Tom Arah explains how the standalone designer can get on top of their core file management using XP and Vista.

From the computer’s perspective file handling is straightforward. Put the folder path, file name and application extension together and you have a unique pointer to every file on your system. However...

... for the end user this ability to store files anywhere on the hard disk does nothing to help you locate and manage your files – in fact quite the reverse. The obvious solution is to store files in fixed folder locations which is why Microsoft introduced the all-encompassing My Documents folder with Windows 95. The problem is that this suggested storage system proves woefully inadequate for the designer.
My Documents, and XP’s later additions of My Pictures and My Music, were created to deal with a few file types at most. However, the designer typically works with multiple authoring applications each generating their own native file type – QXP, IND, C4D, FLA, SKP, CDR, PSD, AI, EPX, RIFF and so on – and in the special case of web authoring, hundreds of separate HTML files. More to the point each of these applications will almost certainly work by bringing together multiple component files in standard exchange formats: text in the form of the numerous Office formats; graphics in the form of EPS, CGM, TIFF, JPEG, GIF, 3DS, OBJ and so on; and multimedia in the form of MP3, WAV, WMA, WMV and so on. More often than not there will also be an associated proprietary file format used to create the exchange file, a Fireworks PNG to create a JPEG for example. To top it all there will almost certainly be another format for final output – SWF, say, or PDF - or often multiple formats - MPEG or MOV, say, for CD delivery and FLV for Flash delivery - and often in multiple versions – say varying in resolution or codec!

Myriad creative file types makes file management for the designer an especial headache

It’s not just the sheer number of files and file types that the designer has to deal with that make management complicated; there’s the workflow. Each file isn’t just associated with a particular application or applications, it’s also associated with a particular project or multiple projects. Moreover files are coming from multiple sources with bitmap images, for example, being generated, scanned, downloaded from the web, uploaded from cameras, created as screenshots and received from the client. This last external source is particularly important for the designer as it opens up the whole issue of ZIP handling and any number of other compression formats. Even worse, it expands file management to files generated by software that the designer doesn’t actually possess – Ami Pro 1.5 anyone? Working with clients is also an ongoing process which brings in the complication of handling multiple drafts for go-ahead, then proofing and final approval (thank God for PDF). Finally you’re also going to need to take care of ongoing backups and finished archives too.