How do you manage documents like that? In fact, there are three phases of document management, which are based on the effectiveness and depth of document management that you want: the first phase is the most preliminary, but it can only address the immediate problems, the third phase requires the usual accumulation and attention, but once successful, it can cover all of your documents.
You may encounter these situations often when you use a computer: forget the location of the document, you can’t find the historical document, you can’t get the hand-over, and you don’t even know what this pile is. This is the source of all of this, and it is in the process of placing, searching for and removing documents, that you have been swallowed up by a messy document.
Documentation also depends on one ‘ s focus and action. Many people find it difficult to document, but the source of this feeling is precisely the sorting that comes up. The absence of a unified approach to document management often results in greater confusion, as if the same mistake had been committed over and over again. From now on, a simple schedule should be drawn up to clear the desktop before the hard drive. “I’m going to clean up!” “Ah, clean up the troubles.”
3 phases of document management completed
I divided document management into three phases: first, initial, second, efficient management and, lastly, in-depth.
Initial consolidation
Let’s start with the initials that apply to everyone — the keywords are two words: “packing the desktop” and “managing the usual file”.
Most people do not have a uniform classification standard before processing documents, and they are stored wherever they are. Many people think that, since the desktop is so convenient, the file is on it. For a long time, the growing volume of unprocessed documents that have accumulated over the years has led to a lack of commitment, if any, in the end.
Since the increase and decrease in the number of documents is a continuous process, in managing the desktop, I recommend that you do the following three things:
First, give the documents a good name: when they are downloaded to the desktop, they are given a clear name. Address file names from the source. Document names may include many parts, such as “numbering, date of change, keywords, type of document, content of document, additional comments” and so on. Like the way the bean petals name a movie, “The movie” — “The United States” — “Scientific Fiction” — “Star travel” — Jonathan Nolan — 169 minutes — “2014-11-12.”mov, we can really describe a document in its entirety. If you search any label you can find it.
However, we do not usually have time to name all documents according to this rule. In fact, it is sufficient to select some of the required elements from these modules. I’m used to describing a document with two or three elements. For example, the newly edited document is named 2017-10-05-Document Management-01.md.
Second, linking and archiving: consciously putting the relevant documents together for further operation of the whole. The files of expired documents are also filed and the desktop is kept clean.
I usually place finished manuscripts and the images used in them in a folder starting with time, a conscious linkage file. The folder is then placed in the directory where the same type of folder is stored on the hard drive.
Thirdly, rationalize the folders: spend a little time sorting the documents and then do not easily change the classification. It is better to sort desktop files when you are free, rather than stuff everything into the same new folder.
Only the shortcuts of the document library, which are permanent on my desktop, are used to quickly archive and view files. Other documents will be archived on hard drives as soon as they are completed. If you have more working papers, you might want to set up a few more shortcuts until you can quickly open all your locations.
Efficient management
Then we’ll talk about how to manage common documents. At the heart of this step is the use of fast-tracking, fast-access libraries, labels, etc., to bring commonly used documents together in a place that can be reached by hand and to increase the speed of access to commonly used documents.
The “label” in MacOS can bring together the same type of file across the folder. The library in Windows can bring together different folders. The end result was the same.
The labels can be broadly divided into two categories, one for characterization of the document itself, such as “document” “materials”. These labels are not subject to modification for a long time, and the qualitative labels can be enriched and can be very helpful in retrieving documents.
The other category is temporary, such as “work in progress” “to be filed” and “to be completed” , which needs to be increased or reduced according to the progress of work. It’s usually used for rapid entry.
For example, the label should be updated whenever a job is completed.
Finally, I want you to look at these little habits over and over again. In the early stages of the development of habits, it was suggested that they should be placed on the table with a convenient sticker, which would be used to keep themselves awake whenever the idea of not collating documents occupied their mind.
There is a certain organizational aspect to the documents that are completed in their initial form, so that you have a clear idea of where the desktop file, the usual file, is located and it is unlikely that a particular document will not be found.
Document management is not just about organizing, but you also need to improve the efficiency of the use of documents, which has to refer to “efficiently managed” documents.
