File Chaos becomes Organization - tag your files for searches
I’m still on the GTD fever and I’ve been doing well with clearing out my inbox. I’m also trying to find a way of keeping all my files structured and organized. I’ve still never been able to find a way to properly organize my files off my desktop and still remember some of the stuff I want to read at a later time. I’d posted earlier about waiting for google to build in tagging to the filesystem so I can search on tags I’d given to files such as “readlater”.
I just now found a solution to my problem - if I can’t tag the file with a name, just include it in the name. So a pdf article “java-AppFuse-Tutorials.pdf” gets renamed to “java-AppFuse-Tutorials-@READLATER.pdf” and I can file it away knowing I’ll later find it using google’s desktop search.
I’ve also come up with a good structure for file organization for personal files, articles, clippings, development work, etc. I’m in the process of setting the structure up across my machines, and sorting the files into each. I’m also using Unison for file synchronization between machines so the files will be mirrored across my machines. This is great for backup purposes, as well as for when I’m travelling with my laptop and I wish I had that file I desperately need from my desktop.
This latest bit of organization has made things a lot easier and saved me a great deal of time…I now know where everything is. It’s great not having to remember where something might be on one machine and it might be somewhere else on another machine. I’d even have 2 or 3 spots for everything on my desktop machine. Consolidation is key.
I’ve even ordered the GTD book from Amazon.ca (arrived in less than 12 hours! - talk about efficient).