like to know other ideas.

[@mr.dingleberry4882]

@@maxdustycake Organizing by file type makes little sense when your file system gets even slightly complex, thats why it should be on the bottom of the organization hierarchy. For example: work > project > all files associated with that project sorted by type (images, presentations, text files).

[@HoneyLaBronx]

This is a GREAT topic!!!!! Literally I have found myself talking to children ages 6 and up and I tell them "Listen... one of these days, you're going to get a phone or a computer. Start NOW... Make a folder for photos. A folder for audio. A folder for documents. Etc...... Create a system that makes sense to you, and STICK WITH IT!!! You will thank me!!"

[@pipwills9349]

I've just spent 2 hours reorganising my files for the first time in years... I love you and hate you in equal measure! Great video, thanks :)

[@RaoBlackWellizedArman]

😐

[@angelicamarcano8183]

How did you decided to organise your files? what order did you give it?

[@konondayo5397]

first time in years? jesus what the hell are you doing to your pc

[@ngocinh160]

@@konondayo5397 honestly IDK how to use a laptop so I just dowbload every school work, and picture to a place called download. I have 0 folder.

[@Brandon-gw4ed]

😀😀😀😀

[@lucialorenzo7746]

Thank you for this video! I love being organised and I’m always looking for new ways to store my files. A little tip for everyone: take the time while organising your files to clean your computer. A few weeks ago I started doing that and I have deleted more than 100 GB of stuff already :)

[@marufranco5281]

I actually went through the trouble of checking every single folder, opening every single non-system file and categorize it, while also deleting stuff i actually will never need. These were all my files that i have been hoarding since more than 15 years ago. You would be surprised how much space it adds up and ends up saving you many hundred of gigs in space. Needless to say it took more than 3 years to do, it is finished and feels refreshing, every file i get it goes exactly where it should go, i basically did what this video says without having watched it before Also it's great for when you need to migrate to another system, everything is format ready, the external drive i have has the same hierarchy tree but it lets me know which folders i should back up and which ones i don't need to. For example the Appdata folder or folders that have configs and preferences, very important to backup aswell. When you migrate to a new PC it will be easier , you will have plenty of space to spare and you will be sure you won't be missing anything important. And yeah, i did actually look at every single image that i have, that means every single meme i downloaded since 15 years ago, deleted the ones that didn't make me laugh anymore and only kept the best of the best. Not only that i also used Handbrake to batch convert to MP4 all the video files i had or cared about, the filesizes of almost every video file got reduced to around 10 to 20% without damage the image quality or resolution (Made plenty of tests before doing this, be careful , you don't want to downgrade your files, make sure to keep the same resolutions, audio bitrates and framerates), that alone saved me hundreds of gigs aswell. Felt really accomplished about it because for years i have been hoarding files, i also managed to find stuff that i thought was gone forever. After a while of doing this you get good at it, you get good at deciding which stuff you won't need in the future and delete it, where it should go and organize things faster in general, in real life i also decluttered a bunch of physical objects using the same logic and managed to get it done in 1 day.

[@DanteLikesRock]

nice, dude. I'm doing that right now actually. Handbrake is amazing.

[@ianvitalis]

Hey Maru, this is exactly what I wanted to affirm that I'm not so crazy when it gets to organizing. My files/folders aren't a total mess but require some work in order for me to get satisfactory relief. Procrastinated for a while now, but I need to have this done in the shortest time possible. I believe yours wasn't organized from word go. 3yrs is way too long.

[@ianvitalis]

To reiterate, I was in this video bout 6 months back, but trying to get my flow correct from every source, considering that my revived passion for film/photography and music requires tons of work and probably ease in switching from PC to Mac [editing value] in the near future. Let's stay organized folks, aids productivity.

[@marufranco5281]

@@ianvitalis It can take less than 3 years for sure but the amount of stuff i was hoarding was massive (Keep in mind it's stuff i have been hoarding for more than 15 years that's been all over the place, it's easier to accumulate stuff than it is to organize it) I didn't work at it every single day just most days when i had the chance and when i did it was several hours non-stop. If it's just videos and photos it definitively can be done in a couple of months. Just be careful with "compulsive decluttering" that's a thing and it sucks when you regret getting rid of something, one of the reasons it took so long for me is that i carefully considered each file and the files tree didn't really take shape at first- Procrastinated to even start for a long while but the benefits of finally doing it is worth it in many ways

[@HaVoCX64]

me trying to organize my 1.5 TB of trash files *confused screaming *

[@meuscompromissos4860]

We're gonna make it! But I'm confused indeed. Even my browsers favorites are messy.

