(Newswire.net — April 19, 2023) — There’s nothing worse for productivity than clutter, and, as a business owner, you might find yourself living in increasing levels of digital clutter. Work laptops tend to go everywhere we go during business hours and are used for a huge range of tasks throughout the day. This inevitably leads to masses of documents, apps, emails, and software contained in a deceptively small package. Organizing your laptop is critical to keeping you productive and efficient at work.
It might take some time to get your laptop completely organized, particularly if you’ve not had a system in place for a long time. The time invested will be well spent, however, for the incredible benefits you’ll enjoy when everything is in its right place.
Organize Your Email Inbox
Email organization can be one of the most challenging areas to get right – business owners get so many emails over the course of a day. Reminders, requests for information, invoices, notifications, spam, and many more can quickly fill up an inbox. In an ideal world, you will set up a system for sorting and organizing emails from the get-go, but this often isn’t the case. It’s never too late to start organizing, starting with incoming emails and working back as time allows.
Create folders for the most common types of emails you receive, and sort incoming mail accordingly. Make use of tools like flagging for follow-up and pinning emails to help you remember which emails you need to act on first. You can also color code your incoming emails to make it easier to recognize what needs to be done for each. Report any spam emails that make it through to your main inbox and delete anything you don’t use or need going forward.
Remove Apps And Software You Don’t Use
Most laptops have apps or software downloaded that the user no longer utilizes – these can take up valuable storage and further clutter the appearance of your work laptop. It is a good idea to regularly review the applications, programs, and software your laptop holds and uninstall things you don’t regularly use. For instance, you could uninstall anything you haven’t used in six months or more.
Keep Your Most-Use Documents Handy
If you have a few files that you use consistently in your day-to-day work, then it could be a good idea to keep these in a more easily accessible place. You could consider creating a folder for regularly used files or dragging them to your desktop for easy access. The last thing you want, if you need quick access to essential documents, is to click through multiple folders to reach them. You could also pin your most used files to your Quick Access sidebar in file explorer.
Create A Naming System
A naming system can be an excellent way to take control of your laptop files – being able to access the files you need when you need them can be invaluable in helping you work efficiently and productively. You can choose any naming system that works for you; it could be date-based, feature a descriptor, keyword-based, or any combination of these. What is important is that you use the system consistently and in a way that ensures you can always find what you need.
Maximize Your Storage Space
Storage can often present challenges for work laptops – it’s worth buying a laptop with the best amount of storage you can afford when making your initial purchase. Once you have invested in a quality machine, it is a good idea to know how to maximize the storage you have available. A good first step is keeping only what is essentially stored on your laptop – cloud storage can help ensure you have access to anything else you might need.
You should also keep file sizes small when you can, particularly if there is no reason to store documents or images at a high resolution. Knowing how to compress your files can be an invaluable asset, helping you keep more files on your laptop without using up unnecessary storage. Find a dependable PDF and other file format compressor like Smallpdf to help you keep files at a reasonable size.
Keep Personal Files Separate
Ideally, you should use your work machine for work-related things only – personal files, tools, and applications should live elsewhere. In practice, however, many of us use our work laptops for personal tasks at least occasionally. If you do find yourself saving personal files or other personal data to your laptop, you should have a dedicated folder to store them in; keeping them ring-fenced from work data is crucial to prevent you from getting distracted while you’re trying to work. This can also be invaluable to help prevent the lines between work and leisure from blurring.
Back-Up Your Documents Regularly
If you hold any unique documents on your laptop, it is crucial that you back them up securely on a regular basis. Any number of things could pose a risk to your laptop on a daily basis, and if you are unable to recover files for any reason, you might lose essential data as a result. It is a good idea to upload important files to your cloud storage system, making them accessible only to you if they are sensitive in nature. Consider backing up essential files on a daily or weekly basis to prevent mishaps.
Regularly Sort Your Downloads
The download folder of your laptop is another area you might need to organize more than you think. People often download multiple files in a day to their laptops, but not all of them need to remain on your computer’s hard drive. At the end of each day or week, sorting through your downloads and deleting anything unnecessary can be a great way to save on space and keep the folder clutter-free. Anything you do use, you should move to a relevant file where you can locate it easier.
Clean Your Laptop Regularly
How to clean your laptop matters – you’ll be taking your work laptop with you to business meetings, and your employees will often see you working on it throughout the day. Just like you should present yourself in a professional manner, you should also present your work tools professionally too. Not just this, but having a sparkling clean laptop can be the best way to maximize your own productivity. You’ll need the right tools to clean your laptop safely and thoroughly, including:
- Compressed air duster to dislodge dust and debris around the keyboard, in ports, and other crevices in the laptop.
- Disinfectant to remove any germs or bacteria that can accumulate on an often-used laptop.
- Screen cleaner to restore your laptop screen to clear, shiny perfection.
Summary
An organized laptop is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal when running a business. With so many essential documents and tools to access, you can’t afford to be anything less than organized with your work machine. There are plenty of tricks to help you get your laptop well organized in a way that suits you and your style of work. It can help to try out a few solutions until you find the things that work best. Most of it boils down to ensuring your laptop is free of redundant data or software and that all the essential things have a specified place.