Managing document files on Linux. What is the best way to store documents for ease of retrieval? I am using Bodhi.

github ?

or portable harddrive.

Portable harddrive

Really, the methods for organizing documents on Linux don't differ from those for doing so on other operating systems. The default location is usually a "documents" directory. Keep them there and (for the important ones) backed up to external media.

Depending on your needs, you may want to create subdirectories within the documents directory for various types of documents. For example, I used to write a newsletter for an organization I'm associated with; I had a separate directory for the newsletters.

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The main difficulty for me turned out to be the delays, that have to be observed before some documents just become obsolet and disposable. They do not vanish too early, but rather use to accumulate in a “secure” place forever...

However. If you look at how official archives and libraries are organized, a lot can be deduced from these systems. They usually use labels for individual documents that – later – give evidence about the importance of a document. You do not have to remember it all, nor need to open each file to see. My wife has insisted on such a system for the storage of our paper documents, but uses the same system on her PC. I am less rigorous but have to admit that her ideas are helpful and benefit from it a lot.

On a hard disk you can use folder names for the same purpose, but it will quickly turn out to be insufficient. If it is possible, also apply a prefix or a suffix to each individual file. You have storage- and modification dates, but they have to be correlated to something “meaningful”. Also, these dates are themselves subject to change. All applies to compressed archives, too.

Cheerio

Michael

I use a taxonomy of directories combined with recoll for searching.

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I try to use 'contextual' file names, stored in a relevant folder. Whether in linux or windows I prepend each file d/led or generated on my computer with LocalDateTime. I also add LDT to any bookmarks I make on a particular day so for example, if I open a windows file from 2021 with path:C:\Users\Mjolnir\Documents\2021\202112\202112_29_31\20211231_0540_Archive_7zs\Linuxquestions\20 211231_0741_SOLVED
I can search my bookmarks from that day to see what else, if anything, I bookmarked that day.

Edit: Depending if I'm in windows or linux I use Select-String, findst or Grep to search for terms.

Thank you all for these pertinent and useful replies. I'm new here but really pleased to have found this community. There is a lot of .... on the net, but from time to time we find a pearl. To misquote the bard, (no, not the AI version, the one from Stratford), "Linux is mine oyster, which I with Bodhi and terminal commands will open"

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Thank you.

Yes, this is a friendly place and we have all found help here as well as dispensing it. As to the excrement on the net, I wish I had ten pounds for every newbie who has posted here after having screwed up his/her system by blindly following some instructions they found on YouTube!