HI Samsung,
I have been following a system that works fairly well for me.
My main folders are yearwise, i.e. 2010, 2009 etc.
At the second level I have the main categories: Downloads, Personal, Reports, Training, Correspondence, CSR, Sustainability, CII, etc.,
At the third level (for example, Correspondence) subfolders as: Received, Sent
At the fourth level: Received and Sent will have subfolders based on the significance of the sender / Receiver. Those which are not included in these two categories will be included under Received/Sent (third level)
In the case of company internal information I have sub-folders for each of the major contact (e.g. Karachi, Shanghai, Bangkok, Surabaya, Eindhoven....etc.); in each of these departments with whom I used to correspond significantly will have sub-folders. At times I also find it convenient to have specific folders for individuals with whom I have significant correspondence, under the contact folder.
AT times you will have dilemmas. Where to file a training programme on Sustainability ? In the folder "training" or "Sustainability" ? You have to decide once where to file such files (in my case training) and stick to that.
This type of filing has been working for me quite well. Rarely do I miss a file; of course, the success depends on my remembering when (which year) I have filed the information. Of course when my memory fails, "Search" helps.
With kind regards,
Ramakrishnan