Why elaborate structures fail
A deep folder tree — module, then week, then type, then topic — is beautiful in the abstract and requires four decisions per file. Multiply by three hundred files a term, at moments when you're distracted, and the failure is arithmetic rather than moral.
The other failure is that trees force one classification. A file that is both "week 6" and "assessment 2" and "topic: kinetics" has to live somewhere, and wherever it lives is the wrong place two thirds of the times you look for it.
One shallow structure and one naming rule
The scheme that survives a term is two levels deep and puts every classification into the filename instead of into folders.
| Level | Contents | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Year/term folder | One per term. `2026-autumn` | Never reorganise a past term. It's finished. |
| Module folder | One per module, code first. `PHYS201-thermodynamics` | Code first so it sorts the way your timetable does. |
| Everything else | Flat inside the module folder | No subfolders. Structure lives in the filename. |
The naming rule: `YYYY-MM-DD_type_topic`. So `2026-10-14_lecture_second-law.pdf`, `2026-10-16_seminar_carnot-cycle.md`, `2026-11-02_assessment_problem-set-3.pdf`. Date first means chronological sort is free; type second means you can find every lecture by typing "lecture"; topic last means search finds it by content.
Why this works when trees don't
- No decision at save time. The name is mechanical — date, type, topic — and can be produced without thinking.
- Search replaces navigation. Filenames carrying date, type and topic mean you find things by typing, and typing is faster than clicking through a tree you half-remember.
- Multiple classifications coexist. A file can be found by date, by type, or by topic without being filed under any one of them.
- Flat folders are auditable. You can see at a glance that week 6's lecture is missing. A tree hides gaps four levels down.
- It survives being abandoned. Come back after three chaotic weeks and the rule still applies with no backlog of filing decisions.
The five types worth distinguishing
Keep the type vocabulary tiny — a long list reintroduces the decision you removed. These five cover nearly everything:
- lecture — slides, recordings, your notes from the session.
- reading — papers, chapters, anything assigned.
- assessment — problem sets, coursework, briefs, submissions.
- admin — module handbook, syllabus, deadlines, mark schemes.
- revision — anything you made yourself: summaries, question sets, cheat sheets.
That last category is worth separating because it's the material you'll actually reopen. Everything else is source; this is product.
Setting it up in twenty minutes
- 1
Make the term and module folders now
Five minutes. Codes first. Don't attempt to import history yet.
- 2
Set your browser's download location to a single inbox folder
Everything lands there unsorted. Capture must be frictionless; sorting happens later and in bulk.
- 3
Rename and move only what you need this week
Not the whole backlog. Old files stay where they are — they're findable by search and reorganising them is an afternoon that buys nothing.
- 4
Add renaming to your weekly review
Five minutes, once a week, doing thirty files in a batch. Batched mechanical work is far cheaper than the same work distributed across three hundred interruptions. It fits naturally into the weekly review.
- 5
Put one `_index.md` in each module folder
A running list of what exists, what's missing, and what you've made. One file per module, updated weekly, and it's the thing you'll open first in revision week.
Sync, backup and the thing that actually loses work
Local-only files on one laptop is the single largest risk in a student's digital life, and it materialises as a lost dissertation rather than as a lost lecture. Any sync service solves it; which one matters far less than having one.
- Everything in a synced folder, not on the desktop. The desktop is not a filing system and is rarely backed up.
- Coursework in progress gets a second copy somewhere else entirely — email it to yourself if nothing better. Sync deletions propagate; a second copy doesn't.
- Photograph handwritten notes weekly. Paper is not backed up, and a lost notebook in week 10 is unrecoverable.
- Check your institution's storage before graduation. Access is usually revoked, sometimes with little notice, and it takes everything with it.
What not to bother with
Colour-coded folder icons, tag taxonomies, and elaborate note-linking schemes are all real tools that are almost always premature. They add decisions, which is the thing that broke the last system. Start with two levels and a filename rule, run it for a term, and add complexity only where you can point at a specific thing you failed to find.
The same caution applies to full second-brain systems: they're genuinely powerful for long-running research and considerably more machinery than a term of lecture files needs.