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Why Nested Folders are the Work of the Devil
By Grey | August 18, 2008
Before you organize your files, repeat to yourself: I am not a librarian.
Why do you need to be reminded that you aren’t a librarian? Because, deep down, when you filing documents, you’ll try to be one. You build nested folders to categorize every piece of paper and email that comes your way. And with what result? You still can’t find anything.
Nested folders are the problem not the solution. They are the work of the devil because they suck time and effort away without accomplishing anything. As you create folders and subfolders for every possible paperwork contingency you magnify your work. Why? Because every time you want to file something, you must re-remember the where past-you thought was the perfect place to file this. And, eventually, the day will come when you need to duplicate files because they belong in more than one category. On that day, all hope is lost.
Accept this universal truth: it is not possible to create a perfect categorization system. The longer you maintain a complex filing system, the more time and effort it will take up. You can’t organize it all properly. You’ll never be able to. Clay Shirky, a professional digital archivist, gave a fabulous talk at the Long Now Foundation called ‘making digital durable’ about the impossibility of perfect categorization. The summary: over time categories become meaningless.
So what’s the solution? Do as little sorting as is reasonable and keep your folder structure as flat as possible. Follow the David Allen method of organizing your files alphabetically — and only alphabetically. With this system, there are vastly fewer places your documents can hide. If you have a phone bill, make a folder called ‘phone bills’ and file it under ‘P’. When future-you goes looking for the bill, it will be easy to find.
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Header photograph by ansik
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Topics: Uncategorized |
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Do I file my phone bill under “P” or “B”? Future-me may think it will be more reasonable to find bills under “B” rather than under a category of bill. Is there a general rule for making such decisions?