Files proliferate rapidly on personal computers, and without a little planning, users can end up searching through a long list of miscellaneous files with names that seemed sensitive when they were created, but now seem very mysterious.

Windows automatically saves new text files in My Documents and graphics files in My Pictures, unless you say otherwise; great for knowing where your files land, but not so great when it’s time to find them again. A little planning will help you create an easy-to-use organizational system for all your documents.

Using nested folders is an easy way to organize your documents. Do you use your computer for personal and business projects? Consider creating a separate folder for “personal” and “business” documents. Within these folders, divide it into additional categories.

In the “Personal” folder, you can find a hodgepodge of letters to friends and family, letters to the editor of your local newspaper, complaints to companies about unsatisfactory products, downloaded recipes, and website pages on a variety of topics, and so on. A “Correspondence” folder can be divided into more folders labeled “Friends and Family” and “Business Correspondence”; The “Friends and Family” folder could be subdivided into folders for each individual, assuming you correspond regularly; You could add a “Miscellaneous” folder for those with whom you communicate infrequently. If you communicate by email, you can also copy and paste or download your own emails and the responses you receive, especially when the letters contain valuable information. Your “Friends and Family” folder can also be a good place to store personal photos.

Take a look at the website downloads and the miscellaneous files you have collected. Have a lot of recipes or information on vintage cars or alternative energy resources? Create broad categories and then subdivide; “Alternative Energy Resources” suggests several subcategories: “Wind”, “Solar”, “Biodiesel”, etc.

In business, you may have correspondence, project notes, background material, completed and ongoing briefs, and a variety of financial files. Several organizational options are presented; In terms of financial files, do you want to group them all in one folder and subdivide them as needed? Or do you want to keep financial files with corresponding project files?

Let’s say you work as a freelancer for multiple companies and have a variety of files for each company. One organizing method is to create a “Standalone” folder, then a folder for each customer; subdivide each of these into “General Information”, “Projects”, “Invoices”, “Correspondence”, etc. The “Invoices” folder for each customer can be subdivided again by year and contain all the invoices that have been sent to you. The “Projects” folders can be subdivided into “New projects”, “Work in progress”, “Done but not submitted” (for files you need to submit) and “Submitted”. This not only helps you save finished files, it allows you to organize your work as you go.

In the “Freelance” folder, you may also want to provide a “Financial Summary” folder that contains one or more files that summarize financial information for all clients.

As you plan the organization of your files, also think about how to name your files. It helps to create a systematic way of naming files. Invoices, for example, could include “Invoice” plus your client’s name, project, and ship date: “Harvard Stephen Crane Invoice 10/20/2005”. The correspondence about the project could be called “Harvard Correspondence Stephen Crane 10/20/2005”. It’s easy enough to rename existing files to fit your new organization plan; In Windows, just right-click on the file icon, scroll down to “Rename”, left-click and type the new name.

Don’t forget to backup your files! Burn a CD to save your information and free up your hard drive in the process. And apply the same kind of planning to your backup files as you do to your hard drive. A little organization can make your life on the computer a lot easier.