filing system / naming scheme
(yes, these ScanSnaps are invaluable: GET ONE! Preferably the auto-feed ones, eg. the S1500M I have had for couple of years now is just great, and now the ix500 replaces it, though at the expense of losing the Mac-bundled Adobe Acrobat. Avoid the "Evernote edition" ix500 model, as it's more hassle than it's worth: Google, for reasons.)
re. filing system / naming scheme...
What do you guys use?
I find this difficult, as I am often not sure whether to store by year or by topic. And then which topic, as you can have a file that's related to many topics.
An easy example. For a car I owned until recently, and obviously every year you have various docs for it. I decided the best thing to do was keep all docs for it in my "current" folder, and then when it was sold file all the docs under the year it was sold in...
Similar to this (bold = folders, in this example):
>current
>>bills - non-household
>>>car VW - reg# 12345678
>>>>car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax
2011.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2012.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2013.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2014.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
Then when sold, filed under archive:
>archive - 2014
>>car VW - reg# 12345678
>>>car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax
2011.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2012.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2013.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2014.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
(I add the date to file names in case the OS decides to screw the date metadata – has happened to me in the past, in Windoze land; never again! Hours of sorting out a few years ago.)
I often feel I 'overname' files/folders though (using too long names), and/or 'overfile' (too many nested folders depth) – in order to make them searchable by name and not just by content.*
So what do you guys use/do?
Digital filing certainly gets complicated, as there are so many ways one can file a document, eg. by year/subject/sub-subject/related subject/etc. ?!
Sometimes you need to see docs in an order to get an overview of the 'history' of something, other times you may need to see docs by topic matter.
I'm wary of using something like Devonthink, as it's a bit of a lock-in system, regardless of keeping files in a Finder filing system, and it looks like it could get really complicated for the average user to maintain. Anything over-complicated will soon get abandoned, I feel. It's like manual backup: if one has to remember to do it, then it won't get done.
* An interestingly annoying aside. In iCloud, placeholder empty folders (with no files in them yet) don't appear on certain devices – great idea that Apple?! Making filing using iCloud a farce.
(yes, these ScanSnaps are invaluable: GET ONE! Preferably the auto-feed ones, eg. the S1500M I have had for couple of years now is just great, and now the ix500 replaces it, though at the expense of losing the Mac-bundled Adobe Acrobat. Avoid the "Evernote edition" ix500 model, as it's more hassle than it's worth: Google, for reasons.)
re. filing system / naming scheme...
What do you guys use?
I find this difficult, as I am often not sure whether to store by year or by topic. And then which topic, as you can have a file that's related to many topics.
An easy example. For a car I owned until recently, and obviously every year you have various docs for it. I decided the best thing to do was keep all docs for it in my "current" folder, and then when it was sold file all the docs under the year it was sold in...
Similar to this (bold = folders, in this example):
>current
>>bills - non-household
>>>car VW - reg# 12345678
>>>>car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax
2011.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2012.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2013.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2014.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
Then when sold, filed under archive:
>archive - 2014
>>car VW - reg# 12345678
>>>car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax
2011.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2012.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2013.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
2014.01.01 - car VW - reg# 12345678 - car tax.pdf
(I add the date to file names in case the OS decides to screw the date metadata – has happened to me in the past, in Windoze land; never again! Hours of sorting out a few years ago.)
I often feel I 'overname' files/folders though (using too long names), and/or 'overfile' (too many nested folders depth) – in order to make them searchable by name and not just by content.*
So what do you guys use/do?
Digital filing certainly gets complicated, as there are so many ways one can file a document, eg. by year/subject/sub-subject/related subject/etc. ?!
Sometimes you need to see docs in an order to get an overview of the 'history' of something, other times you may need to see docs by topic matter.
I'm wary of using something like Devonthink, as it's a bit of a lock-in system, regardless of keeping files in a Finder filing system, and it looks like it could get really complicated for the average user to maintain. Anything over-complicated will soon get abandoned, I feel. It's like manual backup: if one has to remember to do it, then it won't get done.
* An interestingly annoying aside. In iCloud, placeholder empty folders (with no files in them yet) don't appear on certain devices – great idea that Apple?! Making filing using iCloud a farce.
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