How to streamline file organization?
August 27, 2011 2:51 PM Subscribe
I am trying to streamline my file organization system so I can easily search for a variety of content (video, audio, photos, text). Most of my files are in various places (surveymonkey, delicious, email, etc.). Most of my work is done on a Mac, but I do have a p.c. I am looking for suggestions and recommendations on how to create and maintain a system. Thanks!
Best answer: If your stuff is tagged in delicious, then I'm guessing it's not "yours," just stuff you've found online.
There are apps out there like Yojimbo, Evernote, and DevonThink that are "everything buckets" as one writer called them—that is, you dump everything in there, try to label it appropriately, and then search for it there. Evernote will even do OCR on text in images for you, which is pretty slick (and perhaps others do too). These all have their own adherents, and I don't doubt that they make good use of them.
I keep different media in applications for that kind of medium. I keep text notes in Notational Velocity (sync'd to SimpleNote on my phone), photos in iPhoto with meticulous titling and tagging, that sort of thing. I don't deal with a lot of video, so I don't really have a library program for that; I use iTunes for music, and it could work for other forms of audio, but I suspect it's not what you have in mind.
Both the "everything buckets" method and what I think of as the "horses for courses" method are valid—I think the difference between the two boils down to taste. There are some cases where using a medium-specific program is going to yield knock-on benefits—for example, keeping your contacts in Address Book makes them easier to sync to your phone, that sort of thing.
I've tried organizing almost everything in the Finder (as Murray M describes) using folders, but that system didn't work for me, as I'd invariably wind up creating overlapping directory hierarchies, and then ask myself "is that in Photos/Personal/ or Projects/Project1/Art?" Which is not to say it wouldn't work for you. But in the abstract, I think tagging is a more useful form of taxonomy than hierarchy.
In fact, on OS X, the search function is good enough that as long as you have relatively good descriptions and memorable keywords somewhere associated with your files—that could even be in the comment field for the file (visible under Get Info)—you can probably find what you're looking for. And the "coverflow" view in the Finder is great for visually skimming through a lot of images (including a Smart Folder that selects by image filetypes and some other criteria). So even without a folder hierarchy, you could do a fair amount scanning/sorting/searching right in the Finder.
posted by adamrice at 3:58 PM on August 27, 2011
There are apps out there like Yojimbo, Evernote, and DevonThink that are "everything buckets" as one writer called them—that is, you dump everything in there, try to label it appropriately, and then search for it there. Evernote will even do OCR on text in images for you, which is pretty slick (and perhaps others do too). These all have their own adherents, and I don't doubt that they make good use of them.
I keep different media in applications for that kind of medium. I keep text notes in Notational Velocity (sync'd to SimpleNote on my phone), photos in iPhoto with meticulous titling and tagging, that sort of thing. I don't deal with a lot of video, so I don't really have a library program for that; I use iTunes for music, and it could work for other forms of audio, but I suspect it's not what you have in mind.
Both the "everything buckets" method and what I think of as the "horses for courses" method are valid—I think the difference between the two boils down to taste. There are some cases where using a medium-specific program is going to yield knock-on benefits—for example, keeping your contacts in Address Book makes them easier to sync to your phone, that sort of thing.
I've tried organizing almost everything in the Finder (as Murray M describes) using folders, but that system didn't work for me, as I'd invariably wind up creating overlapping directory hierarchies, and then ask myself "is that in Photos/Personal/ or Projects/Project1/Art?" Which is not to say it wouldn't work for you. But in the abstract, I think tagging is a more useful form of taxonomy than hierarchy.
In fact, on OS X, the search function is good enough that as long as you have relatively good descriptions and memorable keywords somewhere associated with your files—that could even be in the comment field for the file (visible under Get Info)—you can probably find what you're looking for. And the "coverflow" view in the Finder is great for visually skimming through a lot of images (including a Smart Folder that selects by image filetypes and some other criteria). So even without a folder hierarchy, you could do a fair amount scanning/sorting/searching right in the Finder.
posted by adamrice at 3:58 PM on August 27, 2011
I use Evernote for what you're describing. For me, it's primarily for electronic and paper documents (scanned). They have a very functional free trial account, and a premium account which gives more flexibility to the file types you can upload. For me, benefits are: it's a (reasonably) secure cloud backup, it's accessible from anywhere (they have a web portal, smart phone apps, and desktop apps), it has various ways/tiers of organizing the data, but it is designed for use of tags and their search function. As mentioned, they automatically OCR every picture/scan that you upload, and can even do handwritten notes pretty well. Give it a look.
posted by jhs at 5:52 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by jhs at 5:52 PM on August 27, 2011
Best answer: You would probably enjoy the Mac Power Users podcast, as organization systems and software are a frequent topic.
posted by Nattie at 6:40 PM on August 27, 2011
posted by Nattie at 6:40 PM on August 27, 2011
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It's old fashioned, but works extremely well.
Side benefits:
1) Easy to backup
2) Not dependent on a program
3) Most compatible with all programs
posted by Murray M at 3:32 PM on August 27, 2011