WEEKLY WHEATIES #2418
File Organization, TikTok, Tesla, AI
In this newsletter:
Post: File Naming Follies: How and Why to Get your Files in Order
In Case You Missed It: TikTok and App Bans
In Case You Missed It: Tesla and Chinese Competition
Pick of the Week: AI Picks
File Naming Follies: How and Why to Get your Files in Order
If you own or work on a desktop or laptop, I’m assuming you deal with a lot of files. Documents, programs, pictures, the works. On your phone and tablet, you may typically not have to deal with file naming and storing structures. However, with computer operating systems, the naming structure you decide to put into practice can make files easy or difficult to find. IF they are put in the right folder. And IF you can remember what folder you put it in. If you are the type of person who leaves everything in your Downloads folder, this is definitely for you.
There are multiple ways to decide how to order and name your files. First off, promise me you will at least start placing your files into folders and not leave them on the Desktop or the Downloads folder. If you want to leave them on the Desktop, at least put them in a folder. I typically use the Desktop as a “working” space, and if something is in the Downloads folder, I haven’t touched it or looked at it yet. Generally speaking, things can live in the Documents folder and drilled down as you wish.
Meaning, you have the ability to choose how general or specific you’d like to go with folders. Do you want to separate your files by project, category, time, or something else? Do you want to then separate projects by category or time, or something else? Do you want to separate work and personal, or combine them together? If sorting by date, will you create year folders, then month folders, then day folders? Or will you separate by weeks of the year or quarters?
While some things I’m about to tell you aren’t rules, they are good practice. Mainly because Windows limits how many characters can be used in a file name (including the file path - read folders) to 260 characters. On Apple computers, the limit is 255 characters. Either way, having too many folders and a very long file name is not technically possible on either machine.
So how many folders are too many? Depending on who you may ask, everyone will say something different. My suggestion is between 3–5 layers of folders deep. This helps make sure you stay within the character count limit while not letting you get too specific in your organization. The more specific you become, the more difficult it may be to find what you’re looking for. Computers also crave organization and function better with structures in place.
A good rule of thumb I would suggest is to not make a folder within a folder unless you will have at least 2-5 other folders. This number can range and is up to you. But, generally speaking, having one sub-folder in another folder doesn’t do any good for categorization and searching. Along the same lines, having too many sub-folders can cause other issues. I may would try to limit the amount of sub-folders to around 20. If you have any more than that, you may could look at your organization technique and change something up.
Another good rule of thumb is to potentially have an Archive folder either within your project folders or even in the main directory of your Documents where folders can be moved to once that project or event is completed, and the files are no longer needed.
You may not know how to categorize some projects, and that’s okay! Something I try to do is create a folder for every project I have that doesn’t fit somewhere specific and pool them in a folder named Miscellaneous. Then, after being able to look at all of the folders together, you may find ways to then group them. Alternatively, they may can just stay in this folder, too. The beauty is there’s no right or wrong way of doing this, as long as you know what the structure looks like.
Then we have to talk about file naming structure. I don’t want you to have a file named “Proposal for Meeting Final 3 Final Copy Use This One.doc.” You’ve all done it. You would think you would be able to tell by the date last modified or created would help, right? Except when you move or save over files, the dates get wonky. I wouldn’t count on this method as a first line of defense, only a backup.
So what about using the date in the file name? That works, but there are a few things you will first have to decide. Do you want the date at the beginning or the end? Do you want to use 6 digits or 8? Do you put the year first, or the month? Do you use a hyphen or underscore?
Remember, there is no correct way in how you name your personal files. In your workplace, there may be a common structure used in your area, but that’s just to make sure everyone working on similar projects can find the files they need across projects. For your personal use, as long as you keep the same structure and know how you name files, finding what you need will be a breeze.
Now, how about finding your files? Well, obviously, first you should look through your folder structure in where the file should be placed. Then, if you must search, either Mac or PC allow searching the “whole” computer versus just a folder. This would be the best place to start, but it may get overwhelming if a lot of files show. There are tons of tips of searching, whether on Mac or PC, but I want to share my favorite tip that works across platforms - the search modifier.
