How to organize files on your PC and keep things tidy without going crazy

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Many people get a new computer, hard drive, or even a brand new SSD, and within months, it's a complete mess. The more space we have, the more we tend to accumulate filesPhotos, documents, downloads, videos, work projects, course notes… and that's how it ends up being mission impossible to find anything when we're in the biggest hurry.

The good news is that getting organized isn't that complicated if you know where to start. By combining the options of Windows itself with some specialized programsYou can go from having a disastrous PC to a logical, clean, and easy-to-maintain folder system, both for your personal life and your daily work.

Why is it so important to organize your PC files properly?

Beyond the obsession with order, Having your computer files well-structured is almost a necessity.Today, a large part of our lives is on our PCs: bills, contracts, family photos, work reports, presentations, PDFs with important paperwork, etc. Losing a key file or taking 20 minutes to find it isn't just frustrating; it can make you late for a deadline or even cause you to lose valuable information.

Furthermore, A disorganized folder system makes searching much slower.It doesn't matter if you have a very powerful computer: if each document is in a different place, with random names like "final_def_definitive2.docx", you're going to waste time and mental energy every time you need to locate something.

Another key point is that Good organization requires you to review the content from time to timeThis helps to delete what you no longer need, freeing up disk space. know which files are taking up space and detect duplicates or huge files that are taking up gigabytes for no reason (old backups, uncompressed videos, etc.).

Lastly, If you share a computer or work in a team, a coherent organizational system is essential. It's the difference between anyone being able to find a file in seconds or only "the owner of chaos" knowing more or less where everything is.

Basic good practices before touching anything

Before you start creating folders like there's no tomorrow, it's important to lay some simple foundations. There are some habits that will save you a lot of headaches. and it's advisable to adopt it now, even if you haven't yet done a major PC cleanup.

To begin with, Forget about the desk as a "catch-all" and consultation How to organize your digital desktopIt's very convenient to dump everything you download or create during the day there, but in a few weeks you'll have a carpet of icons where nothing is distinguishable. Ideally, your desktop should only contain shortcuts to the applications you use daily and the Recycle Bin.

Another very useful starting point is Use a large generic folder as the base for everythingWindows already includes a folder called "Documents," which is usually the perfect place to centralize personal and work files. From there, you can build your entire internal hierarchy in a tiered way.

It is also important not to overdo the level of detail. Creating a folder for absolutely everything is just as bad as not creating any folder at all.Try to make your structure make sense, but without falling into mazes of subfolders where saving a document requires five clicks and opening ten different levels.

How to get the most out of Windows File Explorer

Windows includes some very useful built-in tools for organizing the contents of each folder, although it is true that Native organization has its limitationsThe settings you apply to one folder are not automatically inherited by the rest, so if you want a specific criterion in several locations, you will have to fine-tune it manually.

When you open File Explorer, by default it displays the "Quick Access" view (in recent versions it is called "Explorer Home"). This screen lets you see your recent and favorite files at a glance.both from the PC itself and from online services like Office.com, and is usually more practical than going directly into "This PC" and combining it with techniques for search for files faster on your PC.

If you're more comfortable always accessing the classic drives and folders, You can change the Explorer's initial behaviorAt the top, within the options menu, you have the setting “Open File Explorer in:”, where you can choose to have it open directly in “This PC” instead of “Start”.

Once inside any folder, Right-clicking on an empty space in the file area opens a very interesting menu. to control how the content is presented. From there you can sort, group, and configure which columns of information you want to see, among other things.

The two key functions at a visual level are "Sort by" and "Group by". With “Sort by” you decide the sorting criteria within the folder (name, modification date, type, size, etc.) and whether you want to view it in ascending or descending order. In Windows 10, there is also a "More..." button that allows access to a very long list of additional fields by which to sort.

In the case of “Group by”, The content is divided into blocks according to the chosen criterion. (by date, by file type, by size, by tags, etc.). Each group visually acts as a kind of subfolder within the current folder, with a header indicating the category and the files below.

The interesting thing is that Within each grouping you can apply your own orderFor example, you could have the "Downloads" folder grouped by "Date" (today, yesterday, last week, etc.) and, at the same time, within each block sort by type or by size to locate what you are looking for more quickly.

In both functions, the “More” button (present in Windows 10 and in “Group by” also in Windows 11) opens a window where You can choose which details you want to appear as columns For those elements: creation date, authors, height or width in the case of images, video duration, year, frame width, and a long etcetera.

Create a simple but effective folder hierarchy

The key to not going crazy is to think about your structure with common sense. Ideally, you should be able to encompass the main content of your PC in a few top-level folders.and from there branch out only when necessary.

