Iconography: Organize Your Desktop

You probably have a lot of icons on your computer. If you are like most PC users your program icons probably sit listlessly on your desktop while all of your Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, Power Point presentations and Access databases sit listlessly in the "My documents" file. While you are probably used to that configuration, you know that it's not the most efficient way to keep your files.

Today, we're going to look at some different ways to arrange those files that save you time. Yes, it may require an upfront investment of time (depending on how many files you have) but in the end, you'll know it was well spent.

Configuration option one:

Ditch the "My documents" in favor of two master files on your desktop. Label one as "projects" and the other "information". Go into the "projects" folder and create two subfolders "current" and "past". Then populate each folder with the appropriate files, creating subfolders for them if you wish. In "information" you'll keep static data like monthly ordering information, contact lists and copies on ongoing contracts.

This format works well for anyone whose primary job duties include supporting multiple projects simultaneously. The second option we'll cover is for someone who supports multiple people in their job, a situation becoming more and more common for an office professional.

Configuration option two:

You'll also be getting rid of "my documents" in this scenario. It will be replaced with folders each baring the name of a person you support, for example "Jim" or "Susie" or alternatively use a title like "marketing coordinator" or "VP of finance". Inside each of these folders you can put subfolders that suit your needs with labels like "deliverables", "quarterly reports" or "meeting minutes".

Configuration option three:

In this scenario we'll keep the "my documents" folder and create subfolders inside "my documents" labeled "word", "excel", "power point" and "access" (or "texts", "spreadsheets", "presentations", and "databases" if you prefer) and break up your documents by file type.

Now that we've talked about your general documents, we're going to talk about what to do with special cases. If you have something that you use 100 times a day (for example a database with all your customers' information and you work in a place like order processing or customer service) then you may want to put that icon on your desktop. This is also a judgment call.

Now it's time to talk about file naming. Some companies have a set format for naming documents (for example; Project Name Contents Month Year or World Domination Death Ray Schematic March 2008) but if your company does not you should probably adopt one, otherwise you can end up with "letter from CEO", "letter from CEO2" and "letter from CEO3" none of which really helps you in a pinch.

When you design your own personal file naming system here are some elements you will want to consider:

• The project name
• The month it was written
• The year it was written
• The contents of the document
• The sender of recipient (for communications or attachments)

Choose the top 2 or 3 of these, to keep the file length reasonably short.

Finally we come to program icons. If you can't just delete the useless ones make a folder, label it "misc icons" or something similar and store them in that file.

Finally, I'm going to show you how to customize your icons (for XP users):

1. Right click on the folder
2. Select properties
3. Select the customize tab
4. Click on the button labeled "choose picture" and select an image.
5. Click "open" then "apply" then "ok"
6. Enjoy your file image.

Just one thought on image selection: pick wisely. People will see your desktop and form an opinion of your professionalism based on it.