File Management

Dull But Essential

• The single most important design skill anyone can have is File Management

• Without good file management your projects will become lost or damaged

Vital in MultiMedia

• File management is important for any work you do on a computer. For multimedia projects it is essential!

• Why?

Vital in MultiMedia

• Most multimedia applications rely on linking to other files.

• For instance, a website is really a series of links to picture files…

Vital in MultiMedia

Vital in MultiMedia

• If these picture files are moved, trashed or renamed, the website cannot find them:

…and things stop working!

Vital in MultiMedia…this is true of nearly all professional applications:

• Dreamweaver• Go Live• Final Cut Pro• Adobe Premiere• After Effects• In-Design

…the list goes on…

Vital in MultiMedia

…so good File Management is absolutely the most important skill you will learn

• It’s actually quite easy, but so many people come unstuck

So What is File Management?

• Basically, it’s all about giving everything a decent name…

• …and then saving it in the right place

Rule 1: Give Files Decent Names

• Almost every computer is clogged up with files called ‘Untitled’:

Give Files Decent Names

• So always give your files a decent name…

• Build up the name of your files using a format that makes sense to you…

Give Files Decent Names

• Build up the name of your files using a format that makes sense to you. For instance a photo of Buckingham Palace might be called:

PhotoLondonBuckPal.jpg

Give Files Decent Names

• Using the same format, a photo of the Tate Modern Gallery would be:

PhotoLondonTateMod.jpg

• This means that when sorted alphabetically these images will appear next to each other:

Give Files Decent Names

• For most multimedia projects, it is best to avoid fancy character in a file name such as ‘&’, ‘*’, ‘_’, ‘-‘, and even blank spaces!

• Once you have begun your multimedia project do not move or rename any files or folders.

Rule 2: Create Folders for Each Project

• Create a master folder for every new project.

• Name your master folder with either your full name and your project’s title:

Create Folders for Each Project

• Make sure that every single file and folder connected with you project goes in the master folder. This means that wherever the master folder goes, all your files go with it.

Create Folders for Each Project

…not following this simple rule is the number one reason why many projects stop working properly.

• Now that you have a master folder, create sub-folders within it to make finding things easier:

Rule 3: Don’t Leave Anything on the Desktop

• This is a clean Desktop:

Don’t Leave Anything on the Desktop

• …this is a messy Desktop:

Don’t Leave Anything on the Desktop

• Anything left on the Desktop will be trashed

• So don’t do it!

Don’t Leave Anything on the Desktop

Instead, save it to:

• Your own USB pendrive

• The Student’s Work folder

• Your networked user space(if appropriate)

The Student’s Work Folder

• Each Mac at the NTi has a Student’s Work folder

• This is a fairly safe place to store your files, but remember that anybody can access the folder

The Student’s Work Folder

• It can be found via:

Macintosh HD (on the Desktop) >>>

Student >>>

Student’s Work

See next page…

The Student’s Work Folder

The Student’s Work Folder

• From within an application you will need to go:

File >>> Save As…

…and then open the file browser:

The Student’s Work Folder

• This should open up the file browser and let you navigate to the Student’s Work folder via the Users folder:

In Summary…

• Give every file and folder a decent name

• Save everything to a project folder, and use sub-folders if necessary

• Do not leave anything on the Desktop

In Summary…

• Probably the best thing you can get in the habit of doing is:

When saving any file – STOP!

• Is the file correctly named?

• Is it being saved to your master folder?

File Management

You have been warned!

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