Filing

Help with file organization: where things belong and keeping inboxes clear.

When to Use

• "Where should this file go?"
• Weekly review (filing portion)
• Moving files between zones
• Deciding Projects vs Areas vs Resources

When NOT to Use

• Pattern reflection (use todoist-gtd)
• Todoist organization (use todoist-gtd)
• Code/repo organization (different rules apply)

Core Principle: Filing = Processing + Organizing

You can't file what you haven't processed.

Moving files without reading them isn't filing — it's relocating the problem. Proper filing means:

1. Processing — Read content, extract what matters (actions, waiting-fors, calendar items)
2. Organizing — Move to the right location with the right name

If you skip processing, actions get lost, waiting-fors vanish, and meeting notes become information graves.

The test: Before moving a file, can you answer: "What's in this and does anything need to happen?"

Work Folder Structure

Location: ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-*/My Drive/Work

To find exact path: ls -d ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-*/My\ Drive/Work

Work/
├── Projects/           # Active outcome folders
├── Areas/              # Ongoing responsibilities
├── Resources/          # Reference material (Larder, GTD Resources)
├── Archive/            # Completed/dormant
└── Meeting Notes/      # By year (2015-2025)

Projects/

Active work with defined end states. Folders named: {Area} - {Outcome statement}

Examples:

• Industry Influencing - Marketing Week Articles
• Product Development - Launched new dashboard...

When complete: Move to Archive/

Areas/

Ongoing responsibilities (no completion date):

• Budget and Finance
• Cross-Broadcaster Measurement
• Desired Outcomes Planning
• Industry Advisory Roles
• Industry Influencing
• Internal Stakeholders
• Managing Myself
• Processes and Systems
• Team Development

Resources/

Reference material that supports work:

• Larder/ - 100+ research PDFs
• GTD Resources (Common)/ - GTD reference docs

Archive/

Completed projects and dormant materials. Preserves history.

Meeting Notes/

Organized by year:

Meeting Notes/
├── 2024/
└── 2025/
    └── 2025-12-11 Alex Maguire (Netflix) - EMEA measurement landscape.md

Naming: {date} {Person/Topic} - {Brief description}.md

PARA Quick Reference

Key distinction: Areas ≠ Projects. "Team Development" is an Area (infinite). "Hire data scientist" is a Project (finite).

How This Differs from Strict PARA

Strict PARA has 4 equal categories (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive).

This structure adds:

• Meeting Notes/ - Chronological organization by year (not in PARA)
• Areas are predefined (not emergent as in strict PARA)

Core PARA principle remains: Projects complete, Areas don't.

Why the additions: Meeting notes benefit from chronological access. Areas reflect actual work responsibilities.

Weekly Cleanup Zones

Nine locations where clutter accumulates:

1. Local Downloads

Path: ~/Downloads

Typical contents: PDFs, screenshots, installers, random files from web.

Action: File to Work/ or delete.

2. iCloud Downloads

Path: ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Downloads

Typical contents: Screenshots (iOS sync), files from iOS apps.

Action: File to Work/ or delete. Check for screenshots that should go to projects.

3. iA Writer Strays

Path: ~/Library/Mobile Documents/27N4MQEA55~pro~writer/Documents

Structure:

Documents/
└── Diary/          # Structured diary entries (leave alone)
└── [stray files]   # Waifs outside Diary folder

Action: Anything outside Diary/ is a stray. File or delete.

4. Desktop (iCloud-synced)

Path: ~/Desktop

iCloud Desktop & Documents sync enabled. Files may be cloud-only (evicted from local storage).

Typical contents: Screenshots, drag-dropped files, temporary staging.

Action: File to Work/ or delete. Most Desktop items are transient.

iCloud voodoo: Files can appear as stubs (cloud-only, download on access). When bulk processing, may trigger downloads. The .localized file is system-managed - leave it.

5. Work Folder Root

Path: ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-*/My Drive/Work

Should only contain CLAUDE.md (project instructions) - nothing else belongs at root level.

Typical contents: Stray files that missed proper subfolder, CLAUDE.md.

Action: CLAUDE.md stays. Everything else gets filed into Projects/, Areas/, Resources/, or Archive/.

6. My Drive Root (Inbox)

Path: ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-*/My Drive

True inbox per PARA. Where doc.new creates files, where shared docs land, where quick-captured items accumulate.

Typical contents: New Google Docs, shared files, unsorted captures.

Action: Triage into Work/ subfolders or delete. This is the primary inbox to keep clear.

7. My Drive Temp (Claude Staging)

Path: ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-*/My Drive/Temp

Nominated temp folder for Claude operations — file uploads, MCP staging, transient outputs.

Typical contents: PDFs uploaded for analysis, intermediate files, staged outputs.

