It’s become so much easier to save and back up your files. Hard disk drives come with a lot of capacity, and you can invest in external storage should you ever run out of file space. However, with so much stuff on your devices, finding a file when you need it—quickly and easily—also becomes harder.
If you want to do some digital
decluttering for the new year, here are some ways to reorganize your files, as inspired by Wirecutter.
Make sure to set aside at least an entire afternoon or free up your week so you can do it in sprints, as completing
the task will depend on how many folders and files you have to sift through.
Decide how you want to name your files and folders.
Screenshot by author
Before diving in, get an overview of the files you must organize. Divide them according to categories—perhaps
you want one folder for work, one for personal files, or one for side projects. Then, decide on a naming system for
your files and folders.
For example, will file and folder names be capitalized or in lowercase? Will it be alphabetized? If you want a
certain folder or file to always be at the top of the list, should you use a hyphen (-) or numbers? Or if you want
to always keep it at the bottom, should you add a “z” before the name, like “zArchive?”
In my example above, my work folder is named “Next Upgrade.” I have subfolders for “Admin,”
“Articles,” and “Photos.” Then, under each folder, I decided to categorize them by year and
month.
Remember that the best way to organize your files is to keep them in folders. This will lessen any stray files that
can start the clutter.
Have folders for every stage of your project.
Screenshot by author
Stop the dreaded “Final”, “Final Final”, “Final 2”, etc., when organizing
schoolwork or projects. Create a folder for the project, then further divide it into stages of the project, like
“Research,” “Revisions,” “Final,” and “Removed” for any file you
want to keep but is not part of the final output.
Use dates and keywords when organizing photos.
Screenshot by author
It’s hard to search for photos when the filename is made up of dates, which is usually the case when it’s
taken by a smartphone or digital camera. Tidy up by choosing a date structure (2023-01) and insert keywords to
identify events or categories.
Include keywords in file names.
Screenshot by author
Keywords make it easier to search for files. Think of specific words that a possible user might type when looking for
a file. For example, in my article for the PLDT Home Health Pass, I used the same keyword for both photo and
document to make searching for the files on my laptop easier.
Use tags to connect multiple files.
Screenshot by author
Both MacOS and Windows 10/11 can tag and label files. This allows you to connect multiple files across folders. For
example, if I want to see all photos of the K-dramas I’ve written about over the years, I can make a tag
called “K-drama” and add another tag called “rom-com” to further narrow down the search
results. You can use tags to classify different kinds of files—for example, all files related to your work,
all files related to your family, all files related to finance, and so on.
Digital decluttering can get tedious, but you’ll surely feel accomplished in the end. If you’re also
doing online searches to help you reorganize, speed things up with fiber-fast Internet! With PLDT Home’s Fiber Plus Plans, you can enjoy unlimited and
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