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Organization is key for business as well as personal use. No matter who you are, it is important to have good organizational skills, especially when dealing with documents - which all of us do at some point. In today's world, organization is made simple for us through the use of computers and electronic filing systems. Although this tool is available to us, we may still need a little help using it to the greatest benefit. If this describes your relationship with electronic filing, the following guidelines might prove beneficial.

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EditSteps

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    Decide what information you want to organize electronically.
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    Create one main electronic folder that will hold all others related to the set of information you wish to organize. You may choose to label this folder whatever you like, however, most computers will have a basic default setup of folders including My Documents, My Pictures, My Music, etc. that may be useful for this purpose. Hint - when labeling folders, try to be as concise as possible, using the least amount of words that will clearly convey what the folder contains.
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    Depending on the amount of information that you wish to organize, you may also need to create subfolders within the main folder. For example, if you were trying to organize your taxes electronically, you might label the main folder "Taxes" and each subfolder by year. This type of folder-subfolder organization will keep your files in quick and easy access.
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    Within the folders, it is best to include dates on all documents, and arrange them chronologically by such. You may want to include the date of the document in its file name as well.
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    Be sure to continue backing up your files to a disk, preferably every three to four weeks.
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    As your electronic filing system grows, you will need to keep it current by moving documents to a disk that are no longer accessed regularly. By eliminating this clutter, it will be easier for you to use the filing system more efficiently.
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EditTips

  • When dating your files, it is best to use the format - year.month.day. e.g 2010.09.29 to keep them in order. You can if you prefer miss out the dots and the century so it ends up simply 100929.
  • Try to keep your folders no deeper than 3 deep, this will suffice for most home and business purposes.
  • As you work more with your electronic filing system, you will discover what works best for you and the documents you wish to organize. The most important aspect of organization is functionality, so it is important for you to tweak these guidelines to fit your definition of "usability".
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Article Info

Categories: File Manipulation

Recent edits by: Amanda, Harri, Bloodocean7

In other languages:

Deutsch: Wie man ein elektronisches Ablagesystem organisiert, Español: Cómo organizar un sistema de archivo electrónico, Português: Como Organizar um Sistema de Arquivamento Eletrônico, Italiano: Come Organizzare un Sistema di Archiviazione Elettronica, Русский: организовать систему электронного документооборота

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