[@KRoOoOoZ]

"trash files" = pirated porn videos

[@Israphella777]

@@meuscompromissos4860 mine too😂😭

[@JM-lh8rl]

Meus Compromissos It’s so relieving to know I’m not the only one whose life is breaking down from being too messy

[@xFredman]

Since I got this computer, which was about 5 years ago, I installed everything in the Program Files (x86). I regret not sorting my files so much...

[@swabikedude]

I appreciate you giving all options during your videos and not saying you MUST do one or the other - it allows us to select the best option that will work for us...and you're speaking is flawless with zero to no fillers when speaking. Nice job!!!

[@SpintoPlaysMC]

Are... are there people who don’t already live like this?

[@danielrothstein1409]

There...there are people who live like in all sorts of ways.

[@itstobiii]

good question, but great video though!

[@Aline_ArtStudio]

My friend have all his word files in an map called documents, he spends like 20 minutes just to find the right file 🤦‍♂️

[@JonMichaelDeBona]

If there are, it's a world I don't want to live in.

[@SamiPaju]

Yeah. Everyone who uses Mac and doesn't need to spend time on this bullshit, since Spotlight + Alfred will find the right files and folders instantly, no matter where they are. This video really reminded me again how backwater Windows is.

[@maxcermus13]

-i watch this video to procrastinate but still being able to feel like i'm learning something but i actually don't-

[@alx1703]

I do that too, like all the time lol

[@RejaMarjana]

D*mn.. i do

[@abdiaziz4180]

😂😂😂😂

[@rnf976]

Lmaoo doing this right now

[@gappyspins]

Lmaoo fr

[@IvanferreroIt]

One of the best file management tutorial I’ve found on the Web.

[@michelehagle1414]

Hi Thomas, thank you for researching/creating/posting the 1st/only KZbin video I've ever finished watching!! This was fantastic- super informative, really well-presented without being patronizing, and information I appreciate. Thank you!

[@markphelan7437]

Great video. My head was melted trying to figure out a way to organize my files in a logical way that makes them accessible. This is food for thought. I'd also like to explore the possibility of using tags to search for files especially when it comes to photos and videos.

[@compassionatepeercounseling]

Great video!! It was super well rounded with the relationship between organizing files and nature. I also appreciate the essentialism system hint and book recommendation. That was cool! I was looking at how to choose between organizing by dates or categories and you answered that.

[@SofoniBeats]

It is really cool you have these types of channels. I am a person I love to stay organized and it's always cool to learn new ways of being organized

[@pierrebriquet]

I built a smart folder builder for shortcuts, because I have too many projects and subjects I participated at work, so working in different tree types (year, department, person, product) is always necessary, and without search folders because it is slow. Totally worth it. Because of your tips, I also maintain important folder shortcuts, on going projects, and main reports, presentations and spreadsheet that I currently using, it's awesome (because rely on recent files is not okay). It changed my productivity forever.

[@universalsa55]

Thank you, Thomas, I just started to watch your videos, and I am learning soooo much. I appreciate the way you explain clearly and entertaining. Keep up the great work!

[@justthatpm]

File organization is so important! It really helps me keep a clear mindset and also avoids me getting frustrated and giving up when trying to find a file.

[@nlx78]

For my Desktop I use Fences but there are similar tools out there to have your icons organized in several of these fences and have them either blend in with your background with just the title you gave visible. Also the option to just hover over the one you want for it to open etc. Now I just have 8 of them for things like Software, Video/Photo Software, Shortcuts Websites, Games, Movies and Series etc.

[@SoAnxious718]

Super helpful!!! I’m trying to make my filing system a lot cleaner for seamless searching between work files, school files and my side business. My current system isn’t bad-category based but the tree method seems like it would be a lot more efficient

[@conficalc]

We started our youtube channel about two months ago and file structure is everything 🤪 Thank you for the video Thomas!

