Tip #35. A tree has branches (folders) and leaves (files). Multi-Ring Access File Organisation. The models are: 1. It may well be that all the files in a given sub-folder are of the same file-type, but this should be more of a coincidence and less of a design feature of your organization system. The one on the left is the actual Word document, while the one on the right is a shortcut that represents the Word document. As soon as you create, receive or download a new file, store it away in its “correct” folder immediately. That’s all of the tips I can come up with. Usually, you find that a file is either underused or bulging. And no, we’re not talking about shortcuts here (although the concept is very similar). Those ones you can leave where they are. The response time. This means that the software component files are of little importance. Remove all the unnecessary icons (like the “Read me” icon, the “Help” icon (you can always open the help from within the software itself when it’s running), the “Uninstall” icon, the link(s)to the manufacturer’s website, etc), Rename the main icon(s) of the software to something brief that makes sense to you. Starting a Filename with an Underscore Brings it to the Top of a List. Rightly or wrongly, most people do. If the computers are permanently attached to the same local network, then there’s no need to store multiple copies of any one file or folder – shortcuts will suffice. In short, there are several different types of synchronization: A great advantage of synchronization solutions is that once you’ve got it configured the way you want it, then the sync process happens automatically, every time. To hide a file, simply right-click on it and choose Properties: These days most software is downloaded from the Internet. One for you (the logged-in user of the computer) and one for all users of the computer. Here’s why…. There are four methods of organizing files on a storage media. This method defines how file records are mapped onto disk blocks. Move the Standard User Folders into Your Own Folder Structure. Direct Access File Organisation 6. Name- The name of any file is the informat… Yet sometimes there are files in a folder that seem out of place but actually need to be there, such as the “folder art” JPEGs in music folders, and various files in the root of the C: drive. Another example would be the collection of Bookmarks that Firefox stores on your behalf. Pick one style and stick with it, or you may find yourself having to reorganize your files yet again. Join 350,000 subscribers and get a daily digest of news, comics, trivia, reviews, and more. Click on the one you want to organize. because you didn’t have enough disk space at the time? 1. My own categorization structure is based on “platform” (operating system): The last seven folders each represents one platform/operating system, while _Operating Systems contains set-up files for installing the operating systems themselves. Warning:  From tip #12, below, you will see that it’s actually a good idea to have exactly the same file system structure – including the drive it’s filed on – on all of the computers you own. File organization is used to describe the way in which the records are stored in terms of blocks, and the blocks are placed on the storage medium. 3 - File Organization. Every program you install seems to adopt a completely different approach to placing icons in this menu. This is another one that almost goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway:  Do not allow files to be created that have meaningless names like Document1.doc, or folders called New Folder (2). You may want to use your Desktop as this “Inbox” folder. Please share them with us in the comments. Note:  When you’re reorganizing your Start Menu, you may want to have two Explorer windows open at the same time – one showing the “just you” version and one showing the “all users” version. As with the “Current Projects” folder (above), you would want to locate that folder somewhere convenient. Tip #39. Note:  These File/Open and File/Save boxes have been superseded by new versions that use the Windows Vista/Windows 7 “Favorite Links”, but the older versions (shown above) are still used by a surprisingly large number of applications. There are two main ways: Note that when shortcuts are created, they are often named something like Shortcut to Budget Detail.doc (windows XP) or Budget Detail – Shortcut.doc (Windows 7). The cluster file organization is used when there is a frequent request for joining the tables with same joining condition. Being disorganized is simply unthinkable. For each one, it’s not so important where the actual folder is located, but it’s very important where you put the shortcut(s) to the folder. These three steps are what I use to triage my digital files into a more organized structure when a digital folder becomes unwieldy. Inside “My Files”, you might then break it down into “Personal” and “Business”. Once this has been done, and all your files live in one folder, all the other folders in C:\ can be thought of as “operating system” folders, and therefore of little day-to-day interest for us. Probably the best place to put it would be on your D: drive – if you have one. Tip #37. So what are you waiting for? There are various methods of file organizations. You might want to locate the shortcuts: Tip #30. It can become a mess. It usually serves as a dumping ground for all incoming files, as well as holding icons to oft-used applications, plus some regularly opened files and folders. These tips have saved my sanity and helped keep me a productive geek, but what about you? Cons of Cluster file organization. Whereas the files you have created with that software is, by definition, important. If you don’t have access to the Group Policy