Action: Delete everything. If something needs keeping, it should have been filed properly after the session that created it. This folder should be empty between sessions.

8. Work Inbox (iCloud)

Path: ~/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Work Inbox/

Quick capture landing zone from iOS Shortcuts. Subfolders organize by type:

Work Inbox/
├── Voice Transcripts/   ← Whisper output from JPR recordings
├── Meeting Notes/       ← iOS Shortcut meeting captures
└── Quick Notes/         ← General quick capture

Naming: YYYY-MM-DD [HH-MM] Title.md

Action per subfolder:

9. JPR Voice Recordings

Path: ~/Library/Mobile Documents/iCloud~com~openplanetsoftware~just-press-record/Documents/

Just Press Record voice memos (m4a/mp3). Organized by date: YYYY-MM-DD/HH-MM-SS.m4a

Action:

1. Transcribe with ~/.claude/scripts/transcribe-jpr.sh --new
2. Review transcript in Work Inbox/Voice Transcripts/
3. Audio moves to Processed/ subfolder automatically

When Filing Signals Deeper Patterns

File organization chaos often symptoms deeper behavioral patterns. Surface these signals during weekly review:

Coordination pattern: Filing is Phase 1 of weekly review. After tidying, todoist-gtd skill handles pattern reflection (Phase 3).

Don't skip the pattern check just because you tidied the files.

Processing (Before You File)

Processing means reading and extracting — not just moving.

Processing Checklist (Meeting Notes)

Before filing ANY meeting note:

• Read the content — Don't just look at the title
• Extract actions (mine) — Concrete next steps I need to take
• Extract waiting-fors — NAME: What they owe me format
• Note calendar items — Dates to add to calendar
• Quality check: empty? — Delete (with confirmation)
• Quality check: misnamed? — Rename to match content
• THEN move to destination

Mandatory extraction: Cannot file meeting notes until actions are extracted. This is not optional.

Processing Other File Types

Action Extraction Workflow (Sublime Loop)

When processing multiple meeting notes with actions:

1. Extract to Temp File

Create structured sections:

## Waiting For
NAME: What they owe me

## Ping
Quick actions for me to do

## Calendar
Date - Event to add

2. Open for Review

open -a "Sublime Text" /tmp/meeting-actions.md

3. Tell User

"Edit, save, let me know when ready"

User fixes:

• Names (Susie → Susan)
• Stale/irrelevant items (delete)
• Vague actions (clarify)

4. After Save

Read file, add to Todoist via todoist-gtd skill.

Why this works:

• User sees all actions at once
• Catches errors before they hit Todoist
• Disambiguation happens in familiar editor
• Claude processes clean, user-approved list

Meeting Source Discovery

At weekly review start, check beyond the 9 zones.

Standing Docs (Always Check)

Prompt first: "Any changes to this standing docs list? (Add/remove as your meetings evolve)"

Calendar-Linked Docs

Prompt: "What recurring meetings had sessions this week? Any have running docs I should check?"

(Future: mise calendar integration to auto-discover — see mise-en-space backlog)

Filing Decisions

"Where does this go?"

Personal Documents Zone

Path: ~/Documents/Personal/

Personal documents with PARA structure (no numbering, aligned with Work folder):

Personal/
├── Projects/     # Active personal projects
├── Areas/        # Ongoing personal responsibilities (e.g., Ash)
├── Archive/      # Completed/dormant
└── CLAUDE.md     # Project instructions

Note: No Resources folder - personal "resources" live in Areas as active things.

Action: Personal admin docs (scanned letters, etc.) go to appropriate Area.

Team Shared Drives

Detection: ls "$GDRIVE/Shared drives/"

Team shared content lives in Shared Drives (not personal My Drive):

Team Shared Drive/
├── Team Reference/      # Team-specific reference material
├── Shared Reference/    # Cross-team reference material
└── External Reference/  # External/industry reference

Action: Team reference materials (shared tools, analytics) go here, not personal Drive.

Filing Workflow

Zone Check (Do This First)

At session start, explicitly check ALL zones - don't skip any:

GDRIVE=$(ls -d ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-* 2>/dev/null | head -1)
echo "=== 1. Downloads ===" && ls ~/Downloads | head -5
echo "=== 2. iCloud Downloads ===" && ls ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Downloads 2>/dev/null | head -5
echo "=== 3. iA Writer ===" && ls ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/27N4MQEA55~pro~writer/Documents 2>/dev/null | grep -v Diary | head -5
echo "=== 4. Desktop ===" && ls ~/Desktop 2>/dev/null | head -5
echo "=== 5. Work root ===" && ls "$GDRIVE/My Drive/Work" 2>/dev/null | grep -v "^CLAUDE.md$" | head -5
echo "=== 6. My Drive root ===" && find "$GDRIVE/My Drive" -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -name ".DS_Store" 2>/dev/null | head -5
echo "=== 7. My Drive Temp ===" && ls "$GDRIVE/My Drive/Temp" 2>/dev/null | head -5
echo "=== 8. Work Inbox ===" && find ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Work\ Inbox -type f ! -name ".DS_Store" 2>/dev/null | head -5
echo "=== 9. JPR Voice ===" && find ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/iCloud~com~openplanetsoftware~just-press-record/Documents -name "*.m4a" -o -name "*.mp3" 2>/dev/null | grep -v "/Processed/" | head -5

Report which zones have content before starting. Don't skip zones that look empty - verify each one.

