Google Drive is a free tool that allows you to store your files on the internet and share them with anyone, anytime. If you are a solopreneur, you may keep the files in Google Drive folders where you are confident they will be accessible when needed.
However, when new employee or Virtual Assistant starts coming in, it may not be apparent to them that the files need to be where they are. Here is an underground structure that one of our Virtual Assistants advised her client to use as it offers more clarity of where things are.
Google Drive Folder Structure Model
Are you or your employees struggling to find the files in Google Drive? If the answer is “yes,” here’s the Google Drive folder structure that can inspire you to have a more straightforward daily task.
Top-level Folder
Layout the departments in the company.
- e.g., Sales, Marketing, Development, etc.
Second Level
Layout the big topic of the department.
- e.g., in Marketing, there are Social Media, EDM, SEO, etc.
Third Level
Layout the context of the topic.
- e.g., under social media, there can be Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Fourth Level
It should be where files start to show up. The naming of the file is also critical.
Best Practices of Google Drive Folder that Will Smoothen Your Life
Get interested in Google Drive Folders Structure that we shared above? If you do, we will explain it more below, so you can train and explain to your Virtual Assistants to do the same.
First Level: Department
You do anything and everything when it is just you in the business. But it is still an important thing to split activities into different departments. Here are the departments that a company typically has: Human Resources, Marketing, Sales, IT Development, IT Support, Operation, and Finance.
By splitting files into these different Google Drive folders, when a new employee joins, you grant them access to the ones that they need to access. It will make the onboarding process a lot faster.
Second Level: Topic
In each department, there are focused topics and activities. For example, in Marketing, you can split your workouts into Social Media, Email Marketing, SEO, etc.
As there can be a lot of activities, we encourage you to name the folder with a number in front so that sorting by name will sort the topics based on your preferences, e.g., “1 Social Media”, “2 Email Marketing”, etc. It makes instructions even easier when you can refer to each folder as a number, and delegating tasks can be smoother than before.
If you do this, you can grant an SEO agency access to just the SEO folder, where they can do their job without peaking into other places. It applies to other employees and contractors as well.
Third level: Context
Within each topic, there are contexts. For example, you can split the activities into Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn posts within Social Media. On this level, it is better to also number the Google Drive folders by your preferences, e.g., priority.
So that everyone in the company knows your intention. For example, if you mark `1 LinkedIn`, LinkedIn marketing is the company’s top priority, and you should prioritise it before other contexts.
Fourth level: Files
It should be the level where many files start to show up. The naming convention is also important. Someone new going into the business should understand what the files are about. I encourage naming your documents like this `YYYY-MM-DD.<event name>.<purpose>.<filetype>`, e.g. 2022-12-05.christmasPost.promotionCopy.docx. It should sort the files by date and help you find them faster.
Summary
A pre-defined structure in your Google Drive Folders is a must if you dream of scaling up the business. There are multiple ways to do it; the above is just one way.
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