MANAGE FILES EFFICIENTLY IN WINDOWS 10

It is always annoying if you cannot find what you are looking for. Does it always take a lot of time before you find a file on your Windows 10 computer? Or do you sometimes have no idea where you have saved a certain file? Then it’s time to manage files more efficiently. Saving documents correctly and maintaining a logical structure saves you a lot of time. Do you never want to lose a file, video or photo again on the computer? Then follow these tips to always keep an overview of the files on your hard drive.

Start immediately

It may seem that it takes a lot of time and effort to efficiently manage computer files. After all, you have to come up with certain rules for yourself and you must adhere to the structure you have designed. The opposite is true. If you do not immediately start to maintain a logical structure, it can only cause more problems in the future. Because the more documents you store in illogical places, the greater the chance that you will no longer be able to find these files.

A correct folder structure

We already mentioned it: The use of folders is essential if you want to keep an overview of all your documents. There are various ways to structure your folders. To start, it is possible to save files per category. Consider, for example, your vacation photos. You can first create a folder called “Holiday photos”. This also includes the folders of destinations such as “Spain 2019”, “Italy 2016”, “France 2014” etc. Finally, you can create folders for specific cities such as “Malaga”, “Barcelona” and “Madrid”.

Another option is to create folders based on date. In general this is not recommended, but in specific cases it may be useful. For example, you may need to keep your daily reports organized. Or do you take photos of one object every day and do you want to save them by date? Note, however, that you must always search by date and that the folder name says little about the content.

Although folders are certainly important, it is better not to create too many new folders. Take the example of vacation photos for example. Here the bottom map is the city that you visited during the destination (eg Rome). You could then choose to create a folder for each attraction or meal, for example. But as you may already notice, then it all becomes very specific. This makes it harder to find the right holiday photo.

A good description

Giving your files and folders a correct description also ensures that you can find files faster. First of all, make sure the description makes sense. For example, if you have a report about working more efficiently in the workplace, the file name may be “efficient-work-shop-floor.docx” By using relevant keywords, it is always clear what the content of the document is.

Furthermore, make sure that you give folders and files a short description. We recommend using a maximum of 4 words. Furthermore, it is better for the overview to be consistent. If you first use “efficient-work-shop-floor.docx” and then “Training for Employees.docx”, this will not improve the findability of the files.

The last tip is not to save duplicated versions of files. The following phenomenon is probably familiar to everyone: “report_v1”, “report_v2”, “report_Final”, “report_really_FINAL.” Etc. etc … Apart from the fact that the description is unclear, it also causes confusion. Unless it is really necessary to save all versions, it is advisable to save only the most recent version of a file on your Windows 10 computer. This allows you to find the file faster.

View change

When you have opened a folder it can sometimes be difficult to find the document you are looking for. A handy option is to change the “View” of the folder so that you have a better view of the contents of a folder. To start, open the folder and then right-click on an empty part of the folder. Then select ‘View’. You can then choose from several options.

For example, the “Large icons” option displays a small preview of the content of photos and videos. This is ideal if you are looking for a specific photo quickly. Thanks to the “List” function, files are compactly put together. This option is useful when, for example, you want to search a massive folder by file name.

Always archive files

The last tip to manage files more efficiently within Windows 10 is to make a backup in the cloud. Unfortunately it can always happen that a hard disk crashes. No matter how well your files are sorted, a crash can cause you to lose all your files within seconds. Fortunately, there are nowadays various (free) cloud applications such as Dropbox and Google Drive, where you can save your files. If the hard drive of your Windows 10 computer ever fails, then your files are still safe. Of course it is also wise to use the tips above to manage files efficiently.