The archive

My rules for sorting a lifetime of files.

I've saved more than twenty-four years of photos, screenshots, and documents. This is how I sort them without losing anything, or selling anything I shouldn't.

The method

1. Fifty to a hundred photos at a time, in one PDF.
2. Sort each file on its own.
3. Read the screenshots, so the words can be searched.
4. Send every piece to the project it belongs to.
5. Package only after that.

The rules

• Nothing is ever deleted.
• Nothing sensitive becomes a product. That means no legal files, no device logs, no private family names, no passwords, and no one's private contact details.
• Everything I sell is original work, with no brand names.
• Every file stays under ten megabytes. I make compressed copies and keep every original.
• Every public page says what it is: not findings of fact, not legal advice.

Not findings of fact. Not legal advice.