This step could make use of simple and efficient tools, such as the fast search software Everything can quickly find any file on the computer. Everything is a search for any file in the PC using the USN log index, unlike a system with a chronic subsystem, which can search through keywords, regular expressions. For example, I’m looking for an important personnel transfer form six months ago, using everything directly to search for vague keywords such as “personnel transfer” and “.xlsx” to locate the desired files in a momentous document.
DropIt, the software that automatically organizes documents, allows for the organization of documents by customizing rules and automatically monitoring changes in files. For example, if you want to automatically group files on the desktop into different folders by type, create an automatic classification rule in the DropIT, then you can sort them after downloading. If you do not want to do this every time, you can also allow DropIT to automatically monitor file changes, such as monitoring downloading folders, and automatically copying small files of document classes to the desktop to facilitate quick access to work. Automatically depresses the compressed package file and opens the download directory to see the contents inside the compressed package.
Depth users can also use third-party file managers such as TotalCommander to manage files quickly. TotalCommander’s rich shortcuts allow you to complete all the file-related operations on the keyboard alone. If you are new, you can’t reach this level at once. It doesn’t matter. TotalCommander also provides easy-to-use folders, labels, etc. New experience and greater efficiency in managing documents.
Comparing, choosing the software in hand, and being used for quick operations, allows for the long-term efficient management of documents.
Depth
If we are not satisfied with the preparation of the present document and hope that the historical document will also be organized, we will need to move to an in-depth process.
The first step would be to change the names of those documents that are completely incomprehensible to the form best suited to their own needs, such as the format of a time-dependent document named “Date + Filename”. The minimum requirement for naming a document is that it be known to itself without opening it. If you are patient, you can also add a more detailed description to the file name, for example, by naming the selected photograph “Time + Location + Event + Person”.
This is followed by the creation of a unified and complete folder level, the archiving of different types of historical documents, the fine-tuning of each type of document to suit the document characteristics, and the orderly sequencing of the document across the computer. In this step, as far as possible, taking into account all the directories that may be needed, disks are divided into several broad categories, such as “work” “learning” “recreation”. But this rough classification cannot stand the test of time.
A better way to classify it would be to subdivide it to “know where it is at first sight” — for example, you like to download pictures from the Internet and you like to back up them. So let’s not mix them in the same folder, but divide them into “photograms” and “photograms” so that every time a photo is backed up, the first reaction is to look for a “photogram” instead of any other folder.
In addition to the first level of classification, it would be preferable not to have more than three layers of folders, and the idea of too detailed a classification would also be diluted. You would rather build more folders than create a fourth-level fifth-level folder.
The division of the renaming and folder level has been completed.
Archive and Backup
Archiving is the sorting of documents that are no longer commonly used. You need to single out documents of future reference value for a single archive. This step is also a process of sorting out documents. The deletion of three types of documents saves hard disk space. These are, respectively, documents of unreserved value, documents that can easily be downloaded from the web, expired or time-barred documents.
Most of the documents left behind were excellent for their own work or were of reference value for the future. Move them into a moving hard drive or a web. Finish the last step back up.
Also, not to listen to the so-called “discretion” theory, which may be useful in a very simple way of life, but hard drives are used to store documents, there is no need to turn their backs, and they can’t find them when they want to look for them.
When you’re done with these things, you look back at the well-organized document store, and I think it must be a full sense of accomplishment.
Once these generic steps have been completed, you need to customize a usage process and adhere to it, taking into account your own realities.
You can actually see in a lot of places other people share experience in document management, but others don’t necessarily fit you. Because file management requires a combination of habits, like people who like to download videos, and I don’t like it. I don’t even need to create a unique folder for the video.
What you should do more is to create a work flow of your own and to create a comfortable working environment for yourself at the level of document management. Writing, for example, requires information, then writing, and possibly the processing of maps. When these processes are recorded, ways are found to increase the relevance of the documents. For example, the usual software shortcuts, reference materials, manuscripts and graphics are placed in the same library. All you have to do is open this working folder.
And I’ll do the cloud synchronisation of all the files on the desktop so that they can be processed on any device. Even if someone were not in the PPC, I was asked to have recent documents, I could just as well find them and send them to him in five minutes. That is document management, and that is efficiency.
So document management is not complicated, so if you have the heart, you use your kung fu in normal times. Each of us can manage our own documents.
Learn to use these good methods and good tools to get your work from chaos to order.