There are too many
computer files, how to manage them? The problem of how to manage files
like you.
In fact, there are three stages of file management, which are divided according to the effect and depth of file management you want to achieve: the first stage is the most preliminary, but it can only solve the immediate problems, the third stage requires the usual accumulation and attention, but once done successfully, it can cover all your files. In the process of using the computer,
you may often encounter these situations: forget the location of the file, can not find the history file, and handover work, others do not even know what this pile of things is. The root of all
this is that in the process of placing, searching and deleting files again and again, you are unconsciously swallowed up by the messy files.
Document organization also depends on a person’s concentration and action.
Many people find it troublesome to organize documents, but in fact, the root of this feeling is the arrangement on the spur of the moment.
Without a unified document management idea, it often leads to greater confusion, just like making the same mistakes over and over again.
From now on, make a simple schedule to clean up the desktop first and then the hard disk.
So you don’t waste time on “I want to tidy up!”! Ah, sort out the trouble. “This kind of repeated entanglement.”.
I divide document management into three stages: the first is preliminary arrangement, the second is efficient management, and the last is in-depth arrangement.
First of all, let’s talk about the initial organization that is applicable to everyone-there are two keywords: “organize the desktop” and “manage common files”.
Most people do not have a uniform classification standard before dealing with documents, and they can store them wherever they are. The state of mind of
a lot of people is: Since desktop is so convenient, that file is put in desktop.
Over time, because the number of unsorted documents accumulated over time is getting larger and larger, even if they want to sort them out, they are powerless.
Because the increase and decrease of files is a continuous process, so when managing the desktop, I suggest you do the following three things: First, give the files a good name: When downloading files to the desktop, give them a name that you can understand. Solve the file name problem
from the source.
File names can include many parts, such as “number, modification date, keywords, file type, file content, more notes” and so on.
Just like the way movies are named on Douban: “Movie”- “America”- “Science Fiction”- “Interstellar”-Jonathan Nolan-169 minutes- “2014-11-12”.mov, in this way, we can really describe a file completely.
When searching, you can find it by searching for any tag.
However, we usually don’t have time to name all the files according to this rule.
In fact, just select the elements you need from these modules.
I’m used to describing a file with only two or three elements.
For example, name the newly edited document 2017-10-05-File Management-01.md.
Second, do a good job of association and archiving: consciously put the relevant documents together in use, so as to facilitate further operation of the whole.
At the same time, file the expired documents and keep the desktop clean.
I usually put the finished manuscript and the pictures used in it into a folder with time as the beginning, and this step is to consciously associate the files.
Then put this folder into the directory where the same kind of folder is stored in the hard disk, and the archiving is completed.
Third, arrange the folder properly: spend a little time to arrange the file classification, and then don’t change the classification easily.
It’s better to wait until you have time to organize your desktop files than to save trouble by cramming everything into the same new folder. The only thing resident on
my desktop is a shortcut to the document library for quick filing and viewing of files.
Other files will be archived to the hard disk as soon as they are completed.
If you have a lot of work files, you might as well set up shortcuts to several folders until you can quickly open all the locations. Manage
efficiently and then we’ll talk about how to manage common files. The core of
this step is to make good use of shortcuts, quick access to libraries, tags and other functions to gather commonly used files in an accessible location and improve the speed of accessing commonly used files. “Tags”
in macOS can aggregate files of the same type across folders. Libraries in
Windows cluster different folders together. The
final effect is the same.
Tags can be roughly divided into two categories, one is qualitative for the document itself, such as “document” and “material”.
These labels do not need to be modified for a long time after they are affixed. Qualitative labels can be enriched, which is very helpful for retrieving documents.
The other is temporary, such as “being processed”, “to be filed”, “to be improved” and so on, which need to be increased or decreased according to the progress of work.
It is generally used to get into work quickly, such as when a tag should be updated every time a job is completed.
Finally, I want you to review these few habits over and over again.
At the beginning of the habit, it is recommended to stick them on the desk with a post-it note. Whenever the idea of not organizing documents occupies your mind, use this post-it note to wake yourself up. After
finishing the preliminary arrangement, the files have a certain degree of organization, you can clearly know where the desktop files and common files are, and it is unlikely that you can not find a file.
Document management is not limited to organizing, you also need to improve the efficiency of document use, which has to mention the “efficient management” of documents.
This step can use some simple and efficient tools, such as the quick search software Everything, which can quickly find any file in the computer.
