Best Ways to Organise Digital Documents
Document chaos is rarely a storage problem. It is a naming problem, and it is fixable in an afternoon.
Name files so they sort themselves
Start with an ISO date, then the type, then the subject: 2026-03-14-invoice-northwind.pdf. Dates in YYYY-MM-DD order sort chronologically in every file browser on earth, and you never wonder whether 03-04 means March or April.
Use hyphens rather than spaces, keep everything lowercase, and avoid characters that cloud services dislike.
Keep folders shallow
Two levels is usually enough: a category, then a year. Deep hierarchies feel organised and cost you time on every single save. Search does the hard work — good names make search work.
Standardise the documents themselves
Store finals as PDFs. Set the document title in the metadata so search tools index something useful, and add page numbers to anything long enough to print. Both take seconds with the Metadata Editor and Page Numbering tools.
Merge related documents
One contract plus three amendments as four files is four chances to send the wrong one. Merge them into a single dated file and archive the parts.
Back up in more than one place
Keep three copies across two kinds of storage with one off-site — the standard 3-2-1 rule. Cloud sync alone is not a backup, because a deletion syncs too.
Review once a year
Set a recurring reminder. Archive the previous year into a single folder, delete what has no reason to exist, and start the new year clean.
Frequently asked questions
Should I scan paper documents?
Scan what you might need to search or send. Keep the legal originals of anything that requires a wet signature.
What resolution should I scan at?
300 DPI is the practical sweet spot for text documents — readable, printable, and not enormous.