One of the most popular videos here on the Simpletivity channel is this one about the best way to manage files and folders. In fact, if you do any type of search based on file management, how to organize your folders, or how to structure your files, chances are this video is going to come up number one in your search results.
In this video, I show you the ABC folder method, a very simple but powerful way to not only organize your files but also a very easy way for you to retrieve and find those files afterward. Let me give you just a brief overview of what the ABC method is.
The ABC Method
What it requires is for you to create one folder for every single letter in the alphabet at the top level. Here you see I've got a folder for each letter from A to Z.
Within those folders, I have the contents starting with that letter. Here I've selected my folder W, and I've got subfolders that are nothing but things that start with W: webinar, website, worksheets, and workshops.
If I want to click on something, let's say the website resources, I'm only two clicks away. It's W, and then it's website, and then here I have all of my files.
I do not have some complicated branch structure. I do not have some complicated system of subfolder within subfolder within subfolder.
You know what I'm talking about, like seven, maybe eight levels down, and then you still haven't found the thing that you're looking for. So it can be a very quick and easy way to find and organize all of your files.
FAQs
But with a popular system like this and with a very popular video, I get an awful lot of questions. So today, I wanted to address a few of the most frequent questions I get about the ABC method.
The first one is: "Scott, what if I forget what I labeled it? What if I labeled it 'website,' but then I go looking under 'O' for 'online resources,' for example? What if I start guessing in the wrong places?"
Well, that's very true, and that may happen to you from time to time, that even after you've created that folder, you may go looking somewhere else to try and find it. But I would argue, and it has been my experience, that it is still much faster to guess once incorrectly and then guess the second time correctly than going down that complicated branch structure or subfolder structure and then getting to a dead end and having to work your way back out of that subfolder system.
So it's true that once in a while you may guess incorrectly, but I would still argue that it's going to be quicker, it's going to be faster, to guess wrong once and then find it correctly the second time around. The other great thing about this system is that it often works based on intuition.
I recommend that when you're setting up your system or when you're naming new file folders, you go with the first name that comes to mind. What makes the most sense for the files that you're going to be putting within that folder?
Because chances are that is what you're going to be thinking about in the future when you go to retrieve those files. Another question that I get most often is: "Scott, why not just put these folders at the top level? Why do you have to start with the letter of the alphabet?"
If you just put these folders at the top level, they would still be in alphabetical order, right? You could still view them that way, so why not do it in that sense?
Well, there are a couple of reasons. Number one, if you just put these folders at the top level, how many folders would you have? A hundred? Two hundred? A thousand? How many different folders would you have to manage?
That's an awful lot of scrolling, and I would much rather you can get to things with just two clicks rather than having to scroll and scroll and scroll to get to the file or the folder that you're looking for. But more so than just managing your files within File Explorer or within your system's file system, what about when we're dealing with things online?
Let's go back online, and I'm going to use a common example: uploading a file or perhaps attaching a file to an email or some other resource. When I select computer here, I'm given a relatively small dialog box.
Now, it's true, I could come down here to the bottom right-hand corner and expand this out a little bit, but even in this small, cramped space, it's still relatively accessible for me to select the folder that I'm looking for. Let's go back to W for a second, and there I can find all of my file folders, and one more step down, I can find the file that I'm looking for within that folder.
So think of how often you're uploading, how often you're attaching a file to some type of online resource. You're sharing something with someone else, and we are often given these small dialog boxes.
That's why I really enjoy having only 26 folders to deal with here on the left-hand side. I can quickly get to the file that I'm looking for.
Now, the last question I receive most often when it comes to the ABC method is: "Scott, well, this doesn't really work if you're sharing your files or you're collaborating with a team." I would say that the ABC method is primarily designed for your personal or individual files.
It's true that this is going to be a difficult system to manage with other team members or a large group because what I think makes sense for a particular set of files, someone else may think differently. So, of course, you can still share these folders, you can still share the individual files.
But the ABC method is designed primarily for your individual or personal files. Things that you're not sharing this entire Dropbox folder with, not the entire thing, maybe components of it, but things that you are dealing with on a day-to-day basis, things that make the most sense for you.
So I'm sure you have many other questions when it comes to the ABC file and folder management system. I'd love to hear from you.
Have you used the ABC method, and what other questions do you have about this way of managing your folders and managing all of your files? Be sure to leave that question or leave that comment in the comments section below.
Thank you so much for watching today's video, and I would encourage you to subscribe right here to Simpletivity and give us a thumbs up. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.
