Tips to Manage your Files Better

Use these tips to help with organizing your computer files.

1. Use Documents (Mac) or My Documents (Windows) to store files you are WORKING on. Instead of cluttering up your desktop with a thousand document icons use your Documents folder for current documentation. That way you will always know where your work is located. MS Office files on the Mac and Windows are by default automatically saved in their respective Documents folder.
2. MOVE those files when done. Don’t keep documents in the documents folder if you are done working with them. Create folders to organizing your work and move the documents into these folders when you are done with them. Note: if you are finish an MS Office file and select Save As to copy the file into a folder you are doing just that…COPYING a file. You don’t need a copy in your documents folder AND the storage folder. Instead when you are finished with the document select Save (into Documents area) and then open your Documents folder and right click the document. Select Move and move the document to it’s respective folder. That way you are not leaving a copy behind!
3. Adopt consistent methods for file and folder naming When learning how to manage files and folders, it is important that you develop a naming scheme for the kinds of files you create most often and then stick to it. To change an existing file or folder name on the Mac click the filename once to select it and then click a second time. You can then overwrite the original. In Windows simple right-click the file or folder and select rename.
4. Keep names short and don’t use special characters! Shorter file names are easier to read. And as everyone should be aware of by now, Blackboard does not like special characters. Use only alpha-numeric characters please.