I’ve created a setup that I think should work for me but would love thoughts. I have two businesses which makes things tricky so I have spilt them out into “Projects”:
Biz 1
Biz 2
Personal
Resources (because these run across all three)
Archive
I’m a photographer so I needed a way to be able to pull out chunks of photos each years to free up space on my drives so I have an Archive “Project” as well. I also wondered if I could add a Live Projects folder at the top of the tree so I can quickly get to my current work as I’m often working on 5-10 projects/content pieces every month. Once these are completed they go into the correct folder below.
Let me know what you think
Zoë
101 Business 1
Live Projects
101.53.06 Session (moves to 50-59 Photography folder when completed)
101.32.03 Newsletter for meetup(moves to 30-39 Content folder when completed)
101.32.02 YouTube video (moves to 30-39 Content folder when completed)
10-19 Admin
11 Travel
12 Clients
13 Contracts
20-29 Finance
21 Accounting
30-39 Content
31 Templates
32 Newsletter
33 YouTube
40-49 Marketing
41 Press
42 Events
50-59 Photography
51 Portfolio
52 Catalogues
53 Sessions
2021
201.53.03 Session with James
201.53.04 Session with Lucy
60-69 Sales
61 Merchandise
62 Book
63 Events
201 Business 2
Live Projects
10-19 Admin
20-29 Finance
30-39 Content
40-49 Marketing
50-59 Photography
60-69 Sales
301 Personal
Live Projects
301.63.06 Home renovation
10-19 Admin
11 Travel
Trips
301.11.01 Portland
12 Clients
13 Contracts
20-29 Family
30-39 Friends
40-49 Health
401 Resources
10-19 Admin
11 …
12 …
20-29 Finance
21 …
501 Archive
2020
101.62.01 Session with Zoe
101.62.02 Session with Zoe
101.62.02 Client shoot
201.62.01 Session with Zoe
201.62.02 Session with Zoe
201.62.02 Client shoot
[Edited by Johnny, just did some indenting and bulleting to make it read better. @Zoe let me know if I’ve mis-represented anything as a result?]
This looks pretty good, got a few comments but it’s late here, I’ll reply properly tomorrow. (Edit: late! I’m such an old man now, it’s 8:30pm and I’m already in bed.)
Right-o, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and with a fresh pot of tea!
I also wondered if I could add a Live Projects folder at the top of the tree so I can quickly get to my current work as I’m often working on 5-10 projects/content pieces every month. Once these are completed they go into the correct folder below.
This seems like a popular strategy, yep. Don’t forget that you can probably create a link to the folder but leave the folder itself where it’s supposed to be. On a Mac that’s File > Make Alias, or just drag the folder to your Finder sidebar to create a shortcut there. But you might want the folder actually located elsewhere temporarily — say, on your Desktop because that’s running on the local SSD vs. over a network to a NAS or whatever. So yeah, as long as you ‘tidy up’ later, all good.
101 Business 1
201 Business 2
301 Personal
401 Resources
For a first cut the system inside these looks really good. Feels ‘obvious’ which usually means you’re on the right track.
I’m a photographer so I needed a way to be able to pull out chunks of photos each years to free up space on my drives so I have an Archive “Project” as well.
501 Archive
2020
101.62.01 Session with Zoe
101.62.02 Session with Zoe
101.62.02 Client shoot
201.62.01 Session with Zoe
201.62.02 Session with Zoe
201.62.02 Client shoot
Interesting idea, I help out another photographer and managing old files is a right nightmare. You people have a lot of data! I like this, pulling things out by year might not be necessary — could you just drop those other folders straight in to 501 and let themselves sort by number? — but it’s probably not going to hurt. The only danger is now you have to remember which year a thing was if you want to find it.
Wow I didn’t know about the Alias thing!? OK this is awesome and I’ll definitely do that!
For the Archive yeah you know my head is so stuck in using the date but maybe I don’t actually need to use it!?
My file names and session folders have always had the date on there:
210501_zoenoble_013
But I guess with this system I just use the numbers for the files and folders:
101.53.01 Client shoot
Maybe I can just add the date at the end of the file/folder so I have this as a record?
101.53.01 Client shoot 210501
But I’m trying to work out if the reason I always used the date was to ensure I always had a unique number to ensure no overlap but with your system that happens anyway!?
what happens when I pass 100 photo shoots? Is it ok to have
101.53.100 Client shoot
101.53.101 Client shoot
etc
I’m such an old man now, it’s 8:30pm and I’m already in bed.)
Edits look good!
