Organize Your Files More Efficiently

Organize Your Files More Efficiently

As file storage options become both less expensive and more varied, individuals and corporations have more power to customize their own storage system — and more chances to become confused and overwhelmed by their choices.

“Once upon a time space and storage was costly and limited and required you to be very selective on where to put things and how to maintain a library and catalog of where to put things and how to maintain them,” Todd Pekats, vice president of Cloud and Services at PCM, Inc.

Remember these? File management options have come a long way.

Pekats once had riles living in multiple different places, on multiple different kinds of formats and devices: tap, floppy disks, SyQuest drives, etc. “Just keeping track of what you have and where it is being stored was a fulltime job.”

But today the possibilities for file storage are enormous and nearly endless — which has its upsides and downsides.

“File management is crucial for businesses to stay organized, but if you’re starting from scratch, the process can seem daunting,” said Vadim Vladimirskiy, CEO of Nerdio.

You can use the best of this new work — Metadata! The cloud! — to your advantage when planning, implementing and maintaining a file storage system that makes sense for your organization and your needs. And by setting up rules and a coherent storage system before you start moving things around, you can know when a new tech doesn’t make sense for your needs and should be ignored. Read on to find out how.

Step One: Decide How To Store Your Files & Why You Store Them

“The best way to get started is to ask yourself two questions: what rules should govern your organization’s documents, and how exactly should you store them?,” Vladimirskiy said.

Such a survey should involve a variety of targeted questions, said Joshua Newman of Newplan IT. Is the document management software or system going to native Windows files and directories? Will you organize with a system based on folders or tags? Does this filing system need to incorporate process flow? What is the budget to implement these changes? How does your system work for backing up files?

Your Next Job: Set the Rules

“It’s best to create a template that precisely suits your company’s needs and makes your files easily searchable, such as by forming specific title/labeling conventions or creating specific folder hierarchies,” Vladimirskiy said.

Start with a logical naming convention, Pekats said. “It is never too late to take this one. It may seem like a daunting task but like anything difficult and time-consuming you’ve got to start somewhere.”

Identify the files that you need to access most often, and take the time to add the metadata that will make them easy to find when needed. One your system is in place, it’s just a matter of getting the filing done and staying on top of it.

“It’s not a glorious job, but it pays dividends once it’s in place,” he said.

Then, Decide on a File and Directory Structure

It takes time to develop, but starting out with a solid structure for files and directories is key, Pekats said. This can be done in any number of ways. “For me, that is a master folder with subfolders that are structured with things like Master Client’s with a folder for every client, a presentation folder with subfolders like internal presentations, client presentation, partner presentations etc,” Pekats said of his preferred structure.

Microsoft OneDrive offers several file management tools, including the ability to sync files between devices.

Ultimately, the key is to be consistent. Getting organized saves time, and establishing a system makes file organization easy with OneDrive.

“Setting up a new PC with the OneDrive is easy once you have established a methodology around OneDrive, naming convention for directories, and the added step of incorporating a little extra info in your metadata,” Pekats said.

Add Metadata to Assist Your Searching Later

“It’s always a good idea to provide some extra details,” Pekats said of making and organizing your files. “This is where a little extra knowledge can go a far way.”

The Windows Operating system allows users to add metadata to files, which you can use to your advantage by saving information like your company name, your server name, or file authors, Pekats pointed out. This can make it much more efficient to find files later.

“These notes are indexed in your searches — so for example, if you have an image collection and you add these metadata tags, you can find files that would have been time-consuming or next to impossible to find,” he said.

Decide Whether Your Files Will Live in the Cloud or Not

Solving the problem of deciding where to store your files requires you to answer another question: cloud or physical? You can take advantage of cloud-based storage options for your files, you can choose an on-site physical storage option, or you can employ some combination of the two.

