Whether you’re at home or going into your work office, staying on top of all your files and documents can be tricky! Especially if you haven’t got any good filing hacks to help you out. In this blog, we’re going to dive into the top 10 office filing hacks and how they can help you to keep your workspace tidy and organised on a day to day basis! To find out more, keep on reading!
Why Is Organising My Files Important?
Organising files might seem like a long and time consuming process, but there are a lot of benefits that come with keeping everything coordinated and tidy! Read on to find out some of the key perks that come from staying well-organised.
Perks Of Staying Organised
- Clear Space – A clear work space can make a huge difference to your daily mindset and it can improve your productivity by minimising the clutter around you. It can help you to think more clearly and focus better during work hours.
- Minimise Stress – As well as boosting your productivity and maintaining your focus, having a clear workspace can massively reduce your stress levels. By knowing that all your files and documents are tidied away in the correct spaces, you may start to feel less stressed as a result!
- Work/Life Balance – In some cases, being disorganised and cluttered can reduce your productivity at work, leaving you stressed and frazzled when you come home, or even having to complete tasks outside of the office. Staying focused during your office hours can minimise the risk of bringing work back home with you and help you to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
- Productivity – Improved productivity is definitely a benefit that comes with a cleaner, tidier office space. It encourages efficiency, allowing employees and teams to work to their full potential.
Office Filing Hacks
When it comes to office productivity and filing, there are a range of simple hacks that you can use to create a cleaner, more productive workspace for yourself and employees.
Junk Mail
Unsubscribing from junk mail is one of the best things you can do to keep your office free from clutter and unnecessary documents. If your office seems to be receiving a lot of junk mail coming to your office, the easiest way to stop this is to unsubscribe from the mailing list. You can usually do this through the website of the sender, and having less junk mail around the office is sure to keep things clutter free!
Mail Drop Zones
Once you’ve mitigated the junk mail problem, the important mail that is coming to your office should go in one designated space so that it’s easy to access and sort through. Set up a mail drop zone for letters and parcels addressed to the business can all go to one place! It could be a tray, magazine holder or a small box where all business mail is dropped off.
You can set your mail drop zone anywhere in your office, such as a reception area or an unused corner of your office. By having important mail all in one place, it makes it easier for you to sort through the letters on a regular basis. You also don’t have to worry about losing any important mail, as it should all have been put into the mail drop zone.
Colour Coded Documents
This is one of the more fun hacks, as there’s nothing more satisfying than having all your documents colour coded and arranged accordingly. Colour coding is a great way of organising your files as you can simply go by colour, rather than reading each file name. It simplifies your system and you can drop documents into their correct place by simply colour coding!
File Naming Systems
Outside of colour coding your documents, you may need to have file naming systems for more important and specific files. This is a good way of streamlining your documents and ensuring that anyone in the office can access them efficiently. Keep your file names short and relevant to avoid confusion and you can include numbers/dates to keep things in the correct order. An effective file naming system means that you and others can identify the files easily, without opening and reading them, making processes much quicker.
Magazine Holders
Upright filing systems like magazine holders are good for hard copies of documents. They can be slotted or dropped right in, and you can get quite a lot of papers into a magazine holder. They are extremely accessible and can be bought from a range of office supply stores. They make a good organiser for your desk if you need to access specific information quickly, or have certain documents on hand. In addition, they also help to keep clutter and random sheets of paper from crowding your desk too.
Invest In Workplace Office Furniture
Filing cabinets are considered an essential piece of workplace office furniture, and for good reason! Filing cabinets are great for storing lots of documents in one space, not to mention they can be locked so you can keep sensitive information protected. Filing cabinets can be found in a range of styles, colours and finishes too, so finding one to suit your office space shouldn’t be too tricky. They aren’t very invasive, taking up a minimal amount of floorspace, and they are a good place to store important documents that you won’t be needing on a regular basis.
Regular Organising
Going through documents, files, junk mail and any paper that’s hanging around your desk or office is a good way to keep things coordinated. Purging documents that you are absolutely sure you don’t need, and assorting miscellaneous pieces of paper into the correct place is definitely something you should make time to do on a regular basis. Regular organising will help you to get rid of unneeded documents and leave you feeling nice and tidy within your work space.
Digitise
Digitising documents is a great way to streamline your business and have your files backed up. By having hard copies as well as digital copies, you’re covering all bases and protecting your files effectively. If you do decide to digitise your files, it’s essential that you have them backed up or stored on the cloud so that you don’t lose any essential information.
Digitising your documents can help your office massively by creating a paperless filing system. You will have to manually scan and digitise your documents, however, this process can lead you to a much faster and more efficient workplace.
Collaborative Spaces
By digitising your documents, it allows easy access to documents for multiple members of your team. You can also create collaborative spaces and collaborative documents where your teams can work simultaneously on documents.
This allows for quicker collaboration and for more efficient work to take place, as multiple people have easy access to the latest versions of any files and documents they might need.
Priority Folders
As well as introducing collaborative spaces, creating priority folders is another good hack to keep everything catalogued properly. You can do this digitally and with hard copies of your documents. Creating priority folders allows you to access sensitive and important files easier, and the documents you need will all be in one place. This is another effective way of streamlining your filing systems and making it easier for others to look for certain files too.
Reliable Workplace Furniture
Organising doesn’t have to be tedious, and you can find a range of supplies and organising furniture that can make the process a little more fun. If you’re considering investing in some new office filing systems and organising supplies, here at Corporate Spec, we specialise in refurbished office furniture. Our products range from refurbished chairs to comfortable sofas and stools. If you want to find out more about our product range, head to our website to browse by furniture or by brand. Alternatively, you can contact us today to speak to our team directly!
