Search? Me?
The search is over, or at least abbreviated. For the paying folks, it's over even faster.
Renaming and using a variety of icon options over a folder can save you significant time in searching for documents and naming new ones.
Why it matters
Depending on what you do and your business, you will accumulate folders and documents. Whether you scroll or search, it can cumulatively take minutes—most likely hours—out of your work day/week.
Going deeper
If you’re calling BS on this one, you may want to check out a recent McKinsey study, which found that employees spend an average of 1.8 hours each day just searching for information. That’s nearly 25 percent of a standard 40-hour workweek!
I may join you in calling BS. But I do get frustrated when trying to find my frequently used folders. Here’s something that helped:
Numbering
The folders I go to most get a number in order of frequency and importance. Here’s a snapshot below.
Changing the name is as simple as:
Right-clicking on a folder. From the long menu of options, select “More Options”. From that menu, select the Renaming option.
After selecting, the name will be highlighted. Use the arrow key to scroll to the beginning of the file name and insert a number. Mine are renamed by priority.
After you make the edit, click on another folder so the edit will take.
Click on the folder name at the top of the page. This will re-order your files. You will then see the new order.
By putting a number at the beginning of the folder name it will appear at the top, with 1 being first, followed by 2, 3, etc.
The little things
This may seem like a very small tweak. I’ll bet dollars to donuts, which I’m not allowed to eat anymore, that you will save more time than you think.
Going mobile
Looking for more space in your home office? What if you could create space just by adding some wheels? A mobile file cabinet offers multiple purposes and flexibility.
Monday morning vibe: Welcome to the Working Week, Elvis Costello
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to My Home Office Hacks to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.