How To Properly Organize Your Work Computer?

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Everyone has been in a similar situation before-where turning on your work computer becomes a nightmare. The reason for this isn’t because your job is difficult. Instead, it is because you know your desktop will greet you with a mess of confusing symbols or messages. This type of setup is bound to make even your favourite part of your job more difficult than it needs to be. A cluttered PC will be slow and cumbersome. That is why you must learn how to organize your work computer properly.

There is no universal way to organize a personal computer so that it works for everyone. However, the following advice should provide you with some much-needed computer management dos and don’ts. Either way, you will know how to organize your work computer properly.

Use A Folder-Naming Convention

Simply grouping your work documents into a folder isn’t always enough when it comes to storing your work files. You will also need to retrieve these documents fast when they’re needed. This is an impossibly time-consuming task if you do not know where you are looking. What’s more, you don’t want to keep your manager or a client waiting.

That is why it is important to use a folder-naming convention when storing your work. You can name your folders based on the project or by the date. So long as you know how to find them, this naming convention will be a success. Naming a folder is as easy as double-clicking on it and typing out its new name.

Remember That You Can Have Folders Within Folders

One of the more annoying aspects of trying to find older work documents involves scrolling through hundreds of folders to find the one that you are looking for. Since these folders all look the same on the screen, it is easy to skip passed important documents that you are looking for.

Therefore, you will find it beneficial to remember that you can still create more folders within folders. This Russian doll effect of a storage system can massively improve your work storage system. However, it also comes with the added benefit of leading you to the documents you seek. Although, this strategy is most effective when you name your folders appropriately.

Only Pin What You Need

The taskbar on your work computer is the place to go whenever you need to open something quickly. You will normally start with just an internet browser logo on your taskbar: however, you can add more to the bottom of the home screen by pinning the software. This saves you time scrolling through the start menu to find something you use daily.

Unfortunately, there is such a thing as overdoing it. Even if you use many software systems throughout an average day, it is important not to overfill your taskbar with shortcuts. Doing so is only going to clutter your screen, and it may cause this software development program to open more slowly than normal. Try to stick to only seven or eight icons on your desktop taskbar, and you should be fine.

Document Management

Another reason your computer may take longer than normal to perform is that you have too many documents saved. As such, it is worth learning about document management.

Poor document management normally starts by having too many documents saved on your device. That is why it is important to avoid saving things like drafts once you no longer need them and to delete any old documents that you no longer need. If you have any large documents that you need to keep, it is worth compressing them into a PDF format using a PDF compressor.

A PDF presentation file takes up less space on your PC, which means that the older documents kept in this format are less likely to hinder the speed of your device. What’s more, it frees up a lot more space for further saved data. Other methods of document management include:

Slitting finished files from incomplete projects
Digitizing Your Paper Documents
Don’t overstuff your folders
Organize things by date

Remove Files From Your Desktop

One of the easiest ways to clutter your home screen is by accidentally saving your documents in the wrong location. Whenever you save a new document, there will be a dropdown menu below where you choose a name for your new document.

Unfortunately, some new computers will set the default saved location as the desktop screen. While this save location makes it easier to find important files initially, failing to change this setting will make your desktop extremely messy. This makes it almost impossible for you to find the files you need in time. There is never any need to save documents to your desktop, so make sure you change the default settings to save your work in your folders.

Use A Neutral Desktop Background

The icons on your desktop are your lifeline at work. You should already know that having too many of these icons on the screen at once will only lead to confusion, but there are other ways to lose some of your key software tools.

Anyone who has a personal work computer will have the freedom to set up their own desktop background. This may use an image of your family or some clipart found online. Either way, losing sight of your important desktop programs is far too easy if your background is too loud. That is why it is important to choose a neutral background so that you never lose sight of your important work tools.

Don’t Be Afraid To Have A Clear Out

It is very rare that two workdays are the same. This is especially true if you use your computer to work in a creative field. However, holding on to work files you no longer need is only going to clutter or slow down your device.

It may not be easy, but having a good file clear out is healthy for any computer. You will feel much better once you have some space on your machine to breathe, and a clear-out provides you with more space to work on what is ahead.

Conclusion

The working world has been a part of the digital age for over fifty years now. That means that everyone of working age should know how to look after a computer device by now. However, anyone still learning about computer technology can use the advice above to organize their work computer properly.