I’m often asked, “How can I keep everything organised on my computer?” In this article, I’ll share simple file organisation tips to help you manage your digital files more easily and keep your folders tidy. Whether you’re new to organising or just need a refresher, these easy steps will make finding your documents, pictures (and more) faster and less stressful.

Your digital filing cabinet

Think of File Explorer as your digital filing cabinet. Instead of drawers, you’ve got four main folders: Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos. Many people pile everything into Documents, but that quickly becomes chaotic. It’s better to have a clear structure, like Documents > House > Utilities or Pictures > 2025 > Holidays > Cornwall. Creating a folder is easy: just choose the Folder option in the New menu. Use as many levels as you like – whatever makes sense to you! It takes a few extra clicks, but it pays off when you’re trying to find something later.

Organising your files

Moving files around is less obvious since Windows 11 dropped the Move To button, but there are still two options. To Cut & Paste, right-click the file you want to move, choose Cut, navigate to the new location, right-click in the folder, then choose Paste. For Drag & Drop, click on the file, hold the mouse button, move it across the screen to the new location, then let go. If you drag to a different type of storage, like the cloud, it makes a copy instead. To avoid this, hold down Shift while dragging and it will go to the new location without leaving a duplicate behind.

My tips to make life easier?

Including dates in file and folder names – especially at the beginning – can improve the way their sorted. Hovering over folders on the left-hand pane reveals their subfolders automatically, making navigation quicker. You can also drag files to the folder names in the top address bar. To move a group of files, click the first one, hold Shift and click the last. Sorting files by name, date, type or size by clicking the column headers makes this even easier. For scattered files, hold Ctrl and click each one individually. There’s no need to open files to see what’s inside; turn on the Preview Pane from the View menu to get a peek at their contents. And if you’re doing a lot of rearranging, it helps to open two File Explorer windows side by side. Just right-click a folder and choose Open in New Window.

Special folders: Desktop and Downloads

Two special folders deserve a mention. The Desktop folder holds all the files and shortcuts on – you guessed it – your desktop. The Downloads folder is where most internet files (images, PDFs, software, etc) are stored by default. Both can fill up, so it’s worth decluttering them regularly. If you’re deleting something sensitive, use Shift + Delete to remove it permanently, bypassing the Recycle Bin.

From chaos to calm

They say that “Organising is a journey, not a destination”. I hope these file organisation tips will help you take a few steps today towards getting organised and, as the sun goes down, you’ll feel calmer, happier and more in control.