Folders have always been difficult for me. Not only folders in Obsidian, but generally.
I’m not the most organized person in the world, and my creative process requires some thrashing. Rarely does any project end up exactly like I pictured it when I started.
Over time, it seems like folders always get messy. Life rarely fits into the neat little boxes we create for it, and rarely do I do the work necessary to keep my folder structure logical and clean.
So I end up with folders that look like this:
I end up with redundant folders (contracts and project 2 contracts), inconsistencies, and duplication.
Life is messy, and my folders often are too.
Search has always been my best friend. I tend to make up for my poor organization through excellent searching skills.
I’m like that guy at the gym who is skinny except for his huge biceps.
But for many years folders were the only digital organisational structure that I knew. And when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail, right?
On This Page
The Problem with Folders
My problem with folders is fairly simple: folders require too much commitment.
Folders are binary. A file either is in a folder, or it isn’t. You can’t have a file that exists in two folders at the same time, or a folder that collects all files of a certain type.
Folders are static and fixed, and as such, it is hard to keep them organized.
As your project grows and changes, folders have a hard time keeping up.
It could be a personal problem: I suppose every time I create a file I could reassess my file structure and refactor as needed. But… that sounds like a whole lot of trouble.
That’s why I find myself using folders in Obsidian sparingly, and relying on more versatile methods for organizing my files.
My Current Folder Structure in Obsidian
My current folder structure I call FINVA. It consists of five folders:
- 1 Fleeting
- 2 In Progress
- 3 Notes
- 4 Views
- 5 Archives
And that’s it. I do use a few sub-folders as well, but I try to keep those minimal, because they are often more trouble than they are worth.
Each of these folders has a purpose, and I use and appreciate every one of them. Let’s go into that now.
1. Fleeting
All of my notes start out in the Fleeting directory. These are my basic, “back of the napkin” notes that I take whenever I’m focused on something else. I have two rules for Fleeting notes:
- Every note must be refactored before leaving the Fleeting directory
- I must refactor notes at least once per week
This helps me to keep my ideas fresh, while at the same time giving me time to consider how to think clearly about an idea.
I find that refactoring notes once per week is a good routine for me. It gives me time to look at these ideas with “fresh eyes”, and drastically improves the quality of my notes. And at the same time, it’s quick and easy to do.
2. In Progress
“Project” notes go into In Progress.
What is a project note? For me, it’s any note that requires more than five minutes of work to complete.
I created this folder because I noticed notes getting “clogged” in my Fleeting folder. I often don’t like moving a note out of Fleeting until it’s “done”, but for big projects that can mean leaving a note there for weeks, or even months!
Thus In Progress was born, giving me the ability to work on notes for longer stretches of time without clogging up my Fleeting folder.
Just like the Fleeting folder, the goal of every “in progress” note is for it to “graduate” to another folder. Once it is “complete” in my mind, it moves on.
3. Notes
My Notes folder is the “final home” for most of my notes.
It contains permanent notes, notes that are complete enough to stand on their own two legs.
Permanent notes aren’t unchangable, in fact, I change them all the time. But they are finished for now.
Ideally a permanent note is refined enough that you could send it to a friend and they would understand it (in fact, I do this frequently with my notes). You should also be able to come back to a permanent note years later, after you have totally forgotten about it, and still understand it.
Permanent notes are done for now, but will likely receive updates as you fill in gaps in your knowledge, and your vault.
4. Views
If you’re following along so far, you might notice that none of these folders actually organize anything. Fleeting, In Progress, and Notes contain all kinds of topics. I might have a grocery list next to a dream list next to a note about a work meeting.
I hear those of you who are natural organizers screaming out to me, “how do you find anything in this chaotic mess???”
My friend! Take a deep breath, and let me introduce you to views.
Views are the primary way I organize my vault. They are far superior to folders, because they allow you to organize your files retroactively.
There are two basic types of views that I use: MOCs and Bases. They both rely heavily on links (more on that below), and sometimes tags.
MOC stands for “Map of Content”, and I wrote a whole article about them. They have been a pillar for keeping my vault organized for many years now.
I also wrote an article about Getting Started with Bases. Between using these two tools and naming my notes appropriately, I almost never have trouble finding the note I am looking for.
MOCs and Bases are superior for organization because they allow your notes to grow in a more organic way. No longer are you forced to sort notes into pre-defined buckets: if you use MOCs and Bases, you can add as much or as little metadata as you want, and your notes will be sorted automatically into the correct buckets. Super nice!
5. Archives
Several years ago I read Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain. It was not a lifechanging book for me, but I was interested in the folder structure that Tiago talked about. In that book he recommends four folders, which he refers to as “PARA”: Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives.
I tried Tiago’s system for years, but it never worked well for me, and in the end the “Archives” folder is the only one I kept.
When I started with PARA I took Tiago’s advice, and moved all of my previous projects into the Archives folder. This worked well for me, because it’s like starting over with a clean slate, but you aren’t actually deleting anything. If you ever need one of those old project notes you still have them, they’re just out of the way.
But the rest of PARA didn’t work for me. Despite reading the book, I never really understood the difference between “projects” and “areas”, even “resources” was too nebulous for me.
So now I use FINVA. Not as cool of an acronym, but way more useful, at least for the way I work.
And that’s it: the whole system. It’s simple, but I really like it.
So that’s all of my folders. I use them not for organization, but to improve my workflow.
But if I don’t use them for organization, then how do I find anything?
The Importance of Good Titles
The first thing I recommend is to name your notes appropriately.
Where possible, the main idea of the note should be in the title.
Instead of creating a note called “Facts about Kangaroos”, create two notes called “Kangaroos are marsupials” and “Kangaroos have pouches”. Then you can create a Map of Content called “Kangaroos” and link to those two notes, or just search for them when you need them.
Naming notes appropriately is the most important thing, but a close second is linking them together. When you link related notes, you create relationships that make it even easier to find the note you need.
Names and links are the best way to organize your notes. Then, when you need a specific set of notes, you can:
- Create a Base or MOC
- Search for the notes you need
- Traverse the links in your vault via the Graph View or Backlinks pane
Once you have enough notes organized this way, it really starts to feel like they organize themselves, which is magical.
Conclusion
However you use folders in Obsidian, you need a strategy that works for you.
Try a few different methods and don’t be afraid to change it up!
I find that using folders for workflow and organizing with links is the best method for me. I encourage you to try it, and see if it works better for you.