Organizing File Structure
I’ve had my laptop (Carbon X1 3rd gen) for about a year and nine months. I decided today to give some structures to my files. I just had that much free time…and it’s too fricken hot in HCMC to be outside.
So looking back over the year, I noticed a couple of bad habits of letting things pile up. Here are two big ones.
Problem 1: Piles of screenshot images for when I have a coding problem, funny slack messages b/t me and my friends, stuff I want to remember — you know, all the pics you never look at again. The file names are like, Screenshot from 2019–03–04 15.52.04. It’s a headache when these screenshot piles up.
Solution 1: I decided I will keep these in the Picture folder under the Screenshot folder. At the end of the month, I can delete them or just delete them on the spot. I know I won’t be perfect, but at least it’s not scattered in documents (which is more of a headache).
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Problem 2: My Home/chi folder was a nightmare. EVERYTHING goes there. IDK, it doesn’t matter what it is. I had over 20 folders and a couple of applications in there. Past me also named folders like, Hello. What the heck does that even mean?!
Solution 2: I now reduced the 20 folders to 9 general folders like your typical Documents, Music, Pictures, Downloads. I also have Books and Projects. In each of these folders, things are organized according to the general topic.The naming structure for my folders and files are capitalized and lowercase, respectively. like Folder Name and file_name_date (date is optional). Not all files are named like that, but I am trying to keep it consistent.
Problem 3: My Document folders was also everywhere. I just put anything that is associated with being a document into that folder. This makes it hard to search for specific things.
Solution 3: I made separate folders for each important aspect of my life: Career (resume, cover letters, recs), Travel (e-tickets, itinerary, etc.), School (transcripts), Personal (tax, health).
I also tend to keep downloaded files and that can take up space. So at the EOM, I should check and delete any or keep some files in the Keep folder in the Download folder.
This system should be good enough for me, since over the year of using my laptop, I know what documents I tend to need or download. At least my desktop is EMPTY! I have never made a huge mess on my desktop. You know the ones where there are like 200 icons and files? Yeah, that’s not me.
