Customer Reviews

File...Don't Pile: A proven filing system for personal and professional use

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I bought this book when I was buried in papers and had a chaotic filing system. I was attracted to the subtitle, "A Proven Filing System for Personal and Professional Use," and not wanting to reinvent the wheel, decided I would faithfully follow this system step-by-step for a month. If I didn't like it, I didn't have to stick with it. That was more than 10 years ago. I followed her easy 5-step plan and it works beautifully. It only looks complicated when you skip around the book.

Recently, I had some furniture delivered to a consignment shop and the store owner called and asked if I could possibly find my original receipts. I told her to hold a moment, and within seconds, pulled the receipts from my files and told her how much I paid. She said, "You must be a very organized person to have found those so quickly!" I said, "No, I just have a very good filing system!"

I liked that once I planned the major file categories, I had quick visible results by sorting the papers into the appropriate boxes. So my mess was cleaned up right away as I was implementing the system. The system's easy to maintain as well. I also like the fact Pat Dorff's a librarian who understands the filing needs of folks like me who save paper in our many areas of interest.

One reviewer recommends Julia Morgenstern's "Organizing from the Inside Out" instead of this book for filing. I've read Julia's book twice and am in the process of implementing Julia's system for overall household organization. However, when it comes to paperwork, I much prefer Pat Dorff's system. I find Pat's system strategizes the paper problems better, is easier to implement and maintain, and is more flexible when new categories come up. Also, Pat has an extensive discussion of all sorts of filing problems, such as presorting, you can't decide how to label an item, an item is too big to fit in a file folder, etc. Finally, Pat's numerical system nicely deals with the lining up the tabs problem, while Julie's straight-line system (all tabs lined up in the same position) looks nice, but is harder to on the eye to use, and wastes the folders with center tabs.

Summary of my experience with this system: Great for filing, retrieving papers, & keeping the place neat for over a decade!

First let me start by reviewing the pros of this book -- Although the indexing system in this book is not ideal for my circumstances, I found that there were other topics in the book that were helpful. Some of the helpful aspects of the book were the sections on the personality profiles and how they relate to paper management (or lack there of), as well as the questions to ask yourself when deciding whether or not to keep a document. If you need motivation to get started, this book could provide that as well. I find that whenever I am working on a project it is better to read everything I can get my hands on and then just determine what methods will work best for me.

Now for the cons -- At first I thought this system would be helpful for me to organize my document files, however after further review I don't feel that it is the best solution to align with today's technology. Over the past few weeks I have been reviewing several books and guides on the subject of filing and I have come to the realization that I don't want to use one system for my paper files and a completely different system for my computer files. I want the way I organize documents whether they are hard copy or electronic to be exactly the same. This should streamline the process not only when I am creating a place to store a document, but also when I want to retrieve it.

The author states that the advantages of using a a numbered index system are:

1st - To avoid having to redo all of your folders when you want to add a new one (necessary to keep all tabs in the proper sequence). Other organizers have suggested to use files that have the tab all to the left or all to the right to avoid this problem, however I tried that method for the last few years and I find that I still have to search for a file because the only tab I can see when I open the file drawer is the first one.

2nd - To eliminate the need to throw away folders from no longer kept subjects because they have already been written on. I avoid this problem by using removable labels.

3rd - The indexing system is easier for making revisions. Since I am using removable labels this isn't an issue.

4th - To avoid problems due to illegible writing. You can use a label maker if this is a problem for you.

None of these issues exist when filing documents on a computer, therefore it creates double work for electronic files. In fact in my opinion, using this system on the computer doesn't make any sense at all. Ultimately I have chosen to go with the recommendations from two other books "Conquering the Paper Pile-up" and "Taming the Paper Tiger". While neither of these books provided the exact solution to my paper management challenge, they provided a good foundation to start from and then I made adjustments for my particular needs.

If you are a major paper person (and I am), this is the format for you. When you read the book, it does sound complicated and like a lot of work. When you actually do it, however, it is the simplist thing ever. I kept saying to my husband, "I can't believe how little time it takes to get this stuff filed!". It actually encourages me to file because it's so simple. And it doesn't require upkeep everyday. In fact, I probably only truly file every 3-4 weeks. In addition, the book only takes a few hours to read, so if you decide you like what you're doing better (if you do, tell me about it) you haven't really wasted much time. It's a very easy read, and a very simple system for filing and retrieving a variety of papers on a variety of topics.

This book is for paper-savers, and yes there are still a lot of us, even when we have computers. It describes a powerful, uncomplicated system for filing and locating papers. It may seem odd to use codes instead of directly labeling the folders, but this allows for indexing a folder also under alternate keywords so the index is what makes this system so flexible.

If you keep the index in the file cabinet along with the files, anyone who needs to find something can locate the right folder quickly. Even in the computer age, I would never bother to put this index on a computer or PDA. This would only make the index less accessible, and more work to maintain.

In fact, the index could also easily be used to find things in boxes or drawers just as easily as in file folders. The author uses as an example recording in an index where holiday decorations are stored.

The major weakness of this system would be the major weakness of any filing system: getting the rest of the family to use it!

Hi, my name is Jeanne, and I'm a Piler. I've lived with this disease for 40 years. It has disrupted my personal life, my professional aspirations, and my living space. Or it *did*, until the day I borrowed this book from my local library (then renewed it ten times before succumbing to purchasing my own copy). Oh, I was skeptical... I'd already collected many books on the subject of Organization and Feng Shui, and either lost interest halfway through, became too confused to move ahead, or tried and failed at the plan.