Editor, then you’ll need to get into the Registry. So why are shortcuts so great? If such files never need to be opened by you, then a good idea is to simply hide them. I only created this one because 40 is such a nice round number…. Putting it on the Desktop is a great option – especially if you don’t have any other folders on your Desktop:  the folder then becomes supremely easy to find in Windows Explorer: You would then create shortcuts to this folder in convenient spots all over your computer (“Favorite Links”, “Quick Launch”, etc). So to keep your Start Menu pristine and organized, make sure you do the following whenever you install a new piece of software: And don’t forget:  when you uninstall a piece of software, the software’s uninstall routine is no longer going to be able to remove the software’s icon from the Start Menu (because you moved and/or renamed it), so you’ll need to remove that icon manually. These standard default folders tend to fill up with junk files and folders that are not at all important to you. Ten levels is not uncommon. Organize Files Based on Purpose, Not on File Type. All you lose is the ability to get to that data from wherever the shortcut was. Shortcuts allow a file to exist in one place, and an icon that represents the file to be created and put anywhere else you please. Take that extra 20 seconds and come up with a meaningful name for the file/folder – one that accurately divulges its contents without repeating the entire contents in the name. For some, the answer to this question is self-evident. Hiding these files and folders is a good idea, as they need to stay where they are and are almost never needed to be opened or even seen by you, the user. This is a good thing – it allows you to determine if there are files out of place with a quick glance. The main limitation of hierarchical filing structures is that a file can only ever be in one branch of the tree – in only one folder – at a time. The Desktop is probably the most abused part of a Windows computer (from an organization point of view). In fact, don’t even use the “My Documents” folder at all. (d) Sequential file organization method: In this method, records are stored and accessed one after the other in a sequential sorted order. The most common type is the sequential access file. The Windows Start Menu is usually one of the messiest parts of any Windows computer. This is one of the keys to staying organized. If you have your files well organized, you will often be able to tell if a file is out of place just by glancing at the contents of a folder (for example, it should be pretty obvious if you look in a folder that contains all the MP3s from one music CD and see a Word document in there). “My Files”, “My Wife’s Files”, My Son’s Files”, etc. This has already been mentioned in depth (see tip #13), but we wanted to reiterate its importance here. Every new file you get, spend those extra few seconds to file it where it belongs! You could locate all your movie files in the root of your D: drive, and then link it to C:\Files\Media\Movies, as follows: (Needless to say, you must run these commands from a command prompt – click the Start button, type cmd and press Enter). Software gets installed, uninstalled and upgraded all the time. And yet you may still have a D: drive and wish to take advantage of the hundreds of spare Gigabytes that it offers. In serial files, records are entered in the order of their creation. It should be easy to see by now that shortcuts are designed for one single purpose:  To make accessing your files more convenient. Use the default file locations when installing application... 2. The above mentioned example of Emplotee and Department relationship is an example of Indexed Cluster where the records are based on the Department ID. It sounds heretical, but: Don’t ever visit your “My Documents” folder! me! Then, put those folders into the safe, fireproof box, or other spot where you plan to keep them. Use the Default Installation Folders for Program Files. It often ends up becoming an uncontrolled mess. Once you’ve decided where your files should go, then put all your files in there – Everything! This way, all your files live on one drive, while all the operating system and software component files live on the C: drive – simply and elegantly separated. This is always a matter of personal preference, and is not something that a geek on a website can tell you. Tip #38. In real life situation, retrieving records from single table is comparatively less. On the other hand, if you simply create a structure with only two levels (for example C:\Files\Work) then you really haven’t achieved any level of organization at all (unless you own only six files!). Files longer than 2000 lines are cumbersome and should be avoided. Name Files and Folders Intelligently. Every data file (document, photo, music file, etc) that you create, own or is important to you, no matter where it came from, should be found within one single folder, and that one single folder should be located at the root of your C: drive (as a sub-folder of C:\). Tip #10. The highlighted icons (collectively known as the “Places Bar”) can be customized to refer to any folder location you want, allowing instant access to any part of your organizational structure. Then, in Target field of the Windows Explorer Properties box that appears, type %windir%\explorer.exe followed by the path of the folder you wish to start in. There’s nothing more pointless than going to all the trouble of creating a system and filing all your files, and then whenever you create, receive or download a new file, you simply dump it onto your Desktop. If you have enough of these folders (I have several hundred, being a geek, collected over 20 years), then you may want to further categorize them.