Digital File Organization

Here are some best practices for Digital File Organization.

1. When naming folders of clients, always use the last name first, then the first name (e.g., "Patag Juan Alfredo").

The reason for this is that the last name is constant, while the first name can vary. This is helpful when sorting the list of clients by alphabetical order. For example, if it were the first name first, the folder can be the following:

"Juan Alfredo Patag"

"Alfredo Patag"

"Alfie Patag" (assuming Alfie is my nickname)

2. When writing a date on the file, put it in this format "YYYY.MM.DD" (i.e., "ATS - Playa Calatagan - 2024.02.23"). This is so that if you have multiple versions of the same file and you arrange the files alphabetically, the files would sort themselves chronologically.

If you used "MM.DD.YYYY", files would sort themselves by the month first. For example, 09.10.2024 will be before 10.10.2023. This can be confusing later on.

3. When naming folders put any identifier before the file name and don't put any spaces to separate it from the intended folder name. For example, write "FPatag Juan Alfredo" (where F supposedly stands for Folder). The identifier can be any unique word or set of letters. What's important is you don't put any spaces between it and the next word.

The reason for this is when searching for a file, and you type "Patag," for example, all files that have the word "Patag" will be included in the search. This is super annoying when you're in the field, and you have to quickly search for a folder in Google Drive (and the 5G signal sucks).

By putting an identifier before the word, the search parameters quickly narrow down to the particular folder that you're looking for. 👍🏻