If you use the same computer for personal matters and for work, a good starting point is create two large folders inside “Documents”One with your name (for your personal things) and another with the name of your company or professional project (for work-related matters). Within each one, you can further divide by areas: “Invoices”, “Clients”, “Projects”, “Photos”, “Courses”, etc.

Think of a tree: from the general to the specific, but without going overboard with the levelsFor example, Photos → 2024 → Trips → Seville. You don't need a subfolder for "Seville by day", "Seville by night", "Seville with friends", unless you're actually handling thousands of images and that distinction is useful to you.

A useful trick is to ask yourself: "How would I search for this file in six months?"If the first thing that comes to mind is the project name, put it first. If what you remember is the date (a term, a school year, a year), structure it by dates. The important thing is that the approach is consistent and always repeated.

Also avoid duplicating folders for similar things. The more parallel folders you have with similar names, the more likely you are to save a file in the wrong place.A single, well-organized "Clients" folder is better than "New Clients", "Old Clients", "My Clients", etc., with mixed documents.

How to name folders and documents strategically

It's no use having a decent folder structure if later The file names are impossible to interpretThis is where naming conventions come into play: a consistent and repeatable naming system that allows you to locate any document by using the system's search bar.

Ideally, all related files follow the same patternYou can base it on the date, the project or client name, the document type… or combine several elements. For example, for budgets you could use something like: “2020-02-04_budget_ClientAlpha.docx”. The idea is that just by reading it you already know what it's about.

Also note that Windows list view usually only shows the first few characters. Regarding the file name: If you use very long names full of details, it will be difficult to read them at a glance. Something short but informative is better than a whole paragraph.

Another very useful strategy is use small “codes” at the beginning of the name to alter the alphabetical orderFor example, files that begin with "_" will appear at the top of the list within the folder, so you can reserve that prefix for what you open daily ("_Current-Project", "_Invoices-current-month"...).

Similarly, Names that begin with "@" are usually placed right after those that have an underscore.You can use this for important documents that you don't need to see first. For the rest, you can use numbers at the beginning ("1_General Plan", "2_Reports", etc.) if it helps you maintain a logical order.

Daily habits: avoiding chaos before it appears

A computer gets messed up very quickly when we're working at full capacity. We downloaded a PDF, left it in Downloads "for later", and hurriedly saved a Word document to the desktop. And, before we know it, there are hundreds of files piled up in makeshift locations.

The most effective way to combat this is to adopt a simple rule: file the documents at the timeIn other words, every time you create or download a file, take 10 seconds to save it directly to the folder where it should stay long-term, with its correct name.

That small gesture prevents you from having to spend an hour at the end of the week trying to remember what each nameless file was, or where on earth you saved that presentation you need for tomorrow. “I’ll order it later” usually means “I’ll never order it.”.

Even so, things always slip through the cracks. That's why it's a good idea to set aside a specific time, for example, on Fridays before the end of the day, to perform a quick review of the conflicting foldersDesktop, Downloads, Temporary Documents, etc. In just a few minutes you can move what's missing to its place, delete duplicates and empty the trash.

If you find it difficult to keep your desktop empty, you can apply a homemade version of the "Desktop Zero" method. Create a folder called something like “Desktop Files” And when you see too many loose files cluttering your wallpaper, drag them all there. Then, open that folder and carefully move everything back to its final location.

Organize your work files better

In the professional environment, the disorganization is even more noticeable. It's very common to end up with your desktop full of everyday documents., different versions of presentations, reports downloaded from clients, resources shared by colleagues, etc.

A practical recommendation is Never save work documents directly to the desktopAlways use your "Documents" folder or, if the company has an internal network or a cloud system, the official shared locations (network drives, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.). This way, you can also access those files from other devices.

Within your professional portfolio, think about how you actually work. You can have a "Working" file zone, a "Waiting" file zone, and a "Archived" file zone.The documents are passed from one to another depending on their status, which helps you to be clear about what is still active and what you can leave alone.

If you share documents with other people, try to agree on a common minimum naming convention. It's not the same to have a folder with "Final_Report", "New_Report", "Latest_Report" than another with “2024-03_Report-clientX_v1”, “2024-03_Report-clientX_v2”, etc. At the team level, this saves thousands of questions via email and chat.

Whenever possible, It also takes advantage of the benefits of working directly in the cloud.Many platforms automatically save versions, allow you to search for content within documents, and facilitate sharing without having to duplicate files on a thousand different sites; check out our cloud storage software guide to choose the best option.

Leverage third-party programs to automate the sorting process

If you want to go a step further and get the computer to do some of the work for you, there are several very interesting tools. These programs analyze your files and rearrange them according to rules that you define yourself (by type, by date, by size, etc.).

One of the most comprehensive options is Organize My Files. This software works on Windows, Linux, and macOS. and focuses on automatically classifying files according to different characteristics: extension, type, creation date, size, and more.

