If you’re working from home or a student that needs to deal with tons of assignments and documents, organizing can be challenging. You often fall into the trap of procrastination, and after a while, you have files scattered all over your desktop.
If you are a person who is constantly using your computer, then chances are it is filled with a lot of unnecessary data. This information may not necessarily be helpful to you in your current activities, but could very well be an essential document in the future.
Finding a solution to organizing computer files begins with knowing where everything is located and realizing that documents should be placed in a specific location. Best practices for managing your files include the following.
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Delete Unwanted Files Using PDFBear
It might be a document you no longer need or an extra page in an assignment taking up space. You can delete pages from PDF with PDF conversion tools like PDFBear. PDFBear is a secure tool that can be used for conversion purposes as well as editing PDFs. All you need to do is upload your file, select the pages you would like to delete, and erase them. After that, your edited PDF would be available for download.
There are many reasons you would need to delete unwanted documents from your desktop’s storage space. Some of these reasons may include loss of data, security, and better organization. The first rule of organization is decluttering. You can still easily organize these documents on the laptop to make it easy to find what you need. This process requires hours depending on the number of files you have, but you’ll be glad you did once completed.
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Make Use of Folders
Folders can be a great way to group and classify documents. Not only does this organize your files, but it also makes searching for them easier. The process involves creating and organizing your folders to be more streamlined and easier to access when you need them.
You will need to get rid of some empty folders that you just don’t have a use for. By doing this, you are making space available for those folders you need. This is the first step in creating an efficient arrangement system.
You should label the files with the letters or acronyms you can recall. This will make it easy to find the correct file quickly if you need to. There should also be subfolders underneath the main level folders so that you don’t have to search through tons of files just to find one document.
For example, if you have many music files stored on a CD, you would make a music files folder and place all the music files into this folder. You can then create subfolders for each genre of music, such as rock, classical, jazz, etc. You would create subfolders for recording software, for sound effects, and so on.
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Color-Code Your Files and Folders
Color coding files and folders help you classify a particular data, such as a photograph or document, to find it with ease. With colors, you can mark files according to their importance or completeness. Softwares like google docs enable you to add color to your folder. This way, at one glance, you can find what you need.
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Archive Old Files
Archiving files that you no longer have to use daily can help you organize. All you have to do is to classify them under a folder. You can use a password to keep them secure. Don’t forget to convert said files to a more appropriate storage format like PDF/A. Archived files are still helpful, and from time to time, you might want to pull them up for reference. But in the meantime, putting them away would create space for regularly used files.
Remember to back up your storage now and then; you can also use an external hard drive. With external drives, you can have a copy in case your system gets attacked. Archiving ensures that you will not lose any important data and quickly retrieve it if you need to. This also gives you enough time to make the necessary changes to your storage and classify files accordingly.
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Arrange Files Chronologically
In a computer, we often find ourselves faced with the situation where we need to access a particular file, but due to lack of arrangement, it can take hours. To effectively organize computer files according to their place of origin, we need to follow a specific procedure.
When you save documents, develop a system of arrangement that is orderly. For example, you can choose to arrange your folders in alphabetical order. You can start from A-Z or the other way round. You can also place them according to usefulness. For example, the file you’re still working on comes first, and those you’re done with are at the bottom. This way, you can easily find the exact file when you want to open it.
Conclusion
To organize your computer files, you must remember these key points. The first thing to do is to sort all of your documents into folders. Next, you must remove any temporary files that you do not need, such as downloaded files from the Internet.
Finally, you should organize files according to type. For example, you should store documents in folders that contain pictures, text documents, and other multimedia. Once you have arranged your documents, you can begin storing all of your essential files in the appropriate folders and then check them off as you’re done. Don’t also forget to back up all your data so you can simply retrieve them in the event of system failure.
Having a pile of unorganized files in your system can cause your operating system to slow down and can even make finding what you need a real chore. Organizing your files for safekeeping should be a necessity. Create a strategy, take out ten minutes of your working time each day and make sure every file is appropriately placed. The more you leave unsorted files to pile up, the more organizing seems complicated.
