Transcription
Are you that kind of person that uses your desktop or your downloads folder to basically store everything? Well, in this video, I'm going to help you understand how to name your files and to organize them so that you can find them quickly and easily.
What's up, friends? Paul here, and today we'll be diving into how to name your files and how to structure them so you can easily find them and not lose them in the ether of the digital world. I believe as time goes on, it's going to become easier and easier to find your files, but as of right now, I still recommend having a folder structure that you can easily find things. So that's what we're going to dive into. So without further ado, um, if you don't mind, smash the subscribe button and follow wherever you listen to podcast. We'd love to have you in the messy fam, but let's not waste any time.
So let's start out with just like a general guide to naming your files. So first off, you want to think about whether or not the date is a primary thing that you want to track or the keyword. So maybe in like a certain circumstance, you're just have a bunch of different files and you don't necessarily need the keyword being the main modifier, then I would definitely go with date and then the keyword, and then if you want, you can use a modifier. So basically, what date format should you use? I highly recommend just using the international standard date. This is basic, basically an international kind of practice, but what it looks like is you have the year, the month, and the date. It's very simple. Uh, and you can get rid of these dashes. I personally like the dashes because then it makes it a little bit easier visually to see when you're looking through a whole bunch of files. You can quickly see the year, month, and date.
And then next is a keyword. Uh, you want to make sure that this is very short and descriptive, not something that'll make it hard for you to decipher later on. Um, think like broad. So you want to go from like the general, so like the year, for example, is pretty general, to more specific, like the actual project that you're working on. And then maybe there's like a department that it's related to or a subject matter. And then you can have a modifier, so like V01. And try not to get into the habit of like V final, underscore final, this is actually the final. We've all been there.
Don't, as someone that works with digital files a lot, whether that's web design projects, video projects, uh, graphic design, like I've been in a lot of circumstances where I've seen all different kinds of people, way people structure their files, and I've done it myself. Um, but if you have a system, it makes life so much easier. So my recommendation to you is just have a system and try to stick with it as much as you can.
Okay, next up, modifiers. So you can use modifiers to specify like a particular version, the intended audience, or who created the file. So, for example, V01. I recommend always using an extra digit, so 01, because you never know if you'll end up going to 99 revisions. I hope you don't, but just in case, save yourself the pain that way. Once you get to 10, you can just go to 11, and it's not going to mess up your order of files. And then you could do things like version final. You might put someone's initials in there. You might do like marketing to indicate the team that this file belongs to. You might put your last name or again, your initials. Just depends on how you want to organize this, but this is just a general guideline for using modifiers.
Okay, in general with file naming, you want to avoid using special characters except the following. The reason being is that in the past, you actually couldn't really even use special modifiers. So just in case you decide to later, you know, bring your files into like a Linux environment or a different computer, like it's not going to mess things up and you're going to have to spend a lot of time restructuring or renaming things. So my recommendation, I think at one point you could only use like underscores as spaces, but I believe underscore is fine, dash is fine, and you can even use a hyphen. Um, so that's my recommendation. Don't use other special characters if you can avoid it.
Okay, next up, a general guide to folder structure. So what I recommend, again, going from the general to specific. So you might have the date or the year that the project belongs to, and then within that folder, like this is probably for a creative folder, um, project, you might have photos, and within that, you might have raw photos, and then like you export like full-size images of those raws, and then you might have like special edits. Um, that's one thing. I I got this kind of folder structure thanks to Peter McKinnon. Um, he even, I think, takes it a step further where he'll actually add the camera name before you get to raw, full-size edits. Um, and then I think he actually does first the camera name, and then he does photo, video within that camera name. Um, but for most people, this simple format will work unless you got a bunch of cameras that you're shooting on, then it could be helpful to specify.
Okay, you might have a sound effects folder, images like that you bring in, different graphics, uh, project files, music, graphics. So this is probably an older version of what I would use. I've got a new version, um, that I I have in the examples.
Okay, these are things that I recommend for URL specific things because when you're working in the web, there are different things that are helpful to have. For example, I would not recommend using spaces. Um, so don't use spaces, use dashes, and I would recommend that over even underscore or hyphen. So when you're creating like an image for the web or anything web-related, just use dashes to separate words. Don't use like crazy characters or just spaces. It's just the way that the internet works. It's going to make your life a lot easier. Also, I do not recommend using uppercase. Uh, I don't believe it's as big of a deal, but just I would just not do it. Um, and then do not use underscores to separate text. It is another like somewhat viable option, but again, I would just use the dashes. So one in doubt, like for example, maybe it's like YouTube, YouTube thumbnail.png, something like that, where like, and then if you want to add the date, this is what, you know, it might look like. Oh, not an underscore for web. So that's that's an example, um, of something I might use if I'm uploading it to my website, something like that.
