Be Strategic in Managing Electronic Files

As it's easier to find what's need more quickly in electronic form, many paper files get scanned into laptops, desktops and mobile devices; yet, simply converting to electronic doesn't ensure the content is safe, secure and easily accessible whenever needed. That's where the cloud comes into play, and it's important to utilize cloud solutions how they'll best support your productivity.

So many of us talk about "the cloud", but how many really know what it entails? In October of 2017, CBS Sunday Morning gave an excellent overview of "the cloud", explaining how files are stored in huge, centralized buildings (known as data centers) from which computers and phones fetch what's needed from wherever at whatever time desired. Further, as David Pogue of Yahoo Finance reports, the cloud helps synchronize content between devices so all changes made on one are seen across anything connected almost immediately. As evidenced by the concrete barriers, armed guards, retina scanner, mantrap, nine password doors, storage redundancy across geographic locations and emphasized anonymity in CBS Sunday Morning's clip, businesses along with individuals rely on these data centers to safely maintain data security.

Offering speed, security, flexibility and savings, "the cloud" is here to stay so utilize it in whichever ways will help you the most. One way you probably capitalize on "the cloud" is manually choosing which files to upload for storage and sharing in an online file repository, like Amazon S3, Box, DEVONthink, Dropbox, eFileCabinet, Egnyte, Google Drive, iCloud Drive, SpiderOak or SugarSync. Another way to capitalize on "the cloud" is through an automated back-up of everything on your computer, including documents, program files as well as hard drive settings, and options for this functionality include Amazon Glacier, Backblaze, Carbonite, CrashPlan, IDrive along with Mozy.

Your online file repository is not the same as a cloud-based back-up solution. Yes, both of these protect you from the ill effects of hardware failure, natural disasters, ransomware and theft, but they do so for different types of content and offering varying levels of ease for accessing that content when needed. Whether you utilize Amazon S3, Box, DEVONthink, Dropbox, eFileCabinet, Egnyte, Google Drive, iCloud, SpiderOak or SugarSync as your online file repository, it does not alleviate your need to implement an automated, cloud back-up via Amazon Glacier, Backblaze, Carbonite, CrashPlan, IDrive or Mozy, too. While your choice for online file repository will focus on saving your documents to the cloud, syncing them across your device, enabling sharing for greater collaboration and making it easy to quickly access those uploaded contents, that's not enough; your choice for cloud back-up provides automatic, continuous and secure saving of everything on the hard drive of your laptop or desktop computer, which is worth it's weight in gold when your hard drive dies, is corrupted or gets damaged beyond repair. Create your account on the website of your chosen back-up solution, download the software to your computer, tell it what to back-up and, then, make sure your computer is connected to the Internet at least once each 24-hour window of time; all your data will be downloaded to the data centers and secured for restoration when it's needed.

How do you utilize "the cloud" to manage your electronic files? What is your preferred online file repository? How about your solution for automatic, cloud-based back-up? 

Organize Your Files to Quickly Find What's Needed

Each day, we are faced with an onslaught of information. Much of that information avalanche comes from email, and there are solutions specific to controlling your email instead of letting email control you. Yet, there is an equally pressing need to address the overwhelm from paper and electronic documents. Follow these steps for relief in accessing knowledge via paper and electronic sources.

- Limit what you retain. Whenever you have to dig through more files to find whats needed, it takes longer. Make friends with delete and discard, keeping only what is accurate, applicable, useful, bringing you joy as well as difficult to replicate or find online. Then, schedule time to maintain this system, continually evaluating what comes into your space while addressing your retention cycle so things are not kept longer than needed.

- Convert what paper you can to an electronic format. It is easier to find content needed in electronic form. Further, filling electronic storage space creates fewer pains and often takes longer to reach existing limits. To reach this goal, choose from physical scanners, like Doxie or Fujitsu, install the Scannable app on your iPhone or CamScanner app on your Android device and partner with scanning companies to help catchup on your backlog, like The File Depot or Shoeboxed, culling together in your preferred option.

- Control the funnel into your space. When left up to the person delivering paper to your office, each will be piled atop the last on your desk or bureau; however, once something gets stacked on top of something else, you no longer know what is below. Counter that situation by hanging an inbox (and, ideally, an outbox) near the door to your workspace, whether a Three by Three Wall Pocket, reisenthel Clear Wall Pockets, a Rustic Marche Wall Pocket, a Yamazaki Nest 2-Pocket Wall Organizer or something similar. Tools like an inbox and outbox empower you to address what's most important when it's convenient for you and separate those items from what is currently being handled atop your desk.

- Implement naming conventions. If you can mirror names between email mailboxes, paper files and electronic document folders, it will be easier to know what you have, put things where they belong and, then, recover what's needed quickly. There is no "right" or "wrong" verbiage for labeling, although I discourage using "miscellaneous" since that is non-descriptive; however, there is an art to creating a filing system... You want enough folders so everything has a home but not so many options that any one item could realistically be filed in more than one place. Balance carefully between generic and specific so each email, paper or electronic file has a clear destination that is easy to maintain. The worst scenario is to struggle in determining where something should be kept as it means you'll struggle even more when looking to retrieve it later.

How do you choose what papers and electronic files to keep? What system do you use for successfully retaining them? Or how do you struggle with your documents?