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37 GPSolo 59 (2020)
Naming and Finding Files Using the macOS Finder

handle is hein.journals/gpsolo37 and id is 132 raw text is: By Brett Burney our documents and files are how you show your work, but it's terribly embarrassing (and frustrating!) when you can't find what you're looking for. Estab- lishing a standard and consistent method for naming and storing your files is a non-negotiable condition for ensuring a smooth- running practice. NAME YOUR FOLDERS AND I LES The first step is to outline a folder structure that makes sense for the documents you create, maintain, and orga- nize in your practice. For most firms, a Client folder works at the top level, under which can be placed Matter folders. Under each Matter you can have sub- folders for document types such as Correspondence, Pleadings, Agreements, Family Papers, and whatever makes sense for the clients you represent. Next, you must establish a consistent file-naming conven- tion for your practice so you can find files when you need them. A best practice is to start every file name with the date structure YYYY-MM-DD. Put- ting the date at the beginning of the file name will sort all your files chronologically, grouping files from the same year and month together. The date will GPSOLO I March/April 2020 1 ambarorg/gpsolomag usually be the date you create the document, but you may pre- fer to use the date a letter was sent or received. A couple notes on the YYYY- MM-DD date structure for your file names: First, some folks just smush all the numbers together as in 20200125, but that looks too confusing to me. I recom- mend using either a dash (-) or a period (.) as a separator. Any other characters such as a slash (/) or an asterisk (') might be ignored because the operating system uses some special char- acters for specific purposes. Second, it's extremely impor- tant to use leading zeroes so there will always be two char- acters for the month (MM) and day (DD). For example, if the date is May 6, you must type 2020-05-06. If you don't use leading zeroes, your files won't be sorted chronologically. After the date, decide how much information should be contained in the file name. For example, you could include the client and matter in the file name, but if you've stored the file in a client/matter folder, that information is redun- dant. Instead, use a word or phrase (or even abbreviations) to describe the content and purpose of the file (e.g., 2015- 03-26 John Smith Deposition or 2019-12-08 Letter re Court Appearance). SORT AND SEARCH YOUR FILES The macOS Finder offers a wealth of options for displaying and listing your files that most folks never explore. When you follow the best practices above for consistently naming your files, you need to set up the Finder to sort files by Name. To do this, click the View menu in the Finder window, scroll down to Sort By, and select Name. Next, you can view your files as a simple list or as thumbnails, but my preference is Col- umns so that you can see the folder structure, and selecting a file shows the preview and associated metadata in the right panel. Select as Columns from the View menu (or from the little buttons in the Finder's toolbar). From the View menu, also click Show Path Bar, which displays a handy breadcrumb view at the bottom of the Finder showing the sub-sub-sub- folders where the currently selected file is located. And those folders are all clickable if you need to jump to one of those folders. To keep things visually orga- nized when viewing a list of files, I like to have the fold- ers always show at the top. Click the Finder menu and go to Preferences, and on the 59

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