How to organize project files by topic

By type or by topic: which to choose

Sorting by type suits libraries: all your images together, all your documents together. It is the right model for a collection you browse by kind of content.

Sorting by topic suits work in progress: everything about a project in one place, whatever the format. It is the right model as soon as there is a start, an end and a deliverable.

In practice, you combine them: by topic at the top level, then by type inside the larger folders.

A project structure that works everywhere

The same folder tree works for a renovation, a wedding, a thesis or a website redesign. It separates what comes in, what gets made and what goes out.

• 01-brief/ — requirements, emails, references
• 02-sources/ — files received, raw photos, data
• 03-work/ — drafts, mockups, intermediate versions
• 04-deliverables/ — final versions sent
• 05-admin/ — quotes, invoices, contracts

Example: a freelancer's folder tree

A freelance designer working for a dozen clients a year benefits from putting the client at the first level, then the project, then the five-folder structure above. Everything about a client is one click away, past projects included.

• Clients/atlas/2026-03-website-redesign/01-brief/
• Clients/atlas/2026-03-website-redesign/04-deliverables/
• Clients/atlas/2025-11-holiday-card/
• Clients/main-street-bakery/2026-01-logo/

What AI can do, and what it cannot

Trifouille's AI mode reads file names and paths, never their contents. It spots projects, clients, events and periods in them, then proposes a topic-based folder tree.

So it brings together julie_wedding_quote.pdf and wedding_playlist.mp3, which sorting by type would have separated. On the other hand, files named IMG_0001 to IMG_0500 contain no usable information: in that case, sorting by date gives better results.

Check before downloading

The AI proposes, you decide. The preview shows the complete folder tree before any download, and every file keeps its name as is: the model only chooses the destination folder.

If the result does not suit you, run it again with another mode. Nothing is applied to your original files, which stay untouched on your computer.

Working with others on the same project

In a shared folder, the mess multiplies with the number of people involved. The rule that works: one person decides the folder structure, and writes it down in a README.txt file at the root of the project — five lines are enough.

Also agree on a common naming convention before the first file is dropped in. Cleaning up a six-month-old shared folder where everyone named things their own way costs hours; avoiding it costs a ten-minute meeting.

Closing a project properly

A finished project that stays in your workspace ends up getting in the way of current ones. At delivery, delete the useless intermediate versions, check that 04-deliverables really contains the final files, then compress the project into a dated archive.

Move that archive to your archive folder, on an external drive or an online storage space. When the client comes back two years later, everything is there, organized and complete.

Good naming habits

The more descriptive your file names, the better the organizing, whether by AI or by you. A useful name contains the project, the type of document and the date.

• atlas_quote_2026-03.pdf rather than final quote v3 (2).pdf
• Avoid multiple spaces and special characters
• Date things as YYYY-MM-DD, which sorts on its own