Perhaps you feel stressed whenever you look at your files and realize how big of a mess they are. You might be thinking of taking a proactive approach but don’t know where to start. If you know how to use a good file management system, you’ll be able to deal with these problems before they get out of hand.
Whether you have physical or electronic files, keeping them organized is essential. If you don’t have a good file management strategy for organizing your data, you could be wasting valuable time digging through documents to find what you need. On the other hand, there are many helpful resources to assist you in making file management easier and more efficient.
Here are some ways to optimize your file management strategy.
1. Store Data In A Single Location
While you can have subfolders after another, start by having them saved in one centralized location. These subfolders can be consolidated on your PC or file management software. With centralized storage, you can avoid going through so many different folders placed in multiple locations to find what you’re looking for. This can save you time and help you organize your future files.
2. Maintain And Implement A Uniform File Naming Strategy
Are you more comfortable sorting files by date? Or would you rather have them stored alphabetically after grouping them by type? Files can be named in countless, different ways. It’s entirely up to you to decide which approach best suits your needs. Make sure that whatever file naming strategy you choose, you maintain consistency throughout your files.
It’ll be extremely challenging to look for data and keep it organized when you don’t practice a uniform file naming strategy. You should spell words correctly and avoid using shortcuts or abbreviations only you know about.
Furthermore, be very specific when naming files. Remember that the whole purpose of naming them is to give you an insight into their content before opening. This also saves time for the entire team by not having to open and close many different files to check what’s inside.
3. Use Labels
Having folders in which to store files is helpful. However, it can be difficult to tell what’s inside each one without the labels. Therefore, you should use labels for easier identification whenever you can. Meanwhile, you can use different colors for each label type to make file-searching easier.
For example, you can use different colors for employee records per department. Those colored labels also make it easier to retrieve data when you know where to look, based on the colors.
4. Back Up Your Documents
No matter how organized your files are, your efforts will still be futile if you don’t have a backup plan. This is a must-have to ensure you never lose something important. If you’ve accidentally misplaced files, you always have the backup to run to.
You should have your backup files in a location other than your computer. For example, if your main computer where data is stored fails or crashes, your files would still be safe. In addition, the backup location should also be separate from the main one for your personal files.
5. Minimize Printing Every Single Document
Moving to a paperless system is beneficial for the environment. Furthermore, you need it for your business to keep files more organized. Significantly, the fewer papers you use, the easier it’ll be to maintain an organized file management system. Meanwhile, if you don’t have an apparent reason for printing a specific document, restrain yourself from doing so.
On the other hand, you should keep the digital file and have a separate backup. Along this line, learning how to back up your data efficiently also entails going through it once every three or five years to delete old files. There’s no reason to keep so many documents when you know they won’t be useful to your business anymore.
Conclusion
When you implement the tips above, you’ll no longer have to face that cumbersome situation where you can’t find the document you’re looking for. Especially if your business is heavy on documentation, you’re sure to have an explosion of files regularly.
Without a good file management system, your data will be all over the place. This can affect both your efficiency and productivity. Whatever methods you choose to apply, remember that the most important key aspect is you. Choose the one you’re confident in implementing and maintaining, so your file management won’t be a chore to keep up with.
