So I’m not sure if it’s crossed your mind while we’ve all been locked down, but with so much time spent at home, this is a perfect opportunity to take your filing system digital. Going digital can be a long and complicated process (depending on how many documents you have, of course) and having everything digitized is only half the battle. Knowing what to do once you have all your previously hard copy documents digitized and having a plan and having a plan for your filing system is critical in managing your digital filing system. There are a few things that I would highly advise getting sorted out before you start to develop your filing system.
1) Create a cloud account – If you’re going to digitize your system, you need a place to store your files and folders. I can’t explain enough how much of an advantage using a Cloud service will make your life easier for you. Actually, I have, on many occasions, but I’ll let you look at Previous posts if you need any more convincing. The quick explanation is that your computer will work so much better if it has more RAM to work with. Storing documents on your computer itself slows it down and limit the amount of data you can keep. With Cloud Accounts, There are many more options. I have certainly given my recommendations on which cloud accounts you can go with, but no matter which one you go with, I would highly advise making sure that it’s one you can rely on.
2) Sketch out what you want your system to look like – There’s no point in having a digital filing system if it doesn’t make any sense to you. To make sure that you can find the files that you’re storing in your system, you should take a few minutes and sketch out the categories of how you would like to sort your files and any subfolders that may be involved. As an example, if you were to have a “bills” folder for any bills that you have, you could have a “phone” subfolder, a “Utilities” subfolder and an “Electric” subfolder. These could be further separated by Year or month, and it’s entirely up to you, which is the point. You need to figure out your system so that you can not only know exactly where your files go when you put them into your system, but you will also be able to find them later if you need them.
3) Buy a good scanner – You have to get your hard copy documents into your system somehow, right? There are so many different scanners and multiple different price points. On a few other occasions, I have talked about the need for a good scanner, but for those of you who haven’t seen it, I like to get a good scanner because it will typically give you fewer problems while scanning and will likely last longer. There are certainly exceptions. I have seen inexpensive scanners last for a while, but it is best to go with a good one.
Setting up a digital filing system for yourself can seem like a complex task, but it’s not. If you prepare yourself with the right tools and some plan for how you want your files to be organized, it will definitely make your experience starting your filing system much more manageable. Also, and more pertinently, when you are fully set up and adding to your system, having a good foundation for how everything will work will set you up to make your system much easier in the long run.
What tools would you use to set up your system?
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