Donna,

Try color coding based on the project; for instance use blue folders for one project and green folders for another. This has helped me to at least narrow down the folders that I have to search in for information.

Hi Donna,
I deal with a lot of different projects that are on the go at the same time. When I set up a file I log it into Excel with as much discription as possible, under the name of the file. We also log in all the important paper that comes into the office (i.e. who we gave it to and what file it when into). Hope this helps.

Hi Donna,

Sounds like you have already gotten a lot of good help. I have also found a combination of color-coding and filing by category to be quite helpful. For example, anything dealing with money is red (attn: hot files, move quickly); correspondence is green (ongoing, alive); periodicals are blue (blah, blah); general information and forms are yellow (bright ideas). This allows me to instantly see if something is filed in the wrong place and it cuts down the amount of space I have to scan through to find the folder I need.

You may also want to look at categorizing by PERSON (people you or your staff have met/worked with, or need to meet or follow-up with -- i.e., sales leads/contacts, HR/personnel information); PLACE (places where you or staff have been, are now, or need to go -- i.e., travel, training, conferences), or THING (things you or staff have done, are doing/working on, or need to do -- i.e., projects).