I keep my computer files organized in a hierarchy of folders, subfolders, sub-subfolders, etc. However, it can be tiresome to put every newly-received or -created file into its proper place. The solution? A “sort” folder.
My sort folder is simply a subfolder called “_SORT” that I put in the topmost folder. (I use the underscore to make sure it appears first in the list of subfolders.)
Then, when I get or create any new file, I just put it in the sort folder. After a few weeks, the sort folder will have a lot of files in it, and I will then go through and put each of them into their correct subfolder, sub-subfolder, sub-sub-subfolder, etc.
I similarly put “_SORT” folders in my most frequently-used subfolders, which lets me do the same process for particular subfolders that tend to get a lot of files. (I sometimes even put a “_SORT” folder within a “_SORT” folder: namely, whenever the uppermost “_SORT” folder has accumulated too many files, but I haven’t had a chance to sort them yet.)
The overarching idea is to keep things organized while avoiding the need to precisely file every thing away the moment it is received; instead, the organization process is done in “batches” (see also the post on batch processing).
Of course, before a file is actually sorted, it won’t be found in the technically “right” place, but when that happens, I just know to look in the relevant sort folder.
One Idea 