File Organization Tips

Hi,


A few weeks ago i was totally re-organizing my file system on the computer.
What i did. I threw all of my projects, everything, into 1 folder and from there moved them to "Archive" or the "Pending" box.

The problem starts with Archive. I don't where exactly to store my files. Some are more like Art, Music (i am a musician) and so on. But problems come in when i reach files for my job. As i said i am a musician - an Audio Engineer to. So where do i store those file regarding reading material about Audio Engineering which tell about music theory? Hmm?!
Sure, i can tag those files with Quicksilver or Punakea (the best tagging software i found for the mac except it doesnt let you choose which characters to use for delimiting tags) but, you know, that isn't exactly what i am looking for.

So i asked myself, how are you organizing your files, your life etc into folders and subfolders?

Thanks in advance
Zettt

I like to compare my file organisation on my imac to the ancient Roman Empire

All of the sub folders which is like all of the outlying roman cities are totally organised. Everything in neat ordered lists. I can easily find anything I want. It's great. Everything has it's place. For example music videos are in the the relevant artist folder in the music video folder and the same for the rest of my files.

But my dektop or Rome is a complete mess. Anything new is just dumped there. And anything that doesn't fit on my desktop is just shoved into a desktop folder so unorganised etc. And like only every few months do I do a clean up and organise everything to there it belongs (that includes things that need to be trashed). But given a week or so it's back to it's messy state.

I'm not a fan of how I do things but it's just how I do things. I so need a better way though.

i keep my desktop completely empty.

finder is a good place to start when organizing. make use of the sidebar, feel free to create more folders within your home folder. i've added both a downloads and archive folder here. i also created a number of subfolders within the standard folders (documents, movies, music, pictures, etc) to help keep things easy to find.

you could create a subfolder in your home folder called "work" and then divide that folder into music, projects, etc. then keep your "personal stuff in the default folders and your work stuff organized in the work folder tree.

Like Eric, I keep my Desktop completely clear. My rule is "if an item is on the Desktop it needs to be filed into the correct folder".

I use a very organized folder structure, with folder trees for all major areas: a Finance folder, a Photos folder, a Music folder, a career folder, a Work-Related folder and so on.

However, I can't imagine that anyone here can really give you advice that will work for you. Only YOU will know how you like to organize things so that it makes sense to you and makes it easy to find something when you want to. Some people are hugely "into" organizing, with a place for everything and everything in its place (I am one of this type) and some people are into just heaping things up wherever they land. Whatever works for you...

As long as you can find what you are looking for when you are looking for it, the system you are using is probably working for you!

And use your labels and Smart Folders. It's a pity you only get seven labels, but they're very useful for categorizing things.

eric said:

you could create a subfolder in your home folder called "work" and then divide that folder into music, projects, etc. then keep your "personal stuff in the default folders and your work stuff organized in the work folder tree.

Click to expand...

I have many difficulties to divide things up. Because i am self-employed and the line between me and my work is very blurred. Sometimes i can't really say if that is work i am doing for me or if it's something i am doing for someone else.

I decided to divide my files in 4 folders. In, Pending, Out, Archive - Archive is the point.

The Tipp with the sidebar is good
There are sitting those 4 folders, waiting for files i give' em.

Here is how it is by now:
1. Things coming in (Inbox) - everything - Downloads, Mail Downloads etc. EVERYTHING which produces digital data
2. From there i put files where they should be. i divide them up (with Spotlight comments) in: idea, preparation, pending, procrastinate, wait for. I use Hazel to find files i am currently really working on and which i procrastinate and don't work on. (especially some songs for a new album... *argh* Often i have to work for money and not for my music.)
3. When something is very old it get's moved automatically to archive. So that i can see "Oh there's another one of those ideas which were just ideas."
We are now inside archive. I have a special folder called "Music" there. Where i put all of my music in. Done projects which i can't assign to a client. Artwork for the music, etc. But there are many other folders. I decided not to split "Me" up again, as i did before, so i have folders like: Clients, Programming, Computer & Software (mainly PDFs about ...), Friends, Scripts & Snippets, Homepages, Mind, Office (eg. all of my invoices) ...


I feel well organized this way but i thought there is maybe some smarter way...


Thanks for your answer

How do you create folders?

mac57 said:

I use a very organized folder structure, with folder trees for all major areas: a Finance folder, a Photos folder, a Music folder, a career folder, a Work-Related folder and so on.

Click to expand...

I just got a MacBook, and can't find this info on the puter or in the books (folder, files, organization, subfolders).

thanks