The asterisks (*) symbol acts as a search modifier and is very handy for searching on a local machine. Meaning, this won’t work for your normal web search. There are other modifiers you may use, so this isn’t the only one. And there are tons of search tips and tools when searching online, but we’ll save those for now.
After opening a Folder or Finder window on your desktop, you’ll see a search box or icon in the top right corner. Let’s pretend we’re searching for a Word Document. This will either end in a “.doc” or “.docx” if a newer file. Remember, the asterisk will help modify our search in that it allows any number of characters to “fill its spot”. If we know the Word Document we are looking for has the word “Proposal” in the file name, but aren’t sure of anything else, a good search to start with for this document would look like:
proposal.doc*
The asterisks before and after the word proposal would find any document that had the word “proposal” in the file name, regardless of what may be before or after it. If we knew the filename ended in proposal, we could remove the second asterisk in this case. The asterisks after the “.doc” would search for regular “.doc” files and “.docx” files, too. After this search, we could then start including other items in the search box, or sort our results based on time or location, for example.
In some cases when searching, it may be best to start with the most specific information you can think of, then work more broadly. In other cases, it helps to start broadly. However, if you’re looking for a very recent document (regardless of the file type), opening the application that file was used in would help. There is usually a list of “Recent Files” you can browse through in Word or Adobe, for example.
Another tip is to search for another similar file. Let’s say you don’t know where you stored all the files for a given project, but you know they’re stored together. You can’t remember the file name of the Word document, but maybe you have an invoice you remember the name of. So, you perform a search for your invoice and voila! There it is! Now, you can right-click and choose “Show enclosing folder” on a Mac or “Open File Location” if on a PC, and your Word document should be in the same folder.
Lastly, a few quick links on how to set the default folder in file explorer on a PC, a few useful tips on how to fix the Finder on a Mac, and a tool to help rename a bunch of files at one time in Windows.
Do you have any tips or tricks on naming and locating files?
ICYMI: TikTok and App Bans
I’ve reported on TikTok recently in #2412 as well as last year in #2311. Next year, if not soon, you’ll hear about them again. I say that because after the House passed the TikTok ban, the Senate followed suit, sending it to the President’s desk, where he signed it last week. The bill classifies TikTok as a "foreign adversary controlled application" — which technically speaking based on terminology is correct. See the above-mentioned newsletters for further explanation.
Essentially, ByteDance has less than a year to sell the US-based part of TikTok to a US company, keeping the information and — more importantly — access to that information state side. While they will probably appeal this in court (taking another year or so), reportedly, ByteDance would rather torpedo TikTok than sell it. Causing TikTok creators to fear for their livelihoods. Reminding you that if your business relies on another business, you may want to start looking into a backup plan.
Let this also stand as a reminder that countries and businesses have the right and ability to block any app that goes against their laws, policies, or terms of service. The importance here with TikTok is a bigger precedence will be set moving forward on national security. Something else to note: China (the country where TikTok and ByteDance are located) has ordered Apple to remove popular messaging apps that cannot be tracked or accessed. Alternatively, with Apple being forced to allow third-party app stores in the EU, they have also since allowed game emulators to be accessed in the App Store in the US.
ICYMI: Tesla and Chinese Competition
After lowering the monthly cost to $99, a week later they lowered the purchase price from $12,000 to $8,000. A rare move in the Tesla space. Usually, the software prices rise as the price of the physical vehicles fall. Which is something that also happened — most vehicles’ prices lowered by at minimum $2,000. To help their stock price, they also revealed the upcoming robotaxi, called the CyberCab, and their Uber-like self-driving ride-hailing app.
While Tesla is leading the EV sales, Chinese companies (notably BYD) are picking up. They want to join the US market, but tariffs are making that expensive for them and consumers. To combat that, they are looking at building their Chinese vehicles in Mexico, however, the Mexican government is reported to put stops to most incentives.
POTW: AI Picks
Although I tend to provide updates in the AI space on a weekly basis as needed, I found a few sites and tools that didn’t fit in some of my posts or news updates. Especially if you or new to AI, continually curious, or even worried about the future - these will help. Check out these picks:
A free Intro to ChatGPT Course by The Neuron Newsletter.
Thousands of tools and tasks analyzed to determine What AI Can Do Today.
An analysis of freelancing jobs to help determine The Jobs Being Replaced (and not replaced) by AI.
