Where do all the project support material folders go?

[willbetoned]

If you have a project that's informal/potential, that sounds like a Someday/Maybe project. Reference is things you refer to and use, but aren't active. Reference and Project support aren't the same, and you do need different folders for project support.

Actually, by informal I just meant the GTD definition versus a client contract or a home improvement project.

And the potential projects are a VERY important and currently unused or unimplemented part of my business. That's prospecting - looking for new customers - some I am just researching, some I am already in discussions with. When I let this areas lag, it means gaps of time with no new client work - and not much revenue. But I think everyone is right - they don't need a paper folder unless they really do!

ANd I respect your opinion and my soon share it for all I know, but I am intrigued by the idea of putting some active but critical active projects in with the reference stuff. THat allows me to have active client projects AND prospecting close at hand (in paper or electronically. I don't mind going to the reference folder when it's time to work on refinishing my dresser.

If you have 17 years of files, you also need to make an area for all the old stuff that you aren't going to put into your GTD stuff now, but will wait until it's up and running - that's Backlog. Put it in a designated physical space, and leave it alone until you're ready to look at it again. This will speed up your GTD implementation.

I think I am using a hybrid approach to that. I am charging right through my file folders and drawers because they are half organized already. But all those "Uggh" or "I-don't-know=what -to-do-with this" folders may well go into backlog. They seem to be much more emotionally draining for some reason than the old file folders.

Yes, there will be lots of project files if you make a folder for each project. Lots of GTDers have 50+ projects. Going electronic is a huge space saver, so you will find it best to only make a physicial folder if you are going to need paper for that project. I use Lever Arch folders, with dividers, and each divider section is given to a project, these I use for my working, files, and I purge these regularly. i have separate Manila folders for work files that need hardcopy long term records, and these get archived after the project is finished.

Hmm... intriguing. I don't know what a Lever Arch folder is, but wouldn't that give you a bunch of folders inside a bigger one - in essential a group of projects. I could see that working for me - maybe quite well if they were a group of closely related projects (e.g. different small improvements around the home / office) but I wouldn't like unrelated files stuck together.

I am intrigued by your archive. Where do your physical archive folders or envelopes go?

[Suelin23]

Work archives files into boxes for offsite storage.