[@leonahmoses4450]

What I love about your videos is that you make something educational so much fun with your cool personality. I enjoy watching your content

[@ishmamhaq3720]

I love you bro, you saved me, just bought a laptop and trying to organize files,

[@94Comale]

0:00 Introduction 1:41 File Structure 7:31 File Naming 8:36 Cloud Sync 13:10 Use Shortcuts 14:34 Essentialism

[@mr.juniorer]

I praise you Thomas!! You’re always my go-to for thinking/doing things the smart way! Now… on to organizing my laptop! Wish me luck! Love the video by the way!! 😊

[@nadchos7463]

pretty sure I watched an even older video of this but can't seem to rmb which vid it was, but I rmb enrolling into college when I was watching his method of organising and implemented it throughout my 3 years in college, never had an issue with finding documents!! not kidding when I say that this vid is a lifesaver when it comes to digital organisation, thank you so much!

[@samhparker]

I literally came to your channel and website looking for a bid like this about 5 days ago!!! You heard my prayers. Thanks for the help dude!

[@adityavardhansingh5178]

14:00 To use shortcuts I can give you another recommendation. (only for windows) 1. That you told using Quick Access Toolbar 2. Use Libraries folder. The second option, I find more efficient because it brings all the folders and files in a single folder under "Libraries". You can try a great feature for windows, that I didn't knew, but when I came to know, I found it worth it. Just go on to File explorer > In the navigation pane, right click and choose "Show Libraries" > Open Libraries folder and select (USERNAME) folder > Select Add folder option There! you are good to go. Thumbs up for your good content 👍

[@irishpolyglot]

This definitely beats the "to organize" folder in my "Downloads" default directory. Great suggestions I'll be implementing immediately! Also, writing my 4 Language Hacking books and saving them consistently in the Dropbox folder was one of the best decisions I've ever made. In the middle of the toughest and most intensive writing period of my life, I got hit by Ransomware that encrypted my entire hard-drive. I had an external backup from a few months ago, but losing months of double-time writing work that I made a lot of sacrifices for would have been devastating. Fortunately, I restored a backup and only lost a single paragraph of work :)

[@Chironex_Fleckeri]

How did you get the Ransomware?

[@lesleyburger2740]

Hi Thomas. Great video. Organizing digital files can become a big mess quickly. On top of organizing it in a meaningful way, I also try to cap the number of files/folders inside the parent folder. My rule is that in fullscreen, I should not have scrollbars. This limits the amount of files/folders you can have within a parent folder. The benefit of this is, that you only keep the files/folders that you really want/need to keep. I also do this in OneNote. In my experience, if I have a section with an enormous amount of pages, I don't even bother to look because it just takes too much time to try and find what i'm looking for. This has done wonders for my digital storage. I can find things quick and easy and I don't need terabytes of file storage.

[@truonghoangnhan110]

Have not watched the whole video but already liked your video for using MCR album as example for music

[@nickstair6355]

I had to fix my girlfriends sisters computer recently. She saved everything to the desktop...it still hurts my soul thinking about it.

[@manasavuibaubatiwale3593]

Sheesh 😂😂😂😂 I just winced imagining that 😂😂😂😂😂

[@kH-bv8ix]

I learned ONE thing from this video. My life has been increased. 😁 That makes me feel good, I'm on the right track. I really enjoy you videos.

[@HelloDreamPlans]

I was looking for a video like this for months! :) thank you!

[@lilvin3610]

This is the first time I see he actually has has the Going Merry boat in the background. Absolute legend POG

[@studykendrick2029]

This video encouraged me to finally organize my many files in my Mac. Thank you Thomas just in time for back to school!

[@maureenhanton3450]

Great info and video. Thanks for all the tips and book recommendation. So glad I found you, will tell my friends!

[@arturgopro8797]

Very useful video Thomas, all you said makes sense about folder structure

[@dennmillsch]

Some good info in this video for those starting out. I'm watching this for better organization methods than what I already do. My experience, it seems like there are often compromises in organization. For example, similar to your diagram at around 04:50, I've organized photos by year. Not particular the best method when later you want to find all the photos of your cousins. On the other hand, if you try to organize by who is in the photo, you quickly run into problems because photos often have more than one person. Also sometimes it makes sense to organize photos by content, for example photos of the 3-year process of building our house. Seems to me we need to organize based on the most logical way for us to find a file in the future. Like 10 years from now I might want to see some pictures of building our house. Since this is a major collection of pictures, it makes sense for it to have its own folder rather than digging through multiple folders organized by date. Similarly, in genealogy work, you might want to organize files by surname. But then what do you do with marriage records? Do you file them in two folders for each spouse family? And that was a simple example. Some level of organization is fairly simple, but in other cases it is a challenge. And that's where I'm at right now with over 150 icons on my desktop, 10 of which are large folders specifically for organization. It can be a struggle when you are a person of many interests, skills, hobbies and vocations. Good luck to those working on organization. It seems to be quite an art to do it well.

