I’ve come across tweets and memes like this one by Kat Chow—a brilliant writer, by the way, and the author of the memoir Seeing Ghosts*, which you should most definitely pick up—over and over through the years. Here’s a secret that’s not really a secret: writers are good at a lot of things. Having an organized file system… is generally not one of them.
If you’re constantly confused by your own file system, not naturally Type A about your documents, and couldn’t find the fourth draft of the essay you wrote in 2021 about grizzly bears to save your life, I’m here to provide you with a filing system that you can try. I can’t promise miracles, and maybe it won’t work for you at all (maybe you just love chaos! I won’t stop you, beautiful chaos creature!), but if you’re desperate for a system that keeps your files from disintegrating into absolute entropy, give this system a try.
Here's a detailed step-by-step guide for organizing your writing documents—whether they’re Google Docs, Word documents, or Pages documents—so you can keep track of versions, dates, and names of your essays, articles, stories, and/or whatever else you’ve been jotting down.
Step 1: Create a Writing Folder
On your computer or cloud storage (I use Dropbox), create a master folder named “Writing Projects” or something of that nature. Maybe you want to call it something fun, like My Mushroom Cottage. I can’t stop you.
Example: Writing Projects
Step 2: Set Up Subfolders for Each Category OF WRITING
Inside the your. master folder, create subfolders for each category of writing you do, such as “Essays,” “Articles,” and “Stories.”
Example:
Writing Projects/Essays
Writing Projects/Short Stories
Writing Projects/Articles
Writing Projects/Books
Step 3: Create Project-Specific Folders
For each individual piece of writing, create a folder inside the appropriate category folder. Name this folder using the title of the piece. If you don’t have a title yet, use a phrase that’ll indicate what the piece is about, like “Presidential Debate Reflections.”
Example:
Writing Projects/Substacks/Presidential Debate Reflections
Writing Projects/Short Stories/Cowboys
Step 4: Establish a Naming Convention for Files
Here’s the most important part (in my opinion). Commit to a naming system that remains consistent. I recommend one that has the title, version number, and date. To save you the headache, let’s just say you’ll use [Title][Version][MMDDYYYY].
Example:
Cowboys_v1_08212024.docx
Presidental_Debate_Reflections_v5_
08212024.pages
Step 5: Save Early Drafts and Versions
Save a new version of your document every time you make significant changes. Yes, your program probably autosaves, but you might need an older version later for some reason. Update the version number in the file name.
Example:
Cowboys_v3_08242024.docx
Inside each project folder, create subfolders called “In Progress,” “Drafts,” “In-Progress,” and “Final Versions.”
Example:
Writing Projects/Short Stories/Cowboys/Editors
Writing Projects/Substacks/Presidential Debate Reflections/Final Versions
What do these folders mean?
Keep the most current working version in the dedicated “In-Progress” folder.
Move the early drafts and versions that you’ve been saving (because you are definitely saving them now) into the “Drafts” folder.
“Editors” is for documents that your editor sends you (if your piece is for a publication, or if it’s a book that’s being given feedback by your editor at a publishing house, for example). To stick to the naming convention, RENAME YOUR DOCUMENTS after the editor sends them back to you, because otherwise you’ll end up with whatever your editor likes to call files, and sometimes they’ll call them something like Cowboys-revision-EWW-3.docx, and you’ll be confused all over again. (I mean you no harm, editors. I’m just trying to stay organized.)
Move the final version of your document into the “Final Versions” folder once it’s completed. There should only be ONE FILE in the Final Versions folder, in the end. You can make exceptions if you get back the PDF of, say, the final laid-out version of your book, but otherwise, there should only be actual Final Versions in the Final Version folder. Note that this is usually where people otherwise end up naming things Cowboys_FINALFINALFORSURE_
08212024.docx and getting confused.
Now that you’ve got a folder system and some naming conventions, I have a few other tips to help you keep things straight.
Make a folder for notes/research and use descriptive file names inside
If you usually have a bunch of notes or research files for a project, create a Notes and Research folder within the project folder. Your file names should hopefully be as un-chaotic as possible.
Example:
Writing Projects/Substacks/Presidental Debate Reflections/Notes and Research/debatetranscript.pdf
Writing Projects/Substacks/President Debate Reflections/Notes and Research/nytoped-biden.pdf
Back up your work
You ARE backing up your work, right? I think all of us have had some terrible experiences in which our computer crashed before the final version of our senior thesis was saved, or we spilled chocolate milk all over our computer and everything was lost. Maybe your laptop was thieved on a bus, or you left it on a plane and it was never recovered. It’s easier to back up your work now that we have the cloud, but I recommend that you have some other backup method, or if you’re like me, multiple backup methods. I use Backblaze, which backs up my entire computer on a regular basis. And yes, I have had to recover versions from Backblaze from, like, 2013 because my Dropbox underwent a disaster (the story is too depressing for me to recount). Generally, I recommend a cloud system like Dropbox, a secondary backup like Backblaze, and a physical external hard drive with which to back up your important files. Three versions might seem like overdoing it, but LIFE IS A RICH TAPESTRY, and I have complex PTSD. Save your stuff.
I hope this was helpful to you! If you think this system might assist a hopelessly disorganized writer friend, feel free to forward them this blog post. Or if you think the writing public should see that there is A Better Way, share it on Notes or some other form of social media. Thanks, all.
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