How do you file?

[kuhio98]

I would put the most recent on top, names alphabetically, and I'd use staples.

Me too!

[Edwina's Secretary]

The answer to how you file is how you use the files. Do you have more occasion to retrieve files by customers' name or by date?

If it is by name...then alpha. If it is by name but date is also very important...I would use a file label that has both on the label...

Jones, Susan 2007, July

The order...most recent or oldest...again...which are you more likely to use?...probably most recent... Whatever is most likely to be needed should be easiest to retrieve (on top!)

[Logan]

I like most recent information on top, too. But I've got to say that whoever it is that is going to be doing the filing is the one who should choose how to do it!

[Catlady711]

At home I alphabetize by utility/catagory, use staples frequently until they are so thick the stapler jams and I have to start a new file, and I put the most current in the front since I'm most likely to be wanting to look up last month or two utility bill or something similar.

At work we alphabetize by owner's last name (if hyphenated we go by first of the two last names), most current file gets put in the front (client files only), and we use staples (paper clips have been known to suck up someone else's file and then it gets filed with another client's folder and may never be found, staples don't do that). Our computer system can look up by animal name so we don't use that for our paper filing method only the owner name.

At work our invoices/utilities get filed in whatever system the longtime receptionist wants to do, and it confuses me because she puts the most current invoice in the BACK. I'm also likely to find the GTE/BELL/VERIZON/Sprint invoices all in the same file listed under "T" for 'telephone'. Gets kinda confusing to me, but she's been doing that way for years and always seems to know where to find the invoices we need.

[Russian Blue]

The answer to how you file is how you use the files. Do you have more occasion to retrieve files by customers' name or by date?

If it is by name...then alpha. If it is by name but date is also very important...I would use a file label that has both on the label...

I've worked in Records Management for a long time and you really should decide first on how you use your files as mentioned above. Also, you should consider how long you legally need to retain your records as well. Filing is only relevant to current files, but you need an efficient system to find your files once they are boxed up or off-site.

Or you can just go here and read until your eyes fall out (literally, the bible of the Records Management world): ARMA