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Directory Structure Management Tips That Save You Money

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Need help with your Directory Structure Management?

File naming conventions at first sound like a large and tedious pain. However, if implemented correctly they can save your company a tremendous about of time and money. Even better than a naming convention is a little old batch file with the directory structure of each project folder, placed in the boot path of your computer. For instance: Lets say your directory structure for Current_Projects looks something like this.

Current_Projects

Year “ex. 2013”

Location “ex. Boise_Id”

Insert a contract or project number here if you have one and could potentially have more than one contract/project.

Named_Project_Folder

Docs_Correspondence
Docs_Correspondence\Arch_Engineer_docs
Docs_Correspondence\Contract_Documents
Docs_Correspondence\Contract_Documents\Sub-Contracts
Docs_Correspondence\Contract_Documents\Change_Orders
Docs_Correspondence\Emails
Docs_Correspondence\Emails\Sent_Email
Docs_Correspondence\Faxes
Docs_Correspondence\Letters
Docs_Correspondence\Digline
Docs_Correspondence\FDW
Docs_Correspondence\Misc
Docs_Correspondence\Owner_SOW
Docs_Correspondence\Pictures
Docs_Correspondence\Punch_List
Docs_Correspondence\Project_Estimate
Docs_Correspondence\SOW
Docs_Correspondence\Submittals
Drawings
Drawings\gis
Drawings\cad
Past_Performance_SOW
Progress-Schedule

Simply place this in a text file and place the dos command for make directory in front of it which is “md”.

So it would look something like this.

md Docs_Correspondence
md Docs_Correspondence\Arch_Engineer_docs
md Docs_Correspondence\Contract_Documents
md Docs_Correspondence\Contract_Documents\Sub-Contracts
md Docs_Correspondence\Contract_Documents\Change_Orders
md Docs_Correspondence\Emails
md Docs_Correspondence\Emails\Sent_Email
md Docs_Correspondence\Faxes
md Docs_Correspondence\Letters
md Docs_Correspondence\Digline
md Docs_Correspondence\FDW
md Docs_Correspondence\Misc
md Docs_Correspondence\Owner_SOW
md Docs_Correspondence\Pictures
md Docs_Correspondence\Punch_List
md Docs_Correspondence\Project_Estimate
md Docs_Correspondence\SOW
md Docs_Correspondence\Submittals
md Drawings
md Drawings\gis
md Drawings\cad
md Past_Performance_SOW
md Progress-Schedule

1. Place the structure that works for you in a text file and name it something like “projects.bat”.

2. Then place this file in a folder on your main computer drive Usually this is your C:\Drive.

3. Next place the folder in your computer path “;C:\file_structure” substitute your file name for file_structure.

4. Open the Command window and navigate to the project file folder, type the batch file name, and hit enter.  (An Alternate method is to download FREE COMMANDER  a free file manager utility, install it, and navigate to the project file, and then hit tools and dos box.   This will place you in dos already navigated to the folder selected in free commander.  Then all you have to do is simply type the batch file command and hit enter, then close the command window.)

Tip: In windows 8.1 Pro you can open the file manager, navigate to your project/working folder, click on file at the top left and open the command window.  Then if you have already placed the folder with your batch file in your working path, you simply have to type the batch file command.  (which is the name of the batch file withou the .bat)

Tip: To navigate to a file in at the command prompt simply use the CD command (ex. cd file_name, to go back words it is simply cd..).  Make sure you type the file names correctly and in the right case.

Tip: Make sure to Use the Underscore _ instead of spaces between words in folder names when using the md command.  If you use spaces you will end up with a directory for each word.

Evernote VS Google KEEP | Note Programs Review

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Which note program is right for you? Google Keep VS Evernote?

Google Keep VS Evernote
One of the handiest pieces of software today are the different note programs that you can use to save little pieces of your life to access later. in the past we would write notes and post them on our computer screens, in our wallets, or on the fridge at home to remember things. Now there are programs we can use to save most of these notes digitally and access them later from any location or from just about any device. This means they work on several different operating systems including Android, IOS, Linux, or Windows.

Evernote is one of the most popular note programs and is very easy to use. It works with all four of the operating systems mentioned above and will store tons of information for access with your phone, tablet, notebook computer or desktop computer. You can use the same username and password to access your notes from multiple devices. You can even log into the Evernote website and view or print your notes directly from a web browser.

The main deficiency with Evernote is you can not create notes and share them without sending them via email, twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or with a general link.  It would be great to allow one person access to certain notes through the website, similar to Google Drive.  I don’t believe this functionality is available though.  Maybe this is part of their business features, we have not evaluated this portion of Evernote at this time. Another deficiency with this program is the size of storage available for free. Evernote offers 60 megabytes of space with their free level of the program.

In comparison Google offers 15 gigabyte of space with their google drive platform and Google Keep shares this data. So Google Keep will allow you to store a huge number of notes compared to what you can store with Evernote. Google Keep also allows you to create a grocery list, share it with your husband, then when he is at the store you can add items as he checks them off. Also Google keep can be accessed from any location or device that Evernote can and has apps written for most of them.

The main deficiency with Google KEEP is it does not offer a good portion of the formatting options that Evernote does. Frankly if you are used to working with Microsoft word both of these applications are lacking in this area.

Whether you need to remember your username and password for your favorite website, or you want to remember your notes from the college class you are taking. The fact that these two applications allow people to access data from just about everywhere is very impressive. If you are looking for a note program and want some very innovative features as well as access to your information from a variety of places give Google KEEP or Evernote a try! Google KEEP VS Evernote which do you choose?

In our opinion Google Keep wins the day. You can access your documents from anywhere with Google Drive and create a massive number of notes on Google Keep. Whether these applications are used for business or just for your household they can be a great way to keep your data accessible at all times.

https://www.google.com/keep/
https://www.evernote.com

Thank you,

James Lewis

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