Throughout the workday, we often run into barriers, keeping us from being productive. Maybe you’re thinking you just need a cup of joe, but often simple daily tasks can be a minefield. A major offender is searching for files. To find files obscured throughout cloud storage platforms and folders is a task all on its own. It’s time we could spend being productive and actually getting things done. There are better ways to streamline your workflow and find those files fast and get back to work. We need to stop the endless cycle and the first step is acknowledging the file search barriers we accept as fate.

Here are four barriers that create time sinks at work:

1. Shared team folders

Folder organization is foreign to each individual member of the organization. Where one file is may make sense to one person and not to the next. You probably don’t communicate telepathically with your coworkers (but if so, please share your secrets), so the only way to have an intuitive organizational structure requires you to find files buried many sub-folders deep. Which, hate to break it to you, only slows you down more. You’re decreasing your productivity as you click from one folder to the next, and you’ll probably have a misstep or two as you go down into folders.

2. Multiple logins

Companies use an average of 91 tools in their tech stacks to manage day-to-day work task. Your content is spread across email, content management systems, support software, project management software and other cloud solutions. While looking for a file, before you can even get to the folder, you have to log in and out of multiple tools to find which solution it is saved in. I won’t mention the time spent trying to figure out the password- that’s a different story. Across disparate solutions, you have no visibility of your files outside of each individual solution, so you have to log in and out to see where a file is.

3. Versions

Multiple cloud solutions also create a versioning problem. Again, thanks to the lack of telepathy (darn!), maybe saving the quarterly report in Dropbox makes more sense to your coworker, but you saved it in Google Drive.  Not to mention those filers who cover their bases by depositing the same file in multiple folders to ensure their co-workers will find it no matter how their brainwave works.  Now you have versions saved across platforms and folders, oh joy.

4. Messaging

Email or messaging your coworker is your last resort. You’ve looked in folders, platforms and through versions, but still, no dice. You send a ping over to your colleague to ask if they know where it is. Now you’re disrupting your coworker’s time while they either respond to you or look for the file themselves. Once they find it, they might email it you. There’s another version. Go back to barrier number three, try again.

All of these barriers lead to reinventing the wheel and lost productivity. Roadblocks to your productivity make using collaboration tools harder – taking the collaboration out of collaboration tools. We just accept these pain points while searching for files. Maybe we think we’ll go back and organize the folders or versions later, but who does that? We think we can fix the situation.

The reality in our world is clear, these barriers will always be there. You can invest the effort to mass organize and structure but if you want to search for files at scale, everyone needs to adhere.

Alternatively, you can leave everything as is and rely on the powers of Digitile.  Digitile’s one of a kind file search engine that centralizes results across cloud platforms such as Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, Slack, Gmail, and Outlook with the following benefits to help you find files faster and easier.

• Sophisticated Search: an AI-powered search engine that goes beyond file name.
• Bulk File Tags: Tagging is a crucial function for teams and companies to find files at scale. But, most solutions don’t allow tagging of files and the ones that do only allow you to individually tag a file, which can be very time-consuming.
• A folderless experience that avoids drilling 5 sub-folders deep.
• A 360-degree view of all your files under one platform to identify duplicates and the most up-to-date copy.