Debbie Parker Wayne
Wayne Research
P.O. Box 397, Cushing, TX 75760-0397
Phone: 936-326-9101

ORGANIZING YOUR COMPUTER FILES

CARDINAL RULE:

Have ONE place that is the top level "folder" and all other folders and files are organized UNDER (or IN) that place. This makes it easy when you have to use the computer to find a file when your organization method does fail and you can't find a file yourself.

By default most Windows applications expect that ONE place to be "My Documents." Many applications have options or preferences where you can specify WHERE files should be saved.

There are as many organization schemes as there are people.

Most people find organization by topic useful - all personal files together, all Little League team files together, all Johnson genealogy research together, etc.

Can be done to match the way your hard copy files are organized to make it easy to find things. The concept of folders and files (or binders and tabs) helps with organization. You'll have to experiment to find what works best for you. I have changed my method of organization MANY times over the years.

Debbie's Method (as of 2003 and supporting my file naming quirks carried over from UNIX systems):

3 second level folders for
- personal,
- genealogy, and
- photos
in the top level "My Documents" folder
each of these folders have many subfolders to meet my needs
these are the 3 folders I always backup
I do sometimes make additional folders for special projects when I don't want that project to be part of my normal backup procedure

NOTE:

MANY of my folders are not shown here, this is a representative sample.
Trailing \ indicates a folder and folder names are usually upper-case.
Files end with a .xxx file extension and are usually lower-case or mixed-case; under-score separates elements, not spaces.
Note that some folders have several sub-folders to further organize the information in the files.

_deb\        = personal and "real" family information
    _BUDGET\        (track spending)
    1_ORDER_STATUS\ (info to track orders)
    HUMOR\
    PC_STUFF\
        _CONFIG_STARTUP\
        _DOWNLOADS\    (separate folders for each product I
            GRISOFT\    download to keep updates, etc.)
        PAINTSHOPPRO_TIPS\
        SCANNING_TIPS\

_GENE_DATA\     = genealogy data - misc info and my research
    0_DEBS_DATA\       (my own genealogy research and corr)
        _MY_LOCATIONS\
            1_AL\
            1_TX\
            1_USA\
            UNITED_KINGDOM\
        _MY_SURNAMES\
            _MISC\
            Carter\
            Johnson\
                HEJ\
                SCJ\
            Parker1\
            Parker2_Jnsn\
    1_fromWWW\           (copies of info found on WWW) 
        ALconecuh1820\
        ALconecuh1850\
        ALsumter1850\
        MScopiah1850\
    1_MISCELLANEOUS_INFO\  (tips saved from mail-lists, etc.)
        CENSUS\
            FORMS\
            NARA_NOTES\
        MILITARY\
    WEB_EXTERNAL\     (copies of the websites I admin)
        ACGS\
        NACGS\
        NACGENWEB\

_photos\            = family photographs and other images
    _IMAGE_XFER_AREA\  (transfer images from digi camera)
    _pIMAGES\          (not photographs of family)
    1_angie\           (a certain relatives family photos)
        JOHN_FAMILY\
        WEDDING\
        200101_angiejohn.tif
        angiejohn_200101.tif
    1_our_family\          (my immediate family photos)
    cushing_nacogdoches\   (our property and other area images)
    OTHER_NAMES\           (a folder to group less used names)
        ryan\
        unknown\
    parker_claude\    (a certain relatives family photos)
    TEMP_WORK\        (where I work on gifts and cards)