An empty document store and a laptop full of files. This is the order that works, and it takes about an hour.
Step one: write down the audiences
Before making a single folder, list the groups of people who should see different things. For most businesses of this size it is four or five:
- Everyone — letterhead, handbook, templates, the price list.
- Accounts — statutory papers, bank, tax.
- Management — contracts, anything commercial.
- Each team — their own working files.
- HR — if you have one, and it should be narrow.
That list is your top-level folder structure. Do not invent a second one by topic.
Step two: make the groups first
Go to Settings and make the groups before you make the folders — accounts, design, management. Ten minutes now saves you rewriting every share later.
Share with groups, never with people by name. This is the single decision that determines whether the structure still works in a year. Named shares are a snapshot of who worked here in the week you set it up.
Step three: folders, and share them once
- Make one top folder per audience.
- Share each one with its group, at the level it needs.
- Turn download off on anything you would not want forwarded.
- Give each a colour, so people navigate by shape.
Step four: put the important things in first
Not everything. The dozen documents somebody actually asks for:
| Folder | What goes in first |
|---|---|
| Everyone | Letterhead, logo pack, invoice template, leave policy. |
| Accounts | GST certificate, PAN, incorporation papers, bank details. |
| Management | Client contracts, the insurance policy, the lease. |
Then stop. The rest arrives as people need it, and a store with twelve findable documents beats one with four thousand nobody has sorted.
Step five: tell people the two rules
They are short enough to say in a meeting:
- If it belongs to a customer, vendor, invoice or project, attach it to that record.
- If it belongs to the company, put it in a folder.
What to avoid
- A folder per customer. Attach to the customer instead.
- Uploading everything on day one. You are importing a mess, not organising one.
- Sharing with individuals. It is a fact with an expiry date.
- A folder called Miscellaneous. Everything ends up in it and nothing is ever found again.
Where to go next
Something missing or wrong here? Tell us. A question that needed asking usually means a page that needed writing.