Virtual Filing System: Organized on the Road

Let's be honest, even if you have a world class filing system in place at your office you can still have problems when you step out the door. Going on the road can mean a variety of different things depending on your position and duties. It could mean an offsite client meeting in town or two weeks traveling from city to city for vendor conventions. Either way, you need to have everything you need at your fingertips and let's be honest, your bosses won't care how perfect the files at the office are if they don't have that critical file when it's time to make a presentation.

So, let's talk about how to keep your files in shape while you're on the road.

Firstly, always have a backup for your critical files. When you're on the road, there are too many variables to risk it with only one copy. Maybe your bags will get stolen, or your laptop will take a nose dive down a flight of unfamiliar stairs, or Murphy's Law will kick in and your hard drive will crash. Keep a second copy, and keep it with you. It's easy to attach a USB flash drive to your key chain or stash a CD in your carry on bag.

Secondly, keep your old system, as long as it was working for you to begin with. This is the system that you know best, and being on the road can be a little bit disorienting. So don't do anything to make that worse. Keep all of your file names the same and in the same place. The way to do this is really simple:

1. Copy the "top level" most general of the folders that has the files you need. If you are not sure where to begin, use your "My documents" folder, or its equivalent if you use one of my filing systems. (You can find them right here on Office Arrow)

2. Delete the folders and create a stripped down version of the master folder.

3. Open each folder and get rid of the sub-folders and files that you will not need.

4. Do a double check. Be sure that you have copies of the files you need, that you may not have thought about. Does your presentation have images or video in that presentation? You should probably save a separate file with those images or video. These are called your "source files".

5. Now is a really good time to make that backup we were just talking about, so either copy and paste this new road ready version of your files into another removable storage medium or burn it to a disk. Don't put it off! It will slip your mind during the rest of the preparations. Go on, I'll wait.

See, wasn't that easy? With some solid planning, a backup plan, a hand and the familiarity of your home filing system, you can make your road life as simple as possible and ensure that you have everything you need.

One final note for the truly paranoid: if you are in doubt, or just want to be 100% sure that you will have all of your files with zero room for error, do a second backup by emailing yourself critical files. Wherever you have wireless internet access, you'll have your files.