Info overload at work - how to keep track of data /documents
Discussion
In my job I have information overload - I have lots of different things I have to know about, policies, government rules to do with funding etc as well as tonnes of stuff within our own institution.
Often I will find the relevant legislation / wording etc. But I might only need to look at / refer to it once or twice a year. Or maybe not again until next year. And then I think "I know I've read that"....where is it
Question, what is a good way to keep track of all this s
t? Imagine a massive map of information with lines criss-crossing all over it, that's my head that is
Often I will find the relevant legislation / wording etc. But I might only need to look at / refer to it once or twice a year. Or maybe not again until next year. And then I think "I know I've read that"....where is it
Question, what is a good way to keep track of all this s
t? Imagine a massive map of information with lines criss-crossing all over it, that's my head that isI use Microsoft One Note for similar purposes. You can set up a series of tabs within it then a series of headers under each tab where you can drop anything from text, pics, links, videos, pdf etc...
Then when dropping something in there that I might not need for months I make sure I add a load of text keywords that my tiny brain might choose to use to search for that info sometime long in the future.
It is ace for that purpose and has saved me loads of time and effort.
Then when dropping something in there that I might not need for months I make sure I add a load of text keywords that my tiny brain might choose to use to search for that info sometime long in the future.
It is ace for that purpose and has saved me loads of time and effort.
Whatever you use, at the very least you need to categorise your information and label/place it within the relevant named folder/category.
This is the basis of any organistion of data.
So, get used to creating folders under your Bookmarks in your web browser and definitely folders on your hard drive for files.
Once it is organised, then you can use other software to map out that info or group parts together, like in MS Note.
This is the basis of any organistion of data.
So, get used to creating folders under your Bookmarks in your web browser and definitely folders on your hard drive for files.
Once it is organised, then you can use other software to map out that info or group parts together, like in MS Note.
The_Jackal said:
Whatever you use, at the very least you need to categorise your information and label/place it within the relevant named folder/category.
This is the basis of any organistion of data.
So, get used to creating folders under your Bookmarks in your web browser and definitely folders on your hard drive for files.
Once it is organised, then you can use other software to map out that info or group parts together, like in MS Note.
I also do files/folders organisation for many things, but in some ways it's an outdated approach now that everything can usually be found by search if you use the right tools. The kids these days don't even expect to manually save what they're working on, let alone give it a meaningful name and place it in an organised folder system! This is the basis of any organistion of data.
So, get used to creating folders under your Bookmarks in your web browser and definitely folders on your hard drive for files.
Once it is organised, then you can use other software to map out that info or group parts together, like in MS Note.
Bikerjon said:
I also do files/folders organisation for many things, but in some ways it's an outdated approach now that everything can usually be found by search if you use the right tools. The kids these days don't even expect to manually save what they're working on, let alone give it a meaningful name and place it in an organised folder system!
That's why you are an adult and not organizing your important data like a kid.I managed data for a fairly big games company and believe me it's not all left to a search among a mass of random info.
Organisation is not an outdated approach.
The_Jackal said:
Whatever you use, at the very least you need to categorise your information and label/place it within the relevant named folder/category.
This is the basis of any organistion of data.
So, get used to creating folders under your Bookmarks in your web browser and definitely folders on your hard drive for files.
Once it is organised, then you can use other software to map out that info or group parts together, like in MS Note.
As above, it never fails. Text files containing links to websites is also good (never rely solely on bookmarks)This is the basis of any organistion of data.
So, get used to creating folders under your Bookmarks in your web browser and definitely folders on your hard drive for files.
Once it is organised, then you can use other software to map out that info or group parts together, like in MS Note.
Another broad vote for OneNote....use it for work: meetings/customers/projects.
I did use Evernote (free version) for a while, but they limited the capacity and then the number of devices, which moved me to OneNote...
It is about the search....and how you lay things out.
But data management in general.....is a nightmare!
I did use Evernote (free version) for a while, but they limited the capacity and then the number of devices, which moved me to OneNote...
It is about the search....and how you lay things out.
But data management in general.....is a nightmare!
slightly different approach, I have to manage a lot of different pieces of information, and like you, I remember a keyword or something minor, but can't remember where I filed it. Since converting to Mac, the universal search capability (Spotlight Search) means, I type in the keyword and it trawls my entire hardrive, not just the filename, but the contents of that file and shows in a single screen, documents relevant to that keyword, in my experience, it's more powerful than the windows search function. Maybe too drastic to change platforms entirely, but it has worked for me for a long time now
Davislove said:
Penelope Stopit said:
As above, it never fails. Text files containing links to websites is also good (never rely solely on bookmarks)
surely nowadays you can just search your web history to find a piece of information from a website you were reading rather than manually saving it?i use three different cloud solutions onedrive, dropbox, googledrive
i like all of them as the information is stored on the local machine and in the cloud
One drive now has a personal vault that is lockable good for anything a little more sensitive.
I use each storage solution for different parts of my life one drive has all my business items, Google drive has outside of work items, and dropbox i use for uploading images from the camera roll on my phone, i take hundreds of images of vehicles per month.
As mentioned above folders and naming files with multiple names makes it much easier to locate them, a quick search in windows search box will find that file i stored last week or three years ago.
As i also have app's on my phone and ipad i also have access to any of these files at any time or place as long i have a signal.
Each of these solutions all have a scan button so you can scan documents to PDF
i like all of them as the information is stored on the local machine and in the cloud
One drive now has a personal vault that is lockable good for anything a little more sensitive.
I use each storage solution for different parts of my life one drive has all my business items, Google drive has outside of work items, and dropbox i use for uploading images from the camera roll on my phone, i take hundreds of images of vehicles per month.
As mentioned above folders and naming files with multiple names makes it much easier to locate them, a quick search in windows search box will find that file i stored last week or three years ago.
As i also have app's on my phone and ipad i also have access to any of these files at any time or place as long i have a signal.
Each of these solutions all have a scan button so you can scan documents to PDF
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