I am a digital photographer and artist. I photograph many everyday objects, often editing my photos into unique works of art. I have over 55,000 photos to keep organized. I also have my daily writing, as well as many other folders to file. Keeping my files organized on my laptop was difficult. I was spending too much time hunting for what I knew I had somewhere, but where was the question. I finally realized I needed a specific system to maintain my laptop file integrity. What I came up with is simple and straightforward, yet the structure is exclusively designed for me by me, using the words I know will trigger my memory when I am looking for something.

When I write an article for one of the two BellaOnline Websites I edit, I name the file based on which site I was writing for and use this method. The file is named for the name of the BellaOnline Website and current year, then I insert a dash or – and name the article, another – and I use the month and day I publish the article last. For instance this story might be named BellaADD2008-Organizing Computer Files-Oct22 then I hit the save button. By the way I do not have spaces between the words, that is just for the sake of the spell checker on here.

Now when I do a search for my BellaOnline Attention Deficit Disorder Articles they all come up in a group together and I can easily see on what date I posted a specific article. I use the same method for my Missing and Exploited BellaOnline Website. Next year I will change the year to 2009, which makes finding my articles listed by the date effortless. If I am working on an article and it is still a work in progress as I save it the last section is changed to a capitol (IP) for in progress, until the day I post the article at which point I change the (IP) to the current month and day.

I have multiple files or bookmarks for each member of my immediate family. This desire to keep updated information poses another organizational problem for me. What to do with all the information saved in my files for the kids, husband or me. If I have a file to name and it is for my husband, I start with the person’s name, Bill-Name of File-Month & Year. For example, Bill-Tax Return-Oct2008, and I use my child’s first names for their files. When I am done I keep my files sorted by name and this keeps everything in a neat order and easy to find.

I do this for my various book marks and favorite files. If I am looking up dresses for my daughter’s homecoming I label the folder Rachal-dresses. If I am getting ideas for Christmas and Birthday lists I type in the name of the person and then the type of list, for instance, Evan-Christmas2008. Now when I want to go back and find that blue sparkly dress I saw for my daughter’s homecoming dance, I simply start my search in my bookmarks or favorites using her first name. I have other folders such as a school folder and medical information.By naming my information as I file it on my computer it saves me time when I am trying to find the information at a later date.

This system took me a while to set up but by all means it has been the best system I have maintained to date. This is just one way to file items of importance and varying degrees of necessity. I am sure many of you have similar systems and I would love to hear from you on how you manage your files. If you are interested in sharing your system please post in the forum. I look forward to hearing from some of you.