Best Practices for Creating Vault and Folder Structures

Creating and Sharing Vaults and Folders > Best Practices for Creating Vault and Folder Structures

When you create the vault and folder structure you want to use to store your documents in SmartVault, take a few minutes to consider the total number of vaults and folders you plan to create in SmartVault, as well as how you want to build out your vault and folder structure.

For example, do you plan to start with only a small number of documents, and build out your vault and folder structure organically? Or do you plan to store a large number of documents in SmartVault (hundreds or thousands of documents) and use a sophisticated folder structure (hundreds or thousands of folders) to help you subdivide and manage your documents?

SmartVault works well for users who want to securely store and manage both large numbers and small numbers of documents. However, as you think about the vault and folder structure that will work best for you, consider the following best practices related to creating vault and folder structures in SmartVault:

• If you want to start small and build out your SmartVault vault and folder structure slowly and organically, create at least two vaults and a handful of folders to start. Then start adding your documents to SmartVault and sharing your documents with other users. For more information, see “Best Practice: Create a Couple of Vaults and Folders to Start” .

• If you have an existing file and folder structure you want to quickly move into SmartVault, first create the vaults you want to use to store your documents in, and then copy your existing folders and files into SmartVault. For more information, see “Best Practice: Create Vaults First, Then Copy Your Existing Folders and Files Into the Vaults” .

• If you want to create a new file and folder structure for documents stored in SmartVault, quickly build out the new vault and folder structure you want to use on your local computer, and then use the SmartVault Drive upload your new structure into SmartVault. For more information, see “Best Practice: Create New Vault and Folder Structures On Your Local Computer First” .

• If you need to use several hundred or several thousand folders to help you organize your documents, try not to create more than 100 folders in a vault. Placing more than 100 folders in a vault can make browsing and navigating through folders inefficient. For more information, see “Best Practice: Try Not to Create More Than 100 Folders in a Vault” .

• If you want to use a consistent vault and folder structure across clients or projects, consider creating one or more template vault and folder structures. Then, when you bring a new client onboard or create a new project, you can quickly build out the vault and folder structure you need by copying your template vault and folder structure and then pasting it into a new location in SmartVault. For more information, see “Best Practice: Create Vault and Folder Templates” .

• If you or other users in your account want to use the SmartVault Drive on a Windows XP computer to manage files and folders, consider using third-party software that supports the WebDAV protocol for a better user experience. For more information see, “Best Practice: Use Third-Party Software That Supports the WebDAV Protocol If Using SmartVault Drives on Windows XP Computers” .

• If you have a list of clients in your email contacts list that you want to share documents with using SmartVault, you can use your email contacts list to create a client folder and subfolder structure for each of your client contacts in SmartVault.For more information about creating client folders from email contact lists using a batch file, see “Creating Client Folders from Email Contact Lists” .

• If you use QuickBooks, consider creating your vault and folder structure based on whether or not QuickBooks company files will be shared between QuickBooks users at an accounting or bookkeeping services firm and QuickBooks users at the client company. For more information, see “Best Practice (QuickBooks Users): Base Your Vault Structure on If You Will Share QuickBooks Company Files” .