If you could shave a few seconds off every time you put a file/document away, and every time you had to find a file, those few seconds would add up to days of additional productivity time over the course of a year.  Here are a few tips that save me significant time with file management:   

1.  Use special characters when naming your most-used files.  Whenever I name a new file folder in my Outlook, Gmail, Windows Explorer, or cloud drive location, if it is a file I expect I'll be accessing frequently, I will often put a special character like an exclamation point "!" in front of the actual name.  In most of these locations, putting that special character in front of the name will move that folder to the top of the list, and thus supersedes alphabetization.  Your most important and/or most used folders will be at the top, thus making it easy to both find and put stuff away.

2.  If you have one or two folders that you use ALL THE TIME, consider making a shortcut to those folders that you put on your  computer desktop.  In the Windows Explorer file cabinet, once you "drill down" to the location of your often-used file folder, you can usually right-click on that file folder and create a shortcut.  The shortcut folder usually appears right next to the actual folder, but you can then drag it to your desktop to make a permanent shortcut to this file.  That way, you don't have to drill down to the folder every time -- you can go directly to the shortcut of the file folder on your computer desktop.  (And don't forget the "Windows Key+D" keyboard shortcut that will automatically flash you to your desktop in Windows.) 

3.  Use the "Recent Places" folder link in Windows.  This is a very handy little time saver in Windows.  Whenever you go into Windows Explorer and/or hit "Open" in one of your document tools, if you look to the left-hand side menu just a few down from the top of the folder list, you'll see "Recent Places".  Click on that, and it will load up the last 20 or so file folders you have used.  Thus, if you know you have recently been in a certain file, and you now have to go back to that file again, you can use the "Recent Places" link to find that file folder location in two simple clicks -- very handy!  

Use these three simple strategies to streamline your filing and your file-finding, and you find extra minutes every day.   

1.  August 20 -- Michigan State University HRD --Program:   

Smart Phone Success & Terrific Tablets -- I will be leading a morning session on getting more productivity from your smart phones & tablets at this session on MSU's campus.  If you work at MSU, you can easily sign up through HRD, and if you do not work for MSU, you can often call the HRD Office to see if they will have available seats -- here is the number to HRD (ask for Nancy):  517-355-0183

2. September 19 -- Grand Rapids, Michigan -- Institute for Continuing Legal Education Solo & Small Firm Event in conjunction with the Michigan Bar Association meeting -- I will be leading a keynote session on Finding an Extra Hour Every Day plus an additional breakout session.  You can find out more here:  http://www.michbar.org/annualmeeting.cfm

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