Cool. Now I wanted to introduce another method for structuring folders. This is somewhat new. Uh, I don't know if people are familiar with Thiago Forte, but he's got a lot of great content on building a second brain, as well as the PARA method. You can check out his content on YouTube, as well as his books on Amazon. Feel free to do that. I'll try to leave some links to some of his content below. But basically, his method goes PARA. P-A-R-A stands for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archive. And the idea is that you have your most actionable first to your least actionable. So that's why Projects is first and Archive is last.
So you might be wondering, what is a project? What is an area? What is a resource? What is an archive? Let's dive into that real quick. So projects typically have a defined deadline. So, for example, let's say you're remodeling your house, that has typically a, hopefully, a deadline in mind. U, maybe you're working on a chapter of a book that has a deadline in mind. But there are other things that are like ongoing, and that's where you have areas. So like your family, that's something that you have ongoing. Maybe you have a podcast, and this is probably where I would differentiate slightly, and this is one thing that I think Thiago says is that it's not like a one-size-fits-all. So you might need to tailor it to your unique needs. And this is one thing that I would probably do. So, for example, for YouTube, I don't like, Thiago might argue that a YouTube video, since it has a specific deadline, would go into your projects. But for me, I like to have my folder structure all in one place because sometimes I use assets from one YouTube video to the next. And I'll show you my file structure for that. And so it's just helpful to have it in one major file folder so that I have each project underneath it, and then I'll just archive them to a like cold storage later. So that's personally my thing. As well as like for a podcast, I would just like to have all the episodes in one place to keep it simple. I mean, there might be a hybrid approach that you could take where you have like it in projects to start and then move it to like areas. But like to me, I think it's simpler to just do it like this, or maybe you had an archive folder for all the done podcasts. I don't know. But for me, I think it makes sense to have it in areas. If you want to use this file structure, and there are people that are like pro this file structure, some people are not a fan of it. So maybe test it out and see if it works for you. I feel like I'm more or less liking it. Uh, there are some things that I feel like I just slightly different.
Okay, cool. And then resources, basically anything that you want to reference. I love to have a folder and I recommend checking, like making one yourself for helpful PDFs. So just like, you know, you get those downloads every once in a while, or like you're taking a course and they might have helpful information and you just want to reference it occasionally. That's what I use. Um, and then I might have some folders within that to differentiate the different resources. Another way you could have it is like topics of interest, like maybe you're really into cooking and you have a, you know, a section for all your recipes. So that might be, you know, another way to differentiate. And then my, one of my favorite places is the archive. I, I must say, like ever since using Gmail and like intro, getting introduced to this idea of archive where you still keep it, but it's not in like your active workspace, I just love it. So just like any area, resource, projects that you no longer really need in front of you, just archive it. You can always unarchive it or search for it later on, but it's nice to have this. And here's the other thing, this structure, you can actually use use across your different platforms. So for your file structure, you could use it in your project management tool, you can use it in your notes keeping app. I mean, there's a lot of different applications that you can use this structure. Uh, again, I would test it out and see which areas it works and doesn't work. For example, I've tried it with my notes and I don't necessarily think that it's a good fit for me. Sometimes I just like to keep my notes just very simple, just have like one place for my notes, and then once I'm done with an idea or I like process it, I just archive it, you know, just something super simple. But I would like adapt the system to your needs. Like maybe you're researching like a really complex topic and you need to differentiate your different notes. Um, and so maybe that's a good situation to use it. Um, that way your Star Wars collectible list doesn't influence your philosophy, uh, notes, you know, I'm sure that's what you're all are doing. Uh, your Star Wars and your philosophy, they go great together. Anyways, moving right along.
So the typical method that I would recommend, general to specific, just some more examples. You go year, and then you might have a month if you have like a lot of data and you don't want to like have it all under one year. More and more though, like I'm getting into a point where I'm actually liking just having the year and then just like listing everything underneath that, uh, that belongs to that category. Or I, I'll give you a particular example in a minute. Uh, and then you might do department, and then projects underneath that. You might do school subject, project, and then year. So that kind of reverses some of these ways of doing it.
Now let's dive into some practical examples so that you can see for yourself. And by the way, if you're listening to this podcast, I should have said this in the beginning, but if you're listening to this podcast, feel free to jump on to YouTube or you can actually watch on Spotify. Um, that way you can see the different examples for yourself.
