Learning: File Management

I've decided I need to revisit my file management philosophy. At work, I deal with a rather large amount of file revisions and complex tasks under each phase for each project. It can get confusing, fast.

What happens in the case I'm out of the office and my boss or a co-worker need to get into my project files to access important information? My file system needs to be intuitive.

Right now I have sub-folder under our department's folder on the shared drive. Inside my "area" folder, I have hundreds of other folders for each of the projects that I either started or that needed saving for archival purposes.

This is when it gets tricky. Each project folder obviously needs sub-folders to help sort some of the contents. For example, a periodical will have a "pre-production" folder, with the edits folder, the layout folder, and a series of loose files about the printing house quote/invoices/etc. Obviously, that makes for A LOT of subfolders.

Folder Structure
Saving the file location in the file itself has never been a favorite technique for me. This resource location address needs to be updated in the case the file is moved to a different folder, else it becomes obsolete.

Date Documents
The auto-date field can overwrite a previous version's date, by accidentally opening and resaving to the same file name, thereby losing important information.

Consistent File Names
For files I share with others in a collaboration, I prefer adding a v1 or v2 to the file name, along with the date. However, by using the day's date in the file name, it's redundant, as the details view in any folder can automatically show you the date a document was created and/or saved--the trick is, when you cut and paste a file from a folder to another one, it's possible the information becomes lost.

WYSIWYG Reminders
I remember in my project management coursework, a few years ago, there was a table inserted into our group collaboration document with the date, initials, and version to help delineate what was done, by whom, and when. If too many revisions were made to the document, we'd end up with a two page table just for the version tracking. Not fun.

Some individuals feel that all invoice documents or all graphics documents are best saved in folders with like files, so you have essentially a repository of all the same file extensions. I definitely would never be able to find anything that way. I work better looking up a project's folder and seeing the files laid out before me. At least to me, it makes sense.

So, there obviously isn't just one or two "right" ways of managing files. It's very subjective to what you need to access, how quickly, and what you need to know about each file. Or even to whether your company has a policy for how things should be saved and accessed--such as is the case with intranets usually.

A majority of the search results for "file management" tips from Google is just a series of advertisements for downloadable file management systems or apps. I, however, am interested in restructuring the way I process information and save it, so that it's easily retrievable.

I was looking up various file management tips online. I found a good, basic run-through on an About.com portal (Small Business Canada: 10 File Management Tips), but it left me wanting more.

There was a good guide on the Microsoft Windows website (Working with Libraries), discussing libraries and how they can help you find a better solution than just folders and sub-folders.

So if I come up with or run across a more useful process, I'll be sure to post it here. Right now, the process I use seems to help me answer those "Johnny on the spot" left-field type questions that I usually get at work. Thankfully, I've a document trail for almost anything ;o) Learned the hard way!