Tips for Setting Up a Digital File Management System

The trouble with living in a digital world is that whilst being paperless is better than using paper files that gather dust and cannot be searched easily, staying organised isn’t resolved by using a digital document system. It is still necessary to have some kind of effective organising process for your important documents so that they’re easy to find.

Here are a few tips for how to set up a digital file management system to make it easier to locate documents when you need them even if the search function comes up blank for the search terms used.

Save Location and Folder Organisation

Whether you’re planning to use a cloud storage, digital asset management system (click here to see an example), an internal hard drive, or an external hard drive, it is critical to be systematic in the way you organise where files will be saved and the folders used to organise them.

It is best for folders to be created for each major department and then sub-folders for each staff member with that department. If you are organising your own home computer or are a solopreneur working from home, then the folder structure will be about breaking down key areas of responsibility or areas of interest. For business owners, they may have folders for Admin, Clients, Projects, Personnel, etc.

Be sure to apply sound logic to folder and sub-folder creation to make it easier to know where to find a file later even if the search function comes up blank. It does sometimes make sense to copy a file into more than one folder when it applies to more than one area.

File Naming Convention

When naming files, it is useful to use a prefix that will identify the folder that the file is stored in. This is helpful when reviewing a list of search results as with each file it will be obvious which category it relates to without needing to open up each file to check it. It also makes sorting files by file name easier because they are sorted into categories automatically due to this naming convention.

Where project files are created with a central spreadsheet file and separate spreadsheets detailing the individual responsibilities for each staff member involved in the project, then add the staff member’s name at the end of their file. Therefore, with some simple sorting, all files for a project can be located quickly.

Keywords or Tagging

With file systems allow for either keywords or tags to be applied to files, it is highly recommended that staff take advantage of this feature. One of the limitations of storing files in folders is that unless you’re willing to accept duplication, files will only be stored in one folder at a time. When treating folders as categories, this is rather limiting on the organisational side of things.

With keywords or tags, this is resolved with files being able to be given one or more labels to describe them. Therefore, a file that applies to several projects can be given the label “Project”, and the name of each project that the file applies to. This will make searches more accurate going forward.

Using an organised process when setting up a digital file management system is very important to make it easier to know where files are kept. Even when the search tool fails to locate the file you are looking for, logically organised folders mean it is easy enough to go through the appropriate folder and sub-folders to find the file manually.