Ah, I see. Yeah this is one reason for me to thus far stick with Finder (Mac) / Files (iOS/iPadOS) Documents folder, synced via iCloud Drive – works very well, I’ve had no syncing issues with tens of thousands of small files across nested folders.
I’ve been going back and forth considering a database app of some sort (not one bound to a certain scanner brand, though!), but have always stopped, as I thought the added complexity of having all files inside the database itself was more bother than it was worth.
Although, for people with large research or sales databases to manage, they may be a useful thing to drill into ones data to find and analyse facts more easily. But for things like home admin (financials, utility bills, etc.), for most users they’re probably more effort than use.
IMO, a strong consistent file/folder naming scheme is key in simple manual Finder folder structures. On mine I use this type of thing…
folders:
financial
bank accounts
2005-present - Blahblah Bank - ac 1234 - statements
files:
2020.01.03.Fri - Blahblah Bank - ac 1234 - statement - 2019.12.pdf
2020.02.03.Mon - Blahblah Bank - ac 1234 - statement - 2020.01.pdf
2020.03.02.Mon - Blahblah Bank - ac 1234 - statement - 2020.02.pdf
etc.
(the ac# is just the last 4-digits of said account, for brevity.)
This way files/folders sort in order at all times. I don’t rely on the metadata within files to sort by date created/modified particularly, as they can become corrupted or otherwise factually untrue. eg. copy-pasting an original; copy version uses same Date Created metadata, or suchlike, which may not be helpful, or moving file across volumes may change these metadata.
I personally use the day (Mon, Tue…) too, as quite often it’s useful to see why something was not actioned the very next day, when it may have been a Fri so not done until three days later on the Mon or Tue of the next week, and similar. But that’s my meticulousness at play, lol!
I also do a simple plain text “info+comms” .rtf file (RTF can be read by everything) in Text Edit app. (eg. using the bank ac example above: 2005-present - Blahblah Bank - ac 1234 - info+comms.rtf ). On it, I list the basic facts about the subject (ac#, contact tel, ac open/close date, interest rates, etc.) at the top, with any communications with related people concerned at the bottom, dated & named (eg. 2020.01.21.Mon 13:45, Darren in fulfilment dept tel’d: he completed changing the missing details.).
That way, I can instantly see all comms with them, and don’t have to hunt separate notes out inside apps, and when done with (say on closing an account), simply change “-present” to the closing year “-2020”, and can file the main folder straight into my “archive” folder, with all the info intact. (obviously, I don’t keep secure login info in that file: 1Password gets that!)
The only problem I have with my own system is what I call ‘long file name syndrome’! I considered using abbreviations more, but then both remembering the correct short version, using them constantly, and later using Spotlight or Alfred apps to search, made me stick with mostly full words.
Anyway, hope this may help someone else going paperless.
