Folders or tags?

Managing your information usually comes down to one of two things.

Photo by Geri Forsaith on Unsplash

How many files do you have?

How many notes have you taken?

Those are questions, for many of us, we either don’t know the answer or are afraid to ask. The collapse of so many organizational systems are caused by falling back on old ways of working such as keeping information in folders.

In days of yore…

Folders were the defacto method of organizing information on a PC because they emulated a standard people were already familiar with as well as providing a structure that worked well with file storage of the time.

That time has passed.

Folder structures:

• Have problems with scalability for large volume use

• Require consistency in naming

• Have limits in name length and levels of nested folders

• Do not facilitate finding your information quickly

• Do not prevent duplication of content

What’s the alternative?

Many systems now provide tagging and categorization as a replacement for or in addition to folder structures when it comes to organizing data. Now this isn’t the same as putting information into database structures (looking at you Notion), rather it applies structure without structure.

Tagging:

• Creates subsets of information based on relevancy to a topic

• Fits well into search capabilities of tools

• Scales better with growing sets of information

• Works better with machine learning and AI

• Do all applications offer tagging?

Unfortunately no, most applications do not have tagging as an option in their information management. Finding applications that leverage tags over folders should be a key concern when implementing or upgrading knowledge systems.

Can I “pretend” to have tags in my folders?

Depending on the system, you can use keywords in your folder and file names to make searching more useful. While still far removed from tags, it does get you closer to the types of functionality available.

What are some ways to get around the issues of folders?

1. Rather than making multiple copies of a document, decide on the location for one master copy. Depending on the system you can create a shortcut to the master copy in another folder, or in even less capable systems, create a small document in the second location that contains a link to the master document.

2. Don’t be afraid to reorganize. So many folder structures sprawl out of control because of a failure to realign with changing needs out of a lack of understanding. If you’re moving content from folder to folder, there’s no harm with leaving the old folder in place with a single document pointing to the new location. Heck, you could even add a note as to why the contents of the folder were moved.

3. Folders work best when organized in wide rather than deep structures. A good rule of thumb is you shouldn’t have more than four folders deep to go through to get to a file.

What’s the right answer?

I wish there was one for everyone. Unfortunately, because of differences in need, tools, structure, content, and implementation, the best answer that can be given is, “it depends”.

Take time with a coach or professional to talk through what you’re doing now, what you need it to do, and what you’re using to do it and they can help you find the right fit for your information management.