How to Organize the Files on Your Computer
Due to circumstances beyond my control my personal computer filing system has gotten somewhat cumbersome and confusing. I think this is due to the fact that I have been floundering along trying to file things on a computer since the late 90's. Each time I got a new computer, My Documents were just transferred to the new one, along with my dysfunctional organization. It is so much easier to explain how to do this than it is to clean up my own jumbled mess. Hopefully, you do not have years and years of document hoarding in your computer. If you do, I truly feel your pain.
These instructions are written for those who are using Windows XP. Your operating system may be newer and the images may look a little different. Hopefully, Microsoft kept what worked, but you never know....
Go to Start > My Documents. Open My Documents. Click on View, check Status Bar and check List. Next click on View > Explorer Bar and click on Folders. Here's a picture.
set up the Explorer Bar
The appearance of the screen will change to something like this:
Activate the Explorer Bar
The left side of the screen will show the activated Explorer Status Bar with Folders. The right side of the screen will show what is in the highlighted folder in List form. Now you can actually see the disaster that is your folder organizational tree (left side) so that you can fix it. Files and whole folders can be copied and pasted into different folders or they can be dragged and dropped into different folders. Or they can be deleted by highlighting and hitting the delete key!! Would that my life's organization be so easily fixed.
While working in Windows Explorer (shown above), you can create a folder named My Embroidery Designs. Then you can store all of your embroidery designs inside the folder (address will be My Documents\My Embroidery Designs). After you create your My Embroidery Designs folder, you can create a folder inside it named From Susa Glenn Designs to keep all the designs you acquire from this website (address will be My Documents\My Embroidery Designs\From Susa Glenn Designs).
If you know how to make an organizational outline, you can draw one up or create one in Word with I, II, III, IV; A, B, C, D; 1,2,3,4; a, b, c, d; i, ii, iii, iv, etc., ad infinitum, ad nauseum. And then you can create all those folders, subfolders, and subsubfolders in Windows Explorer. Then you can drag and drop all the jumbled files and folders from their old places to their newly organized places and then your life will be perfect (assuming you can remember your newly organized game plan). I've gotten overwhelmed just thinking about it so I'm going to go sew something now.
Source:http://www.susaglenndesigns.com/How_to_Organize_Your_Computer_Filing_s/147.htm
