---

name: filing user-invocable: false description: File organization and weekly cleanup - where things belong (PARA-influenced structure) and where clutter accumulates (Downloads, Desktop, iCloud, iA Writer, Drive inbox, Work folder root). Triggers on 'where should this go', 'help me tidy', 'clean up downloads', 'clean up desktop', 'triage inbox', 'file this', 'personal documents', 'team shared drive', 'archive or reference', 'convert to google doc', or during weekly review cleanup. (user)

Filing

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

When to Use This Skill

Use when:

• "Where should this file go?"
• "Help me tidy up"
• "Clean up downloads"
• Weekly review (filing portion)
• Moving files between zones
• Deciding Projects vs Areas vs Resources

NOT for:

• Pattern reflection (use todoist-gtd — it handles weekly review Phase 3)
• Todoist organization (use todoist-gtd)

Work Folder Structure

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

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

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

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:

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

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

Claude Research/

Session working folders created by workspace MCP's gather_context:

CopyClaude Research/
├── 20251214 - Claude - strategic priorities/
├── 20251214 - Claude - team priorities/
└── [various .gdoc outputs]

Cleanup: These accumulate. During weekly review, archive or delete stale ones.

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)
• Claude Research/ - Session working folders (transient, 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. Claude Research is truly transient (weekly cleanup). 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:

CopyDocuments/
└── 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:

CopyWork 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.

Filing Decisions

"Where does this go?"

Personal Documents Zone

Path: ~/Documents/Personal/

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

CopyPersonal/
├── 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):

CopyTeam 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:

CopyGDRIVE=$(ls -d ~/Library/CloudStorage/GoogleDrive-* 2>/dev/null | head -1)
echo "=== 1. Downloads ===" && ls ~/Downloads | head -5
echo "=== 2. iCloud Downloads ===" && ls ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/com~apple~CloudDocs/Downloads 2>/dev/null | head -5
echo "=== 3. iA Writer ===" && ls ~/Library/Mobile\ Documents/27N4MQEA55~pro~writer/Documents 2>/dev/null | grep -v Diary | head -5
echo "=== 4. Desktop ===" && ls ~/Desktop 2>/dev/null | head -5
echo "=== 5. Work root ===" && ls "$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. Review - Read content to understand what the file actually is

   • For text files: Claude reads directly
   • For binary/GUI files: open -a "Sublime Text" file.md or open file.pdf

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 CLI: scripts/todoist.py filter "search query"
   • Create tasks via CLI: scripts/todoist.py add "task" --project-id <id>
   • Link description to filed document

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

   • See "Filing Decisions" section for where things go

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__workspace__create_doc_from_markdown
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:

1. Search for task: scripts/todoist.py filter "task name"
2. Get task details: scripts/todoist.py task <task-id>
3. Update via Todoist app or API (CLI update coming)

Pattern: 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

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 claude-modus/skills/, specialized skills in individual repos, skills with tooling co-located with their infrastructure.