How to organise company documents so people can find them

The short version

1. Audit where documents live today.
2. Pick one home for shared documents.
3. Organise by client, project or team at the top level.
4. Use the same few subfolders everywhere.
5. Agree a naming convention.
6. Handle versions properly.
7. Set access deliberately.
8. Archive and review on a schedule.

Each step is explained below, followed by how to set it up in Emitii.

Step 1: Audit where documents live

Before reorganising, list every place documents currently sit: shared drives, personal drives, email attachments, chat uploads, desktop folders and paper. For each location, note roughly what is there and who relies on it. This usually reveals duplicates and a few critical files that exist only in one person's account.

Step 2: Pick one home for shared documents

Choose one shared location for anything the team needs. Personal drafts can stay personal, but anything a colleague might need belongs in the shared home. The best home is close to where the work happens, so files sit next to the tasks and discussion they relate to rather than in a separate silo.

Step 3: Organise by the unit of work

Most teams find it easiest to organise the top level by the way they already think about work:

• Service businesses: one area per client, with projects inside it.
• Project-based teams: one area per project.
• Internal functions: one area per team, such as HR, finance or operations.

Avoid organising the top level by document type ("Contracts", "Presentations"), because a single project's files then scatter across many folders.

Step 4: Use the same subfolders everywhere

Inside each area, repeat a small, predictable set of subfolders. For example:

Keep it to four to six folders. Numbering keeps them in a stable order. When every area looks the same, people find files without asking.

Step 5: Agree a naming convention

A simple convention makes lists easy to scan and sort. A common pattern is:

Date - Client or project - Document - Status, for example "2026-09-25 - Riverside - Site survey - Draft".

Use ISO dates (year-month-day) so files sort correctly. Avoid "final", "v2" and "new" in file names; version history should do that job.

Step 6: Handle versions properly

Uploading "Proposal_v4_FINAL_edited" alongside earlier copies is how teams send the wrong file to a client. Instead:

• Keep one file per document and upload new versions over it, using the tool's version history.
• Mark a document as final with a tag or by moving it to the Deliverables folder.
• For documents written together, edit one shared copy rather than emailing attachments.

Step 7: Set access deliberately

Decide who can see and edit each top-level area. Grant access to groups or departments where possible rather than individuals, and give outside people such as clients access only to the areas they need. Review access when people join, leave or change roles.

Step 8: Archive and review

Set a regular date, for example quarterly, to archive finished projects and remove stale drafts. Archiving keeps old material available without cluttering active work. Make one person responsible for this review.

Common mistakes

• Reorganising without an audit, so critical files are missed.
• Too many folder levels, which hides files rather than organising them.
• No written rules, so each person invents their own structure.
• Keeping the old drive open indefinitely, which splits documents across two places.
• Documents away from the work, so people still ask "where is the file for this task?"

How to do it in Emitii

In Emitii, each client, project or team has a space, and each space can turn on Docs & Files. That gives every unit of work its own document area, sitting next to its board, tasks, schedule and chat.

1. One home per unit of work. Create a space for each client, project or team, then turn on Docs & Files in the space settings (it is off by default).
2. Subfolders. Create your standard folders in each space. Docs & Files supports folders, docs written in a Markdown editor, uploaded files and links, with a breadcrumb and folder tree.
3. Names, colour and tags. Rename items to your convention and use "Colour & tags" to mark status such as Draft or Final. Sort and "Search docs and files" to find items.
4. Versions. For uploaded files, use Upload new version and pick earlier versions from the version picker. Docs can be downloaded as PDF, and PDFs preview in the app.
5. Discussion. Comment directly on docs instead of emailing feedback.
6. Access. Set Docs & Files access per space (View only, Can contribute, Can manage) for everyone, a department, a group or a person. Invite clients as guests to only their space.
7. AI help. In a space where AI is on, Emit can list, read, create and update docs, and can generate PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, CSV or Markdown files straight into Docs & Files after you approve.

Most teams upload their active documents into Docs & Files and keep the old drive read-only during the move.

See document management in Emitii, how consulting firms keep client files together, the client onboarding template for a sample setup, and how Emitii compares with Notion in Emitii vs Notion. For background, read what document management means.