[@JenniferWasylenko]

Omg, I so needed this RIGHT NOW!! I need help!! I clicked and liked the video right away!

[@intentionalliving7326]

Did you do it? 😁

[@JenniferWasylenko]

@@intentionalliving7326 Yes! First I went through and figured out what I can actually delete. That sure opened up a lot of memory! My desktop is clear.

[@ronniesunshine1163]

Thanks for uploading this. It was the inspiration I needed to actually use my 1tb of one drive storage I've had for months but haven't used

[@dianalowrie]

Love your video content and pacing. You’re on point!

[@botten4187]

Lol just bought a new hard drive today and I was thinking about how to organize my data. Thanks for being so on time 😂

[@nitink.a567]

I don't upload my documents on g drive or any other cause i dont trust them but i keep it in a pendrive or harddrive, incase of natural disasters etc easy to pick up and run.

[@dynamic_dynamo]

The quality of the video was mind blowing keep up the awesome work.

[@Purpleiris444]

Great video! well explained! What helped is understanding why there should be an underscore instead of a space.

[@sumaiyasiraj217]

Been waiting long for this!

[@tuckercoffin2164]

That's how I've been organizing my files lately. I also have a folder called "deltemp" in which I only put things that I am sure I wouldn't mind if they got lost any time, like screenshots that I need once or software I've downloaded.

[@Teknisk]

I always have some files, data or info thats lost that way. Even the temp/ 2 delete folders should be backup ;)

[@davidsolling8818]

Is that a bass in the background...? OMG, I love it!!

[@MichaelSmolski]

This is a video that I didn't think I needed, but needed!

[@cindyjohnson6102]

By far the best organizational guru.....and very fun to watch and learn

[@beatricekarlonaite6709]

Loved this. Would love a video on how to organise your phone files, photos!

[@tabbywarrior]

Check out Matt D'Avella video on that

[@JenniferWasylenko]

Done!! This was the push and advice I needed. It feels so good! Thank you!

[@Amarox3000]

Super helpful video, plus an audible spon with a book I'm actually interested in! Thankyou!

[@JoseRodriguez-tx1qz]

I really enjoyed this video. I needed this!

[@Nazrininator]

After watching this video, I realized that I have always done a pretty good job organizing my computer files, even back when I was in 5th grade!

[@LOSOSOS2000]

I could use the graph application / template (file tree presentation) as seen @4:47 in Thomas' video. Thanks to show me where it is to be found!

[@BaselSpeedZ]

coggle

[@syedzaidi49]

Great video. excellent. Thank you for the hard work in making this video.

[@levantateyora9317]

I mostly don't comment but you really cover every point. This means you really did your work to record the video keep it up .good work

[@Hadhoudtn]

One extra tip : I use an app called fences to organize the icons on my desktop :)

[@JennyDawid]

I'm in the middle of my HDs cleanup. You saved my sanity.

[@anna26uni]

Thank you! Backblaze is exactly what I was looking for!

[@shriidharkulkarni6648]

Excellent video... Very helpful. Thanks a lot for upload.

[@clayshippy2652]

Boy is this ever timely! I am scanning all my old notes and journals into my computer to "down size" my life. I have biology notes from before Noah's flood! So far I am organizing by date... year... but after that I have no clue how to organize them. Thank you Thomas.

[@wizardofodds8239]

Be interesting if you could share the DATES of your biology notes before Noah's flood. How'd you keep them dry? That, and Dates.

[@norrisjanoudi6771]

I would love to hear your updates/improvements/comments that you have after some time now. I happen to be using a similar organization structure for a while; and for somebody (humbly) proficient like us, we face serious challenges that are tougher to solve. Examples: Going by year is very efficient for some categories, but what do you do when you stumble upon some files that are 'timeless' in a sense? How do you deal with docs that belong in multiple location (duplication is not always ideal)? How do create a system that includes family members that have their own system but still be able to share files efficiently? And so on... Again, I'd love to hear your opinion. Thanks for all the work you do!

[@mikediaz9033]

Extremely enlightening. Kudos, friend 👏.

[@anshuvb8051]

Thanks for making this video. Very useful.

