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Keeping track of files
======================
There are two kinds of files you need to keep track of: those related
to current affairs, and those you archive for possible future use. These
have different usage patterns, and may need different kinds of handling.
Current files (also called "pending and support") are for active projects.
You may need to access these files at a moment's notice, so they should
be at hand.
Archived files are needed rarely, possibly never. Access times may be
longer, but it should still be easy to find them. An archive is useless
unless you can find things from it when you need them.
Files may be digital or on paper. You may have current files on your
computer, and on paper, and ditto for archived files. This might not
affect the way you organize them: much of the organization is dependent
on naming and sorting, and it is probably best to use the same naming
system for both digital and paper files.
You may have other things than documents you need to keep track
of for some of your projects. For example, one of your projects might
be to move some artwork to a different country, and the artwork would
then be part of your current files. Since large paintings are hard
to keep on your desk, never mind risky, you may want to represent
them in your GTD system using proxies: instead of putting each painting
in your "current files" folder, you can put a photo of the painting
there instead, and store the actual artwork somewhere safe.
There are any number of ways in which papers and computer files
may be organized. For example, Allen recommends using manilla folders
for papers, and dislikes hanging folders; others like hanging folders.
If nothing else, hanging folders seem to be easier to find in at least
some European countries, whereas manilla folders are considered an
exotic American delicacy, which cost a premium.
Some people reject both kinds of folders, and use ring binders.
Or envelopes. More important than the physical manifestation of
the concept of "folder" is how you arrange them, when you have many
of them.
What seems to work best for me is to have an easy, cheap way to
have very specific folders (envelopes, tabs in ring binders, whatever).
Each folder should have very specific kinds of items in it. Thus,
a folder named "Edinburgh council tax, 2011" would be better than
"Financial stuff". The former is very specific, the latter would
quickly grow to be unhelpfully large.
Every folder should be labelled clearly. People with a lousy
handwriting font might want to invest in a label writer of some
sort, so that the folders can be labelled in a readable fashion.
However, clear handwriting, if you have it, works fine too.
Allen recommends a simple alphabetical sorting system for
folders. Others like two or three levels of keywords. Thus, the
tax folder from above might instead be called "2011, tax, council,
Edinburgh" or "UK, Edinburgh, council tax, 2011". The order of
the keywords depends on how you're most likely to search for them:
put the year first, if you think of things mainly in chronological
order. Put the location first, or the words "council tax" (or "tax,
council") first, if those are what you look for first. Whatever
works for you is best.
You'll eventually gather a fair number of folders, so putting some
thought into your naming scheme ahead of time helps a bit. However,
if you've never done this kind of thing before, be prepared to
re-do it at least once. ("Be prepared to write a prototype, since
you'll make one anyway.")
For digital files, having a computer that can quickly do full text
searches helps a lot. Indeed, you may be tempted to rely on search
only, and if that works for you, great. However, there are files for
which full text search won't work, such as images, audio, and video.
Thus, it is probably best to put your digital, archived files in
folders named using the same system you use for your paper files.
I recommend having a folder named "Archive" (or something similar
in your local language), which is the location where all your archived
files shall be. Under "Archive", you'll create a folder for each
topic: these are the folders that correspond to the physical manilla
folders (or equivalent). Have only one level of these.
$HOME/Archive/
Council tax 2011/
Debian DPL plans/
Orange GSM prepaid/
Talk: Debconf 2010/
Three GSM prepaid/
Having only a single level of archive folders makes it easier to
look for them manually, when full-text search is not available or isn't
good enough. If you create folders within folders, searching manually
becomes at least an order of magnitude harder.
Create a folder under "Archive" even if you're only putting a single
file there. Later you might need to archive a second file together
with the first one, and if you didn't create the folder beforehand,
you'll have to move the first file.
The archived files should be left undisturbed. Do not modify them in
the archive. If you need to start changing them, move them out of the
archive first, into your current files. It's OK to read from the
archive, but not change them.
Scanners and shredders
----------------------
Paper is big and heavy and hard to grep through. Scanning everything
you put into your paper archive makes it possible to carry it with
you on your laptop, and often makes it much faster to find a particular
item, particularly if you can get OCR to work so that your scans result
in text rather than images. Further, you can more easily make backups
of your digital documents than of your physical ones.
Scanning everything also often gives you the option of shredding or
recycling stuff you don't actually need in hardcopy. This is even
better, since it allows you to reduce the size of your physical archive.
That, in turn, means it takes up less space (reducing living costs,
since you can have a smaller home), and makes it easier to move.
However, before you shred, be sure you do not need the physical copy.
In some countries, tax authorities require the original physical
document or receipt, for example.
Many devices come with manuals in many languages. Often it is possible
to find a PDF of the manual from the manufacturer's website, allowing
you to get rid of the bulky manual.
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