After downloading it from its official website and installing it, the first time it will ask you to choose which drive or folder you want to sort. From the “+ ADD FOLDER” button you can add other locationsThese will be listed on the left side of the interface. In the central area, you'll see a pie chart that uses color to show which file types take up the most space.

It's very easy to use: When you click on “Organize”, the program will automatically move the files according to the defined rules.This creates new folders within the original location, organized by type, date, or any other criteria you choose. In just a few minutes, you can transform a chaotic directory into something much more readable.

Another popular application is Easy File Organizer. It is available for Windows (including from the Microsoft Store), Linux, and macOS.Its strength lies in its smart filters and custom rules.

With Easy File Organizer you can define criteria such as file type, extension, creation date or nameThe application analyzes all content and groups files that match each rule into folders. Within these folders, you can also create additional subsections for even more precise organization.

The process is quite automatic: After scanning the routes you specify, the program applies a series of rules (which you configure beforehand) to rename, move, or even delete specific files, keeping everything in order with very little manual intervention.

File Juggler is another tool focused on automating file workflows. Its goal is to prevent you from wasting time moving documents one by one again.It continuously analyzes certain folders and, as soon as new files appear that meet certain conditions, it processes them according to the actions you have defined.

In this case, The rules can be based on the name, the extension, or even the content of the file.Once configured, the program can rename documents, move them to their correct folder, create backups, or clean them up if they are no longer needed. It can be downloaded from its website.

For those who manage large multimedia libraries, especially music, there is TagScanner. It is a free program focused on audio files and their metadata. (ID3v1, ID3v2, Vorbis, APEv2, WMA, iTunes, etc.).

With TagScanner, the first thing to do is perform a search and upload your collection of audio files. From there you can edit tags in bulk, rename songs according to their metadata and reorganize entire folders following a logical pattern of names (artist, album, track number, etc.).

You can even connect to online databases to fill in missing information (for example, album covers or album details). It's a very powerful way to organize chaotic music libraries. without having to go song by song.

Organize files with tags in Windows thanks to Tagging

Beyond folders, there is another very interesting way to organize: the labels or “tags”Windows doesn't offer this feature by default, but there are tools like Tagging that add this functionality directly to Explorer.

Tagging is not a standalone program as usual, but an additional panel that is integrated into Windows Explorer itselfOnce installed, you'll see that right-clicking on one or more files will bring up new options related to tags.

To start using it, you will need to request a free license key on their website. All you need to do is enter your name and email address.You will receive an initial email to confirm your account and a second email with your activation key.

When you enter a folder that you want to sort by tags, the basic flow is simple. Select the files you want to tag, right-click, and choose the "Tag with" option.From there, you can go to “More Tags” and a window called “Select tag” will open.

In that window, By right-clicking on “Tags” you can create a “New tag group”That is, a new group of thematic tags (for example, “Projects”, “People”, “Priority”). Within the group, again with the right-click, you create specific tags (“Urgent”, “Client X”, “2024”, etc.) and apply them to the selected files.

From that moment on, In the tags panel you will clearly see which files have each tag assigned.The good thing is that you won't have to recreate the tags: they will always be available from the context menu so you can mark new documents with just a couple of clicks.

Another great advantage is that A single file can have multiple tags at the same timeThis allows you to mix and match approaches: by project, by content type, by year, by priority… without needing to duplicate files in multiple folders. In large collections of information, this “parallel” organization is invaluable.

Specific tools to keep your desktop under control

If you're one of those people who, no matter how hard you try, always ends up with a full desktop, you can also rely on programs designed just for that. In Windows there is, for example, Fences, a paid software that creates “blocks” or containers on the desktop itself.

With Fences, each block acts as a distinct area: You can have one box for app shortcuts, another for folders, and another for recent documents.etc. The program can automatically rearrange the icons according to the main categories you define.

This way, even if you still have things on your desktop, They will not be scattered all over the screenbut grouped and visually labeled, which greatly reduces the feeling of chaos.

On macOS, on the other hand, there are tools like Hazel that allow define very detailed rules for moving files between folders based on name, type, date, or even content. And the Finder's "smart folders" system works like live filters, automatically displaying files that meet certain conditions without duplicating them.

On both Mac and Windows, combining a little personal discipline with these automations makes it possible to the maintenance of order is almost transparentYou keep working and the system puts things in their place.

Ultimately, organizing your PC files properly isn't about being obsessive, but about making your life easier. If you define a logical folder structure, use consistent names, archive on the fly, and support all of that with the right tools (Windows Explorer, labels, automatic organization programs…), your computer will cease to be a bottomless pit of lost documents and will become a tool where you find everything quickly, without stress and without wasting hours looking for things you know you have “somewhere”.