[@kendawg_mcawesome]

For me, I've found that nesting often leads to filepaths that are too long for my filesystems, now I strongly believe if I'm more than 3 folders deep, I should be trying to rethink my approach.

[@RaoBlackWellizedArman]

That’s exactly right. And I have workaround for that but I’m not gonna share it 😂

[@jarodhardcastle1350]

@@RaoBlackWellizedArman lol y ur not in competition with the world aha

[@RaoBlackWellizedArman]

Jarod Hardcastle lol that’s true. But I’ve found it that often people either don’t understand my approaches or do not take my words seriously and don’t even bother trying which kinda irritates me. 😏

[@DarkSitari]

Metadata

[@iBot.]

@@RaoBlackWellizedArman Try me

[@KlausBentes]

Have you been watching me? This is exactly what I was looking for!

[@sohn7767]

He’s reading our minds and uploads accordingly

[@chelseacoleman6586]

Thank you. I needed this.

[@1x56]

Incredible video. Thanks so much!

[@fidget2020]

Another useful way to organize folders is to prefix them with a 2 digit number based on the frequency of use. For example, I work on files in my Projects folder way more often than Admin files, so I rename the Projects folder to 00 Project and the Admin folder to 10 Admin, and so on. Least frequent is 90... This way my most frequently used folders are always at or near the top of the folder tree - no more scanning/scrolling down! If you increment the prefixes by 10 (rather then by 1) you can insert an 05 (for example) folder as your folder frequency of use changes. Nice, right?

[@PeterPepper93]

that's very useful piece of advice ! i'm amazed you don'( have more comments !!

[@fidget2020]

Peter Pepper Thanks, Peter. Me too, maybe I should repost with an avatar of a busty young lady...lol My system also works really well when working in a mixed language environment as numbers are always easier to follow than words or text. No need to translate, spelling mistakes become less critical, etc.

[@jatindua5866]

That's really a good piece of advice! I'll use this method. Thanks!

[@copycat21c]

I have colleagues who laugh at me for following these practices. I am so sharing this video with them...

[@raflyrivaldi4555]

I guess they're messy

[@intentionalliving7326]

Who is laughing now?! 😂🤗

[@kartoffelbrei8090]

I mean they are not the non plus ultra. I think there are a lot of ways to organize your files that work.

[@copycat21c]

@@kartoffelbrei8090 So long as you organise them at least. 🤓

[@himalayanplanespotter2021]

Thanks Tom! I have also seen your productivity video on skillshare and found it really useful.

[@ChrisLovejoy]

so so so helpful, thanks Tom!

[@skripnigor]

From my experience in Evernote the key thing is to develop a habit of adding tags to your files - this makes building the file tree almost unnecessary. I wish Windows had a more robust file tag system.

[@RanmaruRei]

I don't think so. Tags are good. But still without a file tree it will be a mess.

[@slimanemesbah8500]

you can rename the file starting with the tag exemple: file1 and you want to give a tag ( school) do: rename it to: school_file1 or school file1 or school-file1 then if you wanna search for a tag: just enter the tag name in the search bar and all the files with this tag will appear

[@skripnigor]

@@slimanemesbah8500 Not quite. Tags ≠ folders. You might not necessarily remember that the thing you are looking for is in the ‘school’ category. That’s why usually a note/file has many tags. You will end up with ridiculously long cumbersome file names if you try to cram in all the tags there. In Evernote you get suggestions from your previously entered tags list so you are unlikely to add an unsearchable misspelled tag (schol, shcool, scool, skhcool etc.) to your note.

[@slimanemesbah8500]

@@skripnigor all right, then, try out Tag Explorer, you can get it for free on the microsoft store

[@Carvin0]

@@RanmaruRei A file tree is, in effect, a list of tags separated by backslashes (look at the full path). But a file tree forces the list of tags to be in a specific order for no logical reason. If there was a fully robust tagging system (any file type can have tagging metadata), then the "file tree" could be completely flat, and the "structure" would be inherent in the collection of tags (in no specified order) and the boolean (and/or/not) scripts used to search.

[@kriskropd]

I use timestamps in file and directory names occasionally for two reasons: 1. It's relevant to that date (log files or time sensitive projects and etc or a lazy-dump to move stuff off my smartphone and make space while organizing long term on my archive server) 2. I don't trust timestamp retention across file systems (they are not universal and moving files between different file systems puts them at risk of re-dating to that beloved Unix Epoch time of Jan 1st of 1970 or the date of most recent modification) As for "cloud" storage, if you only need 100GB in your life then I'm truly happy for you. SSH/SCP or SFTP is pretty friggin easy to set up and make a habit of using as well as automate with scripting. Also stuff like OpenCloud is available.

