And that’s just your personal digital space—what about the mess that can happen with everyone swapping and sharing files in the workplace? Woods says this is where good design and good habits come together, “Consistency is key.
That's why we designed Dropbox Business in a way that ensured everyone saw the team's folder structure the same way. Otherwise you'd get all of these people asking, 'Where's that folder? I don't see it,' because everyone set up their accounts differently. This way, the team has a structure that works for them, and everything else falls into line."
It doesn’t matter if it’s personal or professional data, Woods says the rules don’t change, “I think the thing I keep emphasizing is picking a system or a structure — whether it's an organizational pattern, a file naming convention, or something else — and sticking with it.” If you’re ready to take on the horrible pile, Woods who likes to keep things organize online and off, has some tips.
Woods says, “People let their digital lives get cluttered for the same reason they let their physical lives get cluttered. Things start to accumulate pretty slowly and then eventually it reaches a point where it feels like too much work to actually do anything about.”
If you’re at that point, Woods recommends starting with the most attainable segment of your digital life. Photos can be daunting, but general documents are more manageable, “I call it life administrative stuff, like tax receipts or when you get your car serviced and they give you that little slip of paper that falls under the floor mat of your car and you never check it out again.”
To save those documents from becoming lost or cluttering up your physical space, Woods’ fix is to create a Dropbox folder labeled “My Documents” and store all those docs there. He’s noticed many documents, like instruction manuals and warranties, now come in a digital format, but if they don’t he just scans the docs right from his phone using the Dropbox app.