“Modern businesses can benefit greatly from cloud-based storage, as it’s more cost-effective than buying, housing, and continuously maintaining physical hardware,” Vladimirskiy said. “In addition, advanced cloud solutions enable remote yet secure access to your data, so that you and your employees can work from virtually any device, anywhere.”

But there will be times when physical storage makes sense as well: for example, for files that need to be archived and don’t have to be accessed frequently or from remote locations. Other files may need to be available in multiple places, or stored both physically and on the cloud. “This is very specific to what you do and what you need,” Pekats said.

Use OneDrive to Sync Your Files

With Microsoft’s OneDrive, you can have all your files reside locally on your systems that are synchronized across your devices while also providing offline access as well as browser-based or mobile access, Pekats said. You can decide which files you sync, and which to keep locally or in the cloud.

“You have literally have your cake and eat it with this approach,” he said. “I have all my files and data from all my projects and clients for the last 10 years at my fingertips. Now I don’t need all of it synchronized locally but the things that are relevant are effectively on all my devices.”

Remember: You Must Back Your Files Up

Don’t only rely on your operating system’s automated backup — actively back up your files. You can back up your files to physical storage, or use cloud backup, or play it safe and go with both. And if you change a file, make sure to back it up again, Pekats said.

“The one drawback of a OneDrive approach to file management is that if you locally synced file gets corrupted your entire data estate will suffer the same corruption in near real-time,” he said. “So back up regularly to ensure you always have your data.”

Ask @WinObs: What's Up with Messages for Android on the Web?

Q. I heard about Messages for Android on the Web this week – what is that all about?

A. You did indeed hear correctly. Google confirmed that they have enabled the ability to send and receive text messages over the web. This new capability supports text (SMS) and image (MMS) based messages. It also provides the mobile-averse with another way to send and receive messages, so let’s review how you’d use this on your computer.

Before we get started, there are a couple of caveats in order to use this capability. You must install the Android Messages app from the Play Store. After you have the app installed, you must to make it your default messaging app on your device. (Just open it up and follow the steps to easily make that change.)

On your computer open a supported web browser (Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) and browse to https://messages.android.com

Now back on your phone, open the Android Messages app and look for the More (three stacked dots) menu on the far-right side of the app. Select that to get the drop-down menu.

Select the Messages for web option to continue.

Note: If you do not see this option yet that will be related to the rollout of this new feature. Just check your app later and continue when this option is available.

You will get this page where you can scan the QR Code displayed in your desktop web browser and connect your messaging to that device/browser.

Note: This page also gives you the ability to remove signed in computers for Android Messages on the web.

Once you scan the QR Code, your browser will open and sync your current messaging data and give you the ability to send and receive messages from your desktop or tablet. The web-based messaging supports emoji (including the Windows 10 Emoji keyboard), stickers, and image attachments.

The interface is very self-explanatory. If you are on a limited data plan for your mobile service, using Android Messages on the web connected to your home Internet connection can save you money by sharing this data across that connectivity versus your phones cellular connection.

There are some options available within Android Messages for the web and you access the menu by selecting the More menu button in the left-hand panel of the web-based messaging interface.

From here you can go into Settings or archive your messaging data.

Here you can exercise control over notifications, message previews (such as websites that you share links for), enabling the dark theme. You can also remove this computer and browser from your authorized list of messaging devices by toggling off the Remember this computer option.

Here is a view of the default light theme for Android Messages on the web.

With this update, we can now manage and send messages via our desktops which can be a huge convenience if you are at your desk all day and would prefer to send/receive those messages using a full-size keyboard.

If you are concerned about security know that your conversations, contacts, and the other settings will be encrypted and cached on your browser. If 14 days go by and you do not use a computer/browser that you previously authorized for Android Messages on the web, that device will be automatically signed out and that cached data will be removed.

This new capability uses Google’s Rich Communication Services (RCS) and they are working with carriers to make this standard across their messaging services. That means greater cross-platform capabilities down the road – a plus for all users.