[@lifelens80]

It's really helpful for my school project, Thank you so much.

[@cezenn]

nice video! was lookimg for something like that as a guide. thxs :)

[@zijingwu7547]

Hey Thomas! In terms of searching for a file, you should use Alfred!

[@maurolimaok]

Hi Thomas, what app did you use to draw the mind map at 4:50 at the video?

[@amyp4632]

Following! I have the same question

[@Owl0823]

Looks like Coggle!

[@katharinehanlon2155]

Thank you for these great tips

[@anujmajumdar4615]

I was looking for thissss !

[@sneezyIce]

I needed to set my root on the desktop. As much I love a clean desktop, my brain forgets what it doesn't see, so I constantly need to jolt my brain

[@chrisjay4797]

What tool did you use to create the multi coloured decision tree around 4:51?

[@gabyramirez44]

Wondering the same thing. Did you ever find out?

[@eliaskouakou7051]

Mind mapping apps

[@nelsonmugo6808]

Awesome. I was wondering the same thing. thank you Elias Kouakou

[@nelsonmugo6808]

emmsnems has commented down there that it looks like it is coggle

[@Laston]

Coogle or MindNode 😉

[@mandyweed5584]

Been waiting for this since your paper organizing video. Kept being disappointed, but here we are!!!! Yay

[@mexar3254]

Thanks for this, it really helped me a lot.

[@ArthursHD]

Too many levels doesn't always work since Windows has Legacy 260 character limit on path. Plus access time drops with more levels, indexing takes more resources. On other hand practical limit is about 5k Items in one directory. Then there is an option to add meta data, use filters sorting and searching.

[@guineabable08]

"Secret Shameful Harry Potter Fan Fiction" this man is real

[@-homechord-2908]

Ooooooof. Too real man too real

[@goliathfox]

Been working IT a long time(20+ years). My backups consisted just the basic OS structure: Documents\Pictures\Video folders being root and after a while, the way MS organizes files, this just gets cumbersome and unintuitive. My trees now look a lot better thanks to your tips!

[@kyletremblay5295]

Been waiting on this one! Seatbelt very much buckled in.

[@ivanperezs]

“I call this a tree structure”. Holy s**t, I thought it was just me.

[@Gabifuertes]

Some other things that may be useful: tags, git and the command line

[@manosalexakis]

Gabifuertes explain plz, we are not all physicists

[@MK-ih6wp]

Spotlight if you're a Mac user, use the keyboard shortcut nonstop

[@robertjones811]

"Tags" are keywords that you make up and assign/attach - one or more - to a file. Search for the tag, find all files assigned that tag. Tagging is built into MacOS so any file of any kind generated from any macintosh application can be tagged. Using tags and good file names, with far fewer folders, emphasizes finding files over organizing them. An electronic version of a paper filing cabinet is just another "find the folder in the haystack" waste of time. Yes I use (computer) folders but I quit years ago trying to organize the hell out of things as I did with physical paper.

[@Gabifuertes]

I never realized I had replies to this comment. Tags are set to a file for making searching easier. It's metadata. Git is for version control, you create versions of folders and you make changes. You can go back as much as you want, and you won't need to create copies. It also saves disk space by internally delivering those versions through storing only the differences (diffs). The command line is super powerful to manage files. Anything you want to do, you can apply to multiple files easily. If I want to delete all screenshots from my desktop folder, all I have to do is rm Screenshot* while I'm there, as opposed to sorting by name, selecting everything, and then press delete. This isn't that complicated but the same principle can be applied to renaming which is equally easy, not so much on the graphical file manager.

[@marley1306]

Thank you so much for the great information

[@JiaFit]

I never thought I'd watch a video on organising files yet here I am! Thanks.

[@TeresaBarrozo]

Hi, Thomas! What mind mapping app are you using? Thanks in advance!

[@EllyXia]

My downloads and desktop are filled with random files

[@mexanx]

Thomas Frank wants to know your location

[@kartoffelbrei8090]

@ickibot ctrl + a; Del; Enter; rclick on trash bin; clear; enter

[@aishaalowais1705]

I am doing a workshop in my university about the same topic. Your video is going to be a great help for me.

[@peach5402]

as an IT student this is really important for me ... thank u