Okay, so I've got three different examples. One is like business files, another is for YouTube, and another is for podcast. So let's start off with the business files. So, for example, you might have like a file cabinet. Sometimes I actually name like a folder file cabinet like it was your real physical file cabinet and think about it that way. And then for certain things that have like a year specific, you know, I might do like 2024 expenses. And then underneath that, I might have all the receipts in this fashion. So date, where it was purchased, like sometimes I'll put in what it is because like maybe I bought multiple things from Amazon, I don't know what it is. Um, so maybe just listing out a couple things so it triggers my brain. It's like, okay, this is a receipt. That way, if I'm like, I need to go back and see that one in particular, I can find it easily. Um, and then you might include like the order number. Is another example. Same thing with invoices. I would put the date, like underscore, and then the client name, and then underscore, and may or may not need it, but like project, and then business docs, like date, and then like whatever that return thing is. You might even include like another modifier or a keyword, like who is it from, and then whatever it is. So that's just an example of like business files. I'm trying to think if I've got more ideas because this is something that, you know, obviously I do.
Oh, so like at the root of your like business files, what I'd recommend is like having your digital assets that you access all the time quickly available. So you might even have like an underscore assets file or even like a logo folder. Or I'm trying to think of some of things like basically those things that you access like all the time, like making it super easy that way you don't have to like dig through a bunch of different things to find it. Uh, I just find that convenient. Um, and then like under the assets, you might include like different resources. Maybe you have like fonts for your business, like or those business documents, like I think that's a great use, like those ones that you have to go back to like all the time. Uh, that way you don't have to search through like, you know, date, year, that kind of structure. Like this is great for when you're like doing year specific things that you're going to only need for that year or for when you're doing taxes. But for some of things, like you just need to access all the time, like logo, it's one of those files that you grab like nearly every single day or every week at least.
Okay, cool. Then YouTube. This is kind of the format that I've adapted currently. So I've got a folder in like my main YouTube folder. I currently do this where I've got like 202 Oh wow, we're we're in a different different year there. Okay, 2024. And then underneath that, I have YouTube. But I think eventually I'll just go to YouTube and then have my assets folder for those like resources that I use for like every single video, and then have my GFX, my sound effects, my graphics. And then I'll also have a folder for like each project. So like, for example, this is like a camera view. So I would have the date of the start of the project, and then the name of the whatever project it is. And then underneath that, I like to use these numbers so that whenever I open the the project folder, they should be when I list by name in order. So I don't have to be like, oh, finding. I mean, it takes probably three extra seconds, but if that, but it's nice to have that same structure every single time.
Another pro tip, actually haven't done this for this folder structure, is like having an underscore so that it pops up to the very top. So as you'll notice with like assets, I use underscore assets. It's just very helpful for that to just be front and center so you don't have to dig through and find it amidst like all the A-name things or the E-name things. Another recommendation is having a template folder for your project. So you might have like underscore YouTube template. And then just with that, you'll have like a project folder, you have the same folder structure here. And then within like each of those, you'll have the things that you reuse all the time. Like for the most part, that's just like your project file, you know, like your, whatever that is for you. Just a recommendation for those that are doing creative work.
Cool. Then if you got a podcast, this is what I use. It's a very simple version. So like for more simple projects that you have where you don't have like many moving pieces, this is a great setup. So again, I have like the template folder. As you'll notice, like for template, I don't know what the second T is for, but basically I just replace that with the episode number. And then I've got just project files, media, exports. That's it. Super simple. And then under project files, all my project files, like the Photoshop file, the video file, like video project file, goes under there. And then under media is basically like the audio, the video, any other like screen recordings, basically any media that I need to create this, uh, podcast will go under that folder. And then any exports, whether that's a transcription, whether that's the video file or YouTube thumbnails, that's all goes into this export. And then you have your, um, like I've got a shorts folder, and I basically just throw in all of the MP4s. And then once they're done, I just put them into a folder named published. That way they're out of the way and I can easily see what's been published, what hasn't. Just a super simple system. And then again, an assets folder, you'll probably typically see that at the top anyways. So you got assets, and then sound effects, graphics, or graphic effects, and then graphics.
So that's just a quick overview of how you can structure your files. Just a quick overview again. You want to use date primary, I would say like 80% of the time. And then if you want to use like keyword primary, just put the keyword and then a date modifier. That might look like budget 2024, although I would probably put 2024 budget. And then version 01, for example. And then the keyword, you want to make sure that they're short but descriptive so you can easily know what that file is about. And then modifiers, like version 01, again, make sure you include the two like numbers that way as you get above 10, it doesn't mess with your ordering when you order those files.
Yeah, what about you? How do you order your files? Do you have a thousand things on your desktop or in your downloads folder? Are you looking to clean things up? Let me know. Uh, would love to know what your system is and what's worked for you. And until next time, my friends, wait, before you go, smash that like button, hit the subscribe so you don't miss anything, follow us on other platforms, rate, reviews, subscribe, all that fun stuff. And until next time, my friends, stay messy.
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