5 Ways to Better Organize Your Files

Looking for that one file you can’t locate, when your boss is hovering over your shoulders? Or the embarrassing situation you find yourself in, when you are frantically searching for a report in between a presentation.

These are the few situations that might arise if you keep your files cluttered and  haphazard. The solution is pretty simple – organize your files. With a dash of commitment, pinch of dedication and a bit of your time, planning and keeping your important documents in order becomes an easy job. With Zoho Docs, uploading and storing files is now easier than ever.

Here are a few tips to help you stay organized:

1. Naming is the key: Create Perfect Folder Names

While nothing can beat the clear and concise naming of files to make your file hunting easier, creating file folders can provide an added level of organization by grouping your files into categories. Naming your file folders year-wise or topic-wise is completely at your discretion. But thinking how you will search for your files and then creating a category list from it, can help you reach the decision faster.

Give the folders clear and concise names. Names such as Miscellaneous and General can create ambiguity and make file searching arduous. On the other hand, names such as Invoice_June_2014, July14Sales, DesignDocuments, and ZoholicsPresentation, help you locate your files faster.

2. Let them be where they belong: Move Files

After you have created the categories, your next task is to arrange the files in their respective folders. If you have all your files at one place in your system, chances are you won’t have much difficulty moving them to the folders, as the basic organizational principles hold true.

But in cases where your files are scattered all over your system – online, and offline – you will have to steer through the process more carefully. While scrutinizing the files, what is essential and what files can be trashed is also a major decision that you need to make. To move files to the cloud, either upload files directly, or move if from your drives and local folders to their respective folders.

3. Assign keywords, search quicker: Add Tags

Every file has assigned properties like Author, Last Modified Date, Size and others, which can be viewed under File Properties option. But you can also add an extra value to the properties of the file by assigning each file an unique tag. Although there are many properties associated with your files, tags are often the most useful of properties. You can add tags that contain words or phrases which can make file search easier. Depending on your convenience you can also name multiple files under the same tag, and find them easily.

4. Organized the hierarchy, lesser the clutter: Create Nested Folders

To further classify your files, and break them down to locate easily, you can create nested folders and store files. Having multiple levels can help you track down the exact file you are looking for, and avoid the trouble of going through multiple files under one root folder.

While multi-level folders, or nested folders, you can add a level of sophistication to your organization, having too many levels can also become cumbersome. So, wherever possible, keep the nested folders to a minimum of two or three levels.

5. Locate files easily: Mark as Favorites

There are always some files which are accessed more frequently than others. It may be your daily sales report, attendance sheet or marketing files. The most convenient way to find them is to mark them as your Favorite. Once the file is marked as Favorite, you can avoid searching and directly access the file from your Favorites tab. Not only files, you can also mark your frequently accessed folders as Favorite too, and view all the files in it under a single tab.

These easy steps can help you stay organized, and manage your files better. Try Zoho Docs to experience clutter-free document management.

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