How do you organize your documents?

[Hartmann]

I have been reading about how different folks organize their documents and I am interested in hearing the different ways you all do it.

For a while I kept everything in "Documents" organized into sub-folders, I have found this to be a less than ideal setup. The Kinkless Desktop article posted today kind of fits the way I think of doing things, but I'd love to hear how others keep all of their documents, pictures, etc. organized.

[houltmac]

I don't worry about it too much, not since the introduction of Spotlight. I organize things by pushing them into the corresponding folder (Documents, Movies, etc.) and then, should there be sufficiant documents to warrant it, organize projects into sub folders. Mostly things are pretty well dumped (although organized on filed external drives by kind then project) and then Spotlight makes life worth living.

I know, people think I am crazy but I don't have a lot of assets for any one project.

[baseballboy828]

I have a school folder, but other than that all the stuff is in my documents folder.

[asadeddin]

University Folder on my desktop with the different semesters. Then, what ever corresponds goes to a folder. But I also put most of my stuff on to my external HD.

[Yuiichi]

I have a Work folder with subfolders. I'd like to start the tagging process, as Nick described in his series of articles about metadata - it seems to be a lot faster!

[Raven]

I just use subfolders in Documents, and a couple on the desktop. I'm a nut about a clean desktop, though, so I keep mine limited to three work folders (Documentation, Works in Progress, and Installers) and one 'Junkdrawer.' The stipulation on that - backed up with a Hazel rule - is that anything that's over a week old gets deleted, and everything must be out of it by midnight Sunday of each week.

[mdmunoz]

I use my Desktop like a to-do list. The files there are meant to be acted on or filed. Everything else goes in a Documents folder.

I really enjoyed the Kinkless Desktop series, though I don't like the idea of subfolders on the desktop. I like to be able to see what I'm working on at any given time. But I do like the idea of using something simple like files and folders to help with productivity. I even wrote a script to turn my tasks into text files, just to remove the hassle of keeping todo list separate from my files and links.

[lonnie]

I'm not a GTD guy, but I do use the general theory on my desktop. I am also very organized within my Work folder. It goes:

Client Folder-
-Specific Job
---Working Files
---Final Files

This is all that's on my desktop.

[Ginamos]

Originally Posted by Hartmann

I have been reading about how different folks organize their documents and I am interested in hearing the different ways you all do it.

For a while I kept everything in "Documents" organized into sub-folders, I have found this to be a less than ideal setup. The Kinkless Desktop article posted today kind of fits the way I think of doing things, but I'd love to hear how others keep all of their documents, pictures, etc. organized.

I guess you're referencing GTD.

GTD has a lot of good tips, but you really need to find out what works for you.

For me, any document I've written goes into the "documents" folder. I'm not a Journalist or a "Reporter" so most of my files are technical or business specifications, there may be several revisions of those documents, but I manage them within the file system.

Anything outside of "my" documents goes into Journler, this could be recipes, or references to the "top 100 anime movies". Journler acts like my scrapbook to the stuff I find on the Internet.

My Desktop, normally isn't very important, it holds temporary files, but in itself is not a workflow. I keep files on the desktop as a reminder to do stuff (i.e. I currently have the "Barney: Let's Go To The Zoo" jpeg on the desktop because I have to copy a DVD for my son).

[philbowell]

I have my documents folder split up into 8 sub-categories. With a folder that has some kind of visual indication on it as to what it is. Then I sort them out below that. I've tried tagging files but I just can't get it to work for me. My system is constantly being organised and refined.