Per-File Process (5 Steps)

When triaging files, follow this 5-step process:

1. Process - Read content, extract what matters

   • For meeting notes: extract actions, waiting-fors, calendar items (see Processing section)
   • For other files: understand content for proper filing
   • Use Sublime Loop for batch processing multiple notes
   • For text files: Claude reads directly
   • For binary/GUI files: open -a "Sublime Text" file.md or open file.pdf
   • Office files in Google Drive (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx): These open in native apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), not browser. To open in Google Docs instead, fetch the Drive URL via mise and open that:

     # Don't do this (opens in Word):
     open "My Drive/document.docx"
     
     # Do this instead (opens in browser):
     # 1. Get file ID via mise search
     # 2. open "https://docs.google.com/document/d/FILE_ID"
     

     Or flag to user: "These .docx files will open in Word — want Drive URLs instead?"

2. Rename - Adjust filename to match actual content

   • Generic names like "Untitled" or "Copy of..." need proper names
   • Use descriptive names: Simon McCarthy - Pricing Power Proposal

3. Split - If multiple topics in one file, separate them

   • Open in GUI for user review
   • Create new files for distinct topics

4. Capture - Outstanding actions → Todoist

   • Before adding: Search for existing/completed tasks to avoid duplicates
   • Use todoist-gtd skill (invoke with Skill(todoist-gtd)) for Todoist operations
   • Link description to filed document

5. File - Move to correct location (or delete)

   • See "Filing Decisions" section for where things go
   • After filing Meeting Notes: Extract to memory for searchability

     # Re-scan to pick up the filed document
     cd ~/Repos/garde-manger && uv run garde scan --source local_md
     
     # Extract entities from the filed document
     SOURCE_ID="local_md:$(basename "$DEST_PATH")"
     cd ~/Repos/garde-manger && uv run garde extract "$SOURCE_ID" 2>/dev/null || true
     

Archive vs Reference

The test: "Will I search for this to USE it, or just to REMEMBER it?"

Reference = I'll need this again to do work

• Research PDFs that inform decisions
• Templates I reuse
• Product specs, methodology docs

Archive = This was a thing, now it's done

• Completed project artifacts
• Superseded versions
• Historical records

Common Filing Patterns

External doc → Google Doc → Project folder

When filing a document that needs to live in a Project:

1. Read content (use docx skill for Word docs)
2. Create Project folder if needed: {Area} - {Outcome statement}
3. Convert to Google Doc: mcp__mise__create
4. Delete original file
5. Update any Todoist task that references it with new link

Todoist task linking

When a filed document relates to a Todoist task, use the todoist-gtd skill to search and link. Canonical document location should be in Todoist task description.

Weekly Review Integration

Note: Weekly review is a three-phase workflow orchestrated by todoist-gtd skill:

1. Filing (this skill) — Clear cleanup zones
2. Outcomes Review (todoist-gtd) — Check outcome health
3. Pattern Reflection (todoist-gtd) — Freedom score, pattern interrupts

During weekly review, check all 9 cleanup zones:

1. ~/Downloads - File or delete
2. iCloud Downloads - File or delete
3. iA Writer strays - File or delete
4. ~/Desktop - File or delete (mind iCloud stubs)
5. Work/ root - Only CLAUDE.md should remain
6. My Drive root - Triage into Work/ or delete
7. My Drive Temp - Delete everything (Claude staging folder)
8. Work Inbox - Triage subfolders (Voice Transcripts, Meeting Notes, Quick Notes)
9. JPR Voice - Transcribe new recordings, review transcripts

Anti-Patterns

Remember

File promptly, delete liberally. Most downloads don't need keeping. Screenshots are usually transient. When in doubt, delete.

Projects complete, Areas don't. If you're wondering "is this done?", it's probably a Project. If you're wondering "is this still my responsibility?", it's an Area.

~/Repos Naming Convention

Development tools live in ~/Repos/ with prefix conventions:

Skills: Symlinked to ~/.claude/skills/. Core skills in trousse/skills/, specialized skills in individual repos, skills with tooling co-located with their infrastructure.