Everything is different from the slow system’s own search. It uses the USN log index and can search any file in the PC through keywords and regular expressions.
For example, if I want to find an important personnel transfer form half a year ago, I can directly use Everything to search for vague keywords such as “personnel transfer” and “.xlsx”, and then I can instantly retrieve and locate the desired document in the vast number of documents. DropIt, a software that
automatically organizes files, can customize rules and automatically monitor file changes to organize files.
For example, if you want to automatically classify the files on the desktop into different folders according to their types, you can create an automatic classification rule in DropIt and complete the classification after downloading.
If you don’t want to do this every time, you can also let DropIt automatically monitor file changes, such as monitoring download folders, automatically copying small documents to the desktop, so that you can quickly enter the work.
Automatically decompress the compressed package file and open the download directory to see the contents of the compressed package.
Deep users can also choose third-party file managers such as Total Commander to quickly manage files. Total Commander’s rich shortcut keys allow you to complete all file-related operations only by keyboard. If you are a novice, it doesn’t matter if you can’t reach this level for a while. Total Commander also offers easy-to-use favorites, tags, and more. Have a new experience and greater efficiency when
managing your files. After
comparing and choosing the convenient software and getting used to the quick operation, you can use these software to manage the files effectively for a long time.
If you are not satisfied with sorting out the current documents and want to sort out the historical documents in good order, you need to enter the stage of deep sorting out.
The first step is to change the file names that are completely incomprehensible to the form that best meets your needs, such as naming the files that depend on time as “date + file name”. The minimum requirement for
naming a file is to let yourself know the general contents of the file without opening it.
If you are patient, you can also add more detailed descriptions to the file names, such as naming the selected photos as “time + place + event + person”.
Next, it is necessary to establish a unified and complete folder hierarchy, archive different types of historical files, and make fine-tuning for each type of files in accordance with the characteristics of the files, so that the files in the whole computer are in good order.
In this step, the disk is divided into several categories, such as “work”, “study” and “entertainment”, taking into account all possible directories as far as possible.
But this crude classification will not stand the test of time.
A better way to categorize is to “know where the file is at a glance”, for example, you like to download pictures from the Internet and backup photos. Instead of mixing the
two in the same folder, divide them into “pictures” and “photos,” so that every time you back up photos, your first reaction is to look for “photos” instead of any other folder.
In addition to the first level of classification, it is better not to have more than three levels of folders, and too detailed classification will also kill the idea of organizing.
It is better to create more folders than to create four or five folders. Now that
the renaming and folder hierarchy is complete, it’s time to talk about archiving.
Archiving and Backup Archiving is the organization of files that are no longer used frequently.
You need to pick out the documents that are valuable for future reference and file them together.
This step is also the process of sorting documents. You can save hard disk space by deleting
three types of files.
They are documents with no retention value, documents that can be easily downloaded from the Internet, and documents that have expired or are time-sensitive. Most of the documents left after
deletion are the essence of their own work, or documents of reference value for the future. Move
them to the portable hard disk or network disk.
Complete the last step of the backup.
Also, don’t listen to the so-called “separation” theory, which may be useful for minimalist life, but the hard disk is used to store files, there is no need to cut themselves off, and when they want to go back to find the files, they can’t find them. After finishing the
above arrangement, when you look back at the well-organized document warehouse, I think your heart must be full of a sense of achievement.
After completing the above general steps, you need to customize a set of procedures according to your actual situation and strictly follow them.
In fact, you can see the experience of file management shared by others in many places, but the experience of others may not be suitable for you.
Because file management needs to be combined with usage habits, such as others like to download videos, I do not like.
Then I don’t need to create a dedicated folder for videos at all. What
you should do is to establish your own workflow and build a comfortable working environment for yourself from the level of document management.
For example, to write a manuscript, you need to find information, then write, and possibly deal with drawings. After
documenting these processes, find ways to make the files more relevant.
For example, put the commonly used software shortcuts, reference materials, manuscripts and graphic materials in the same library. Just open this work folder
every time you work.
Another example is that I synchronize all the files on my desktop in the cloud so that I can work with them on any device.
Even if the person is not in front of the PC and someone asks me for a recent file, I can still find and send it to him within 5 minutes.
This is file management, and this is efficiency.
Therefore, file management is not complicated, as long as you have the intention to use your time in peacetime. Each of
us can manage our own files.
Learn to use these good methods and tools to change your work from chaos to order.
. Focus on not getting lost ~
