The System

This is “The System” to control the chaos on your disk. It’s strictly for working with local files on your system.

Level 1 - Main categories, single digits, 1 to 9 Level 2 - This can either be a sub-category with a double digits prefix 01 to 99, or a simple directory with year prefix Level 3 - Documents, add yearly prefix. Use creation date year prefix if no other year is applicable.

Level 1 - Main Categories

┌───────────────────────┐
│  1 System             │
│  2 Id                 │
│  3 Money              │
│  4 Health             │
│  5 Home               │
│  6 Car                │
│  7 Travel             │
└───────────────────────┘

Level 2 and beyond

Under the main category directory (like 2-Id), you create sub-directories for each sub-category. Determine the name for this sub-directory as follows -

First, pick the sub-category name, like India-Investments. Do not use spaces in name, separate words with -.
Next, assign it a 2 digit number, 01 onwards. Increment this number by 1 for each new sub-category, like 01-India-Investments.
Finally, prefix the category number, like 3.01-India-Investments


┌─ 1-System
│  ├─ 1.01-Manual
│  │  └─ Manual.md # Versioned, include changes under specific versions
│  └─ 1.02-Inbox   # Download files here before moving to relevant folder
├─ 2-Id
│  ├─ 2.01-AbY
│  │  ├─ 2019-ay-passport.pdf # <issue-date>-<initial>-<document>.pdf
│  │  └─ 2024-ay-passport.pdf
│  ├─ 2.02-PsY
│  ├─ 2.03-NpY
│  └─ 2.04-AnY
├─ 3-Money
│  ├─ 3.01-India-Investments
│  ├─ 3.02-India-Work
│  ├─ 3.03-India-Taxes
│  ├─ 3.04-UK-Investments
│  ├─ 3.05-UK-Work
│  └─ 3.06-UK-Taxes
├─ 4-Health
│  ├─ 5.01-IN-Insurance
│  ├─ 5.02-UK-Insurance
│  └─ 5.03-UK-Vaccines
├─ 5-Home
│  ├─ 5.01-Delhi-Nayantara
│  ├─ 5.02-Reading-Aveley-House
│  └─ 5.03-Swindon-Clifton-House
├─ 6-Car
│  ├─ 6.01-LP69ONU
│  └─ 6.02-DL9CK1065
├─ 7-Interests
│  ├─ 7.01-Geography
│  ├─ 7.02-History
│  ├─ 7.03-Tech
│  ├─ 7.04-DIY
│  ├─ 7.05-Cars
│  └─ 7.06-Photography
└─ 8-Travel
   └─ 202511-India-Trip

Automations

Utility to notify if document age > 7 days in inbox. Use curl to http post to a ntfy channel.
Utility to auto-tag document with category and sub-category names. Use xattr on MacOS.

Exclusions

What should or shouldn’t be added to this system?

Questions

What happens if you reach 9 in any of the category? Level 1 categories should be broad enough for you to not need more than 5 or 6. If you need more than 9, re-evaluate if any of them share some commonalities, and are perhaps better suited as a Level 2 sub-category which allow upto 99 entries.
I can’t decide where to put a specific document? Add it to 1-System/1.02-Inbox/ directory, sanitise and move to the required directory once you have made up your mind.
Will auto-tagging utility work on both Linux and MacOS? Possibly Yes, when using extended file attributes
Should notes be saved in this system? Or should it stay outside?
Should eBooks be saved in this system?

The System#

Level 1 - Main Categories#

Level 2 and beyond#

Automations#

Exclusions#

Questions#