the digital A-Z archive

[haga2000]

I have a reasonable controle of the content in my analog A-z reference archive, which are organised according to Dave Allens suggestions. New copy machines can scan and deliver digital files of almost everything that up to now have been stored as hard copy.

Then a questions arises, how to organise the digital archive in such a way that it can receive the increasing number of digital files, and quickly to locate the right info when needed.?

Shall I get a kind of library program which stores author information, keywords etc. for my digital archive? I found that keeping a index system up to date is not a hard job as long as i do immediately when I store things (the 2 min rule), but a very boring job when i have several months of incoming info to register.

Any suggestions

[TesTeq]

There are some desktop search programs that can index your files automagically. You can find posts about this topic in the following threads:

http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4378

http://www.davidco.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3645

By the way - this forum's search function is very useful and powerful.

[cornell]

I've been trying a straightforward adaptation of the A-Z paper system to the digital realm, and I like it. My needs are relatively simple, but it may be an option for you. If you're interested, you can read some detail in Organizing Electronic Documents GTD-Style? (http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/2005/09/organizing-electronic-documents-gtd.html) There are some good comments there too.

[mcogilvie]

Then a questions arises, how to organise the digital archive in such a way that it can receive the increasing number of digital files, and quickly to locate the right info when needed.?


This an area which is changing rapidly, and I would hold off on getting an external program. Indexing and searching are getting embedded into the OS, and it is likely you will not need that program. Today, Mac OS X lets you not only search files, but also your comments on them. You can also have smart folders that find all files matching your criteria. M'soft is heading the same direction. I use smart folders to simplify my email folder management. Basically I have two folders for saving mail: Ref 06 and Permanent Reference. Everything is indexed into smart folders automagically for particular projects, et cetera. Very simple. You could even have smart folders to implement a virtual A-Z file system! :)