Half of your work is done if you have a clean and organized work place. Having a cluttered work place will do nothing but increase your work load as you might not be able to find important files when they are needed the most. Well, same goes for your computer. Your computer and folders should be as organized as your workplace so that you are able to find important things whenever you want them instead of ending up wasting a lot of time in finding them. As a designer, you must know that your work includes a lot of different things so creating a mess is not something impossible. But you have to make an effort to keep your files under control.
Before you get them in control, you need to understand the reasons behind the files getting out of control. There is not a specific reason behind the clutter. Have you ever thought why your room is always a mess or your closets are never well done. Honestly, these things take too much of personal and physical space that it gets hard to organize them. But computer files do not take any physical space so you can organize them in a more convenient way. All you need to do is become a little disciplined and use your common sense. It might sound a lot of hard work but trust me it isn’t. Yes, initially clearing the clutter would take your time but once you get into the routine, by the time you realize it, you will be an organized person. Keeping files under control would be something natural to you.
Now let’s take a look at the 5 effective ways to keep your files organized.
1. Just Delete Files If You No Longer Require Them:
You must be thinking that this is something you can think of yourself. Obviously if something is cluttered, the first thought in mind would be getting rid of the useless stuff right? The reason behind mentioning this tip here is that sometimes people overlook the most obvious things so yes it is like stating the obvious but it is very important. Go through your old files and the best way to delete them is without thinking twice. You need to simply delete all the unwanted files without thinking that you might need them in future.
It is no different than cleaning your room or getting rid of the clothes that you no longer wear. All you do is take a look at the things that you haven’t used for a while and throw them away. This is exactly how you will organize your computer. Honestly, organizing your computer is not a rocket science. You need to take out time to do it. While going through your files you need to analyze what is important and what is not. If old files are still relevant for your current project, keep them. If not, just throw them away.
Whenever you face a difficulty in finding the current project’s important file, it is a sign that your computer needs your time and some cleaning up.
2. Instant Actions Will Help You A Lot:
Well, the clutter you collect is because you do not take immediate action on the things that needs to be disposed. In order to avoid taking out special time for cleaning up your system you should take immediate actions on files you encounter. Obviously, everyone is busy these days and no one have enough time to take immediate actions as postponing sounds a lot better. Well, if the action on file is not going to take any more than 5 minutes of yours, go ahead and delete it or save it. If you see an incomplete document which can be fixed in five minutes, go ahead and complete it. If you find a few files that you no longer use, delete them then and there.
3. Less folders, less hassle:
In order to get organized people end up creating hundreds of folders in their computer which is not at all a good idea. You will found yourself lost in those folders while you are at the hunt of finding that one important file. Create folders that are actually important and you do not have to get into categories, sub categories and sub categories of sub categories. I hope you are getting my point. All you need to do is have separate folders for different projects. Now following are the two reasons why you should go for less folders:
- You do not have to be victim of indecision paralysis.
- You will not be hiding useless folders into more useless folders.
Too many folders will leave you confused only and will do no good to you so avoid too many unnecessary folders.
4. Get Rid Of Auto-Organizers:
This feature is supposed to help you in organizing files as it keeps the files under control automatically. You might like it initially but later on you will have so many folders that you will have to dive in to all those folders to find that single document. Worth it? Certainly not! This feature discourages the usage of delete button on your system which is wrong. You have to delete useless files at any cost. With such features you end u ignoring files and folders whereas they need you attention. By ditching auto organizing feature, you will be creating folder by yourself so you would be aware of every folder. You should be in charge of your own system and not someone else.
5. Consolidation Of Files:
Consolidating possible files obviously means fewer files in your system which means less clutter to deal with. It also makes finding things a lot easier. This is one of the best ways of becoming organized since you will have all same kind of files at one place, finding relevant things won’t be hard. But you need to keep in mind that every file cannot be consolidated but the ones which can, you should consolidate them. You can do this whenever you have enough time on your hands.
Learn To Control Your Files Better:
The above mentioned points were actually meant to help you in getting rid of the useless files in your computer which are obviously a hitch in your work as well. I would never want to manage my system every now and then as it can be quite irritating. These five things will develop a habit of keeping things organized and by the time you know, you have an organized computer. The best way to do all this is by just implementing them without thinking too much. The more you delay means more clutter in your system and more clutter will result into more confusion. Imagine you are on a call with current client and you are unable to find the most important file for your recent project because you are too lost in old files which are no longer required. This is nothing less than a nightmare. There might be various ways of keeping things under control however; the ones I have mentioned above are the best ones according to me. All you need to do is act on the tips given below and you are sure to have a clean and organized computer system.
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These were some helpful tips! I will be putting them to good use. Thank you!
Defenitly agree.
I will try to do some your way 🙂