Filing.  Could this be the most boring article on time and productivity ever written?  I hope not because like or loath it, filing is one of the areas that can make or break your personal productivity. 

Productivity improvements tend to stem from two sources – improvements in your environment or in your process. By environment, I mean your office layout and tools – desk position, calendar system, filing system, etc… Your tools of the trade.

If these fundamentals are not optimise for your work, personality and space then you will have a reduced impact with whatever time process you ultimately choose.

So let’s spend just 5 minutes refreshing your filing system.

Tools.

Nothing beats hanging files and manila folders. Group manila folders on the same topic into a single hanging file. 

Label as you go and label relentlessly.  Either get a labelling machine – trust me, they are cheap and it will incentivise you to get organised – or handwrite on stickers, so you can use new labels to reuse folders later.

Drawers.

Invest in good quality filing drawers.  Cheap drawers will start to stick under even moderate weight.  You want drawers that will glide readily even when full.

I strongly encourage having a set of hanging files within easy reach of your chair/desk. This is typically used for “work in progress” filing, personal files and/or confidential files.  Within easy reach means without having to get up – so I am talking about under desk filing drawer.  Pedestal filing drawers with wheels are easy and cheap to find.

Do you need lockable filing drawers?  If you are keeping any client records they should be under lock and key.  As should any personal files you keep at work (bills, bank statements, etc…).  This can be a major compliance breach if not adhered to.

System.

Some businesses can get by with filing by client.  For services businesses, this can make a lot of sense.  But it’s not the only way to file.  Where do you store everything else – administrative files, marketing documents, reference articles? You could use a second filing system for non-client files, which is not a bad alternative but it’s a slippery slope to filing confusion.

There are generally three other filing systems: by task, by project or alphabetically.

Task and project are fairly straight-forward and may be particularly suitable to managers, administrative or technical workers.

I know it sounds old fashioned, but I still think that alphabetical files are hard to beat.  Set-up hanging folders for every letter of the alphabet and then manila folders for each “file”.  Clients, projects, tasks and admin all go in together by letter. 

The beauty of this system is that it uses your filing space very efficiently but moreover, there are only so many places a file can be found when you are looking for it later. 

The file for The Smith Family, is probably only going to be under S for Smith or C for clients.  Expenses Budget is probably only going to be under E for Expenses, B for budgets or maybe P for planning.  Lost files should become a thing of the past.

Unify.

Whatever physical filing system you choose, I encourage you to set-up the same folders in your email. Having unified email and physical filing will reinforce the system in your mind.  It will also reduce your need to print emails for filing as you will see the two filing systems as “one”.

Space.

Don’t overfill your filing drawers.  Leave them about 2/3rds full at most, to allow you to easily move between folders.  If space is going to be a problem, you may need to consider an annual cull and archive.  This is generally good practice anyway. Bear in mind any regulatory requirements of file keeping (financial and client records in particular).

Use plastic folders within the manila folders.  Each plastic folder represents a year.  Blue plastic folders might be 2006, yellow 2007 and red 2008. File documents based on a consistent date – every document received in 2006 is filed in the 2006 plastic folders. 

Then once a year you just need to go through each file and remove the oldest year for bulk archiving – removing plastic files of the same colour is fast and they are easy to transfer to an archive box.

If you have a bunch of new coloured plastic folders, they can be inserted at the same time.  As 2006 comes out, 2008 goes in while 2007 remains.

Conclusion.

A great filing system needs to simply give every piece of data a home that can be readily found when required.  Following these general tips will help you define the perfect filing system for you.