Then I found "File... Don't Pile" and my life was forever changed. Once I'd tried the process outlined in the book, I found myself becoming more organized. My Piles were diminishing. Old billing statements, coupons, and special offers dated as far back as 1997 were relieved of their life in Pile Purgatory and relegated to the Round File. The stack of "I want to keep this but have no idea where to put it so I can find it when I need it" items have finally found a home. And because of the Index, I no longer need to wrack my brain to remember where it went.

The first Pile I tried with this method was my Pile of design jobs (I freelance from home). I spent a long evening applying the method to the items, and voila--they were neatly filed. Easy to locate when I needed to refer to a job from last year for an elusive logo. Bonus not mentioned in the book: I discovered a better way to name my jobs for archiving. I'd been using a clunky version of a job archiving system learned at a previous job, but since I lacked their production manager software that automatically assigns each job a number, it wasn't very effective. Keeping a written sheet with the numbers with no sense of order was also ineffective. The old numbering system was something like "20021101-03" (year, month, day, third job). Having to sort through CDs to find a job was tedious and time-wasting.

Renaming current jobs to match their corresponding physical folder was a breakthrough!!! If I need Company A's logo changes from last year, I just grab their Index, scan down for "COA139 New Logo", and find the CD whose label bears that job number.

This system is one of those things where it might not make sense UNTIL you try it. Once you get into it, the lightbulb flips on. Now if I could just figure out how to catalog all that yarn...

I'm FINALLY getting my paper organized, thanks to "File...Don't Pile!" However it wasn't easy. I thought that I was a special case and skipped some of the planning and consolidating steps that she lays out. As a result, 3 years later, I'm finally in the home stretch in the race against paperwork.

Make it easy on yourself and FOLLOW THE EASY STEPS IN ORDER!!!! Pat lays out a simple five step plan to prepare to file your paperwork. She also outlines two simple, but adaptable filing systems, indexes, ways to prevent feeling overwelmed by the filing task and how to maintain and live like a person who has control of their paper. I haven't done it all...yet, but I'm much closer to having my paper organized.

If you're feeling buried by paper, get this book now! I did a lot of looking around at other books on paperwork organization, but this one impressed me with its thoroughness. Pat Dorff is a professional librarian and she deftly adapts the tools of her profession to home use. This woman knows how to manage paper with information on it. If you read and follow the simple step by step instructions you will too.

My only improvement on her system is putting a copy of the indexes that I've created on my 3Com PalmPilot and on my husband's as well. The thought of being able to search by keyword for a category, subject or cross-reference and have it come up with the exact file location is the ideal enhancement to this book and the only way that I can think of to improve upon it.

This book has been a god send in a VERY cluttered Inport/Export business. The previous filing method for the business was so horrible that it was an absolute mess to find anything!! The reason comman file methods could not and would not work for this business is every file or subject could be named a tons of different ways, depending on your language. As well as many subjects were as long as sentences and as well could be thought of in many different terms. The brilliant methods taught in this manual proved to fix a file nightmare since it teaches how to file those tough blind categories, those tomatos/tomotos language and make it easy enough for a grade school child to find any subject you'd need to locate or past file. HIGHLY RECOMMEND FOR SOME ONE WITH FILING NEEDS THAT PLAIN ALPHABETICAL ORDER CANNOT SOLVE!! (and please avoid any negative feedback that suggest this is too hard to understand....there is countless elementary examples with every lesson that make me wonder if that person who left a neg. review even read the book??!)

The methods described in this book will complicate your life, not make it easier. The instructions are supposed to help, instead they add more paper work, requiring you to make a "paperdex" file index listing every file put away. Perhaps if the book were updated to reflect the usefulness of computers it would be more helpful. There is a lot of fluff here as well, like an entire chapter to help you figure out what type of person you are. I sent my copy back.

Though 10 years old, the methods presented for organizing papers work because (1) they are detailed (2) well-thought out (3) adaptable and (4) efficient. The problem with many organizing books is that they assume that you will magically know how to STAY ORGANIZED. Much of this book looks at how to stay organized once you go through the pain. Both my wife and I have adopted the file system and are impressed with (1) how quickly we were able to organize our current files and (2) how easy it is to stay organized. Greg Shannon, PhD. Ames, Iowa

I, due to my extreme procrastination, am just getting my feet wet with Pat Dorff's system, but it's the only system that I've discovered so far that seems to shed a different light on why previous filing systems haven't worked.

How long can we shove something to do with "Bank" (involving more than one! LOL) in just a few folders and expect to find it in a moment's notice?!

I want to be able to find ALL of my filing paperwork in less than a minute. Can it be done? I'm sure it can, but the system, once it's set up, is going to allow the person to BE in control, not the other way around.

I, at age 35, have been disorganized all of my life. It has cost me time, money, embarrassment, etc.

Some people that I've talked to think it's kind of comical that I'm trying to get my life organized. One of the things that I like about this book is the fact that a person has a way to organize other subjects, not just VIPs (very important papers). For example, I have different interests that involve paper. If I don't have a good filing system to look back for reference, then how am I going to locate them? Also, if a subject isn't no longer needed, then other material can take its place (i.e. the coding system). It's a real pain to have to keep re-filing papers due to changes -- the regular alphabet system.

One way I have decided to handle the "Personal Business" part of it, even though the files will probably go beyond 35, is to not worry about the number and just keep adding (PB36, PB37, etc.). I think it's okay to bend the 'rules' a little bit to fit one's own needs. I have a lot of paper that I can categorize as "Personal Business," because I sure don't want to put it under "Miscellaneous" anymore! I have to get away from that word...

As the author writes, just reading the book and not 'doing' anything afterward isn't going to get the papers in their rightful places. That's the biggest step: Getting Started! Once that is done, then the other papers will fall into place.

I will post back once I've gotten the filing system down and make any notations of any hints that I come across.

Happy Filing!