Thanks to the convenience of cloud storage, it’s easy to throw all your files inside it without a second thought. But before long, your Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or other cloud storage account will become a jumbled mess without an organization strategy.

If you need to bring order to your cloud storage and simplify your setup, here’s a guide to getting it all under control.

1. Delete Large and Unnecessary Files

Before you start moving files around, it’s a good idea to get rid of any files you no longer need. The first step in keeping your cloud storage clean is taking out files that don’t belong anymore.

If you keep all your cloud files synced to your computer, an easy way to find the largest files inside is by using a desktop disk space manager. On Windows, TreeSize Free is a great choice. If you use a Mac, OmniDiskSweeper is a solid free option.

TreeSize Free Windows 10

Using these apps, select your cloud storage folder, and it will sort your files from largest to smallest. If you come across any old videos that you don’t need to be synced anymore, or downloaded files you didn’t realize were in the cloud, delete them or move them out of cloud storage as appropriate.

If you don’t keep all your cloud files synced to your desktop, most cloud storage tools let you sort by size in their web apps. Another option is using their tools to show your storage usage, which will typically highlight large files.

In a later step, you might come across more unneeded files that you missed in this pass. That's OK; once you’ve gotten rid of low-hanging fruit, you can move on to a fresh cloud storage management plan.

2. Decide What Files Go Into Which Service

If you don’t need to keep a lot of files in cloud storage, or you pay for an upgraded plan with your favorite service, then you likely stick to one cloud storage service. In those cases, you can skip this step.

Otherwise, you should next think about organizing your files across services. By signing up for several free cloud storage services, you’ll not only get more space, but also have an easy way to divide files by type. For example, you might decide to keep photos in OneDrive, documents in Dropbox, and videos in Google Drive.

Installing multiple apps to manage these files isn’t much of an inconvenience, and you’ll know where to look depending on what you need. This also helps prevent your content saved in any one service from becoming overwhelming.

We’re focusing on general organization tips in this guide, but we’ve also covered how to tidy up Google Drive if you’re looking for more specific help.

3. Define a Clear Folder Structure

Similar to when you’re managing your computer files, creating a system of folders that works for you is a crucial step in the cloud storage cleanup process. Thanks to powerful search functions, you can look up what you need each time and forgo proper organization. But for continued peace of mind in your cloud storage, folders are much better.

To come up with the best approach for you, think about how you tend to look for files, and build your folders to follow a natural progression around that.

Dropbox Folder Organization Example

Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

  • If you’re a student, create a folder for each class year, and inside those, a new folder for each semester. Each semester folder can then have a folder per class.
  • If you’re keeping multiple types of files in one cloud service, start with root folders for each type of file (video, photos, documents, audio). Inside these, create sub-folders unique to each one. You might organize audio by artist, video by length, photos by subject, and documents by date, for instance.
  • Organizing by date and time is an effective method if nothing else feels right for you. Create a folder for each year, then sub-folders for months. For proper sorting, use the YYYY-MM-DD format.

You can adapt your folder setup later, but it’s important to decide on something now so you know where to put your files in the next step. See our guide on efficiently using folder categories and tags for more guidance.

Tips When Creating Folders

Choosing the right number of folders is a balancing game. You don’t want to have too many folders with few files in them, but you also don’t want to have a small number of folders with a load of files in each. You don’t want to have folders go dozens of levels deep, either, as it’s easy to get lost in those cases.

This is something else you’ll likely need to adjust over time. The balance should become clearer once you’ve moved your data into them. Change it up if something doesn’t feel like it’s working.

It’s useful to create a folder called Old inside any directory where you might want to archive data. Anything placed in that folder is still available, but doesn’t clutter up the main view.

To adjust by priority, you can add an underscore (_) before a folder name to put it at the top of ABC order, or put “z” at the front of its name to force it to the bottom.

4. Move Files to the Right Folders and Rename Them

Now comes the time-intensive part: going through your existing cloud files and choosing where to put them. In this step, comb through everything in your cloud storage and move each item to its new home. If you’re not sure about something, create a “Pending” folder and take another pass later. Feel free to delete anything you missed in your earlier pass.

This is also a good time to make sure that your files have clear names. Make sure files contain words that you would use to search for them, and change any default names. Generic names like IMG-8275 aren’t going to come up in a search, and won’t mean anything to you while scrolling through your files. Taking the time to change this name to John’s Graduation 2017 is worth it.

For files that you want to sort cleanly inside a folder, consider their naming convention as you did with folders. For example, a format of ## Artist — Track works well for music.

If you have hundreds or thousands of files, this might take a while, so don’t be afraid to spread it out over a few days.

5. Star or Add Shortcuts to Key Folders

Chances are that you regularly work with a small number of folders. To save yourself from having to navigate to those each time, you can star them or create a shortcut for quick access.

Google Drive Starred Tab

If you work in cloud storage through the website or apps, starring files and folders allows you to see your most important information in one place. Since these don’t translate to your computer’s storage when syncing files, you should instead create a quick link to them on the sidebar of File Explorer or Finder.

With this system, it takes you a couple of clicks to get to the folders you use all the time, while everything else is logically organized when you need it.

Stick to Your Organization Plan for Success

Congratulations on organizing your cloud storage mess! This can be a daunting job if you have years of files built up, but your work isn’t done when you complete the initial simplification.

Resist the temptation to start tossing your files into a pile again. Take the time to sort each item properly into your new hierarchy as soon as you add it, and this won’t become a huge task again in the future. Quick maintenance on a weekly basis should take care of any stragglers.

Now that you’ve simplified your files in the cloud, make sure those cloud storage accounts are protected with proper security.