New Year, Cleaner Docs List

Do you organize your Google Docs based on cyclical activities such as school semesters or business quarters? Have you tried using Collections paired with the "Don't show in Home" feature of Docs?  Try it!

The idea is that you want to keep these Google Docs but you don't want them showing up in Home.  The goal is somewhat similar to the "Archive" feature in Gmail.  This is for those who like a clean Docs List.

For students, a new year means new classes which hopefully means new Google Docs! But first let's clean the existing Docs List.  Let's take this from the student's standpoint.

The Cleaning
First off, we need to create little bins for last semester's Docs.  If you haven't already, I suggest creating a collection for each class.   Click on the Create button and choose Collection.

Creating a New Collection

Next, name the Collection.

Naming a Collection

You're done!  Now, we must find the Google Docs to put in our new Collection.  Find these Docs, select their check boxes, choose More and then Organize.

Applying Docs to a Collection

Navigate to the Collection and click on the check box to show a blue check.

Choosing the Collection

Repeat these steps until you are happy with your Docs and Collections.  Cleaning done!

The "Archive"

The final step is to keep the Docs from showing up when Home is selected from the left pane.  This is the default selection when the Docs List is opened.

Select the Collection you would like to "Archive" from the left menu.  Select all Docs in that Collection by choosing the uppermost check box.  Choose More and Don't show in Home.

Now these Docs have been "Archived."  They will no longer show up in Home even if they are edited by you or other collaborators.  This is different from Gmail, in that if someone responds to an archived message it will reappear in your Inbox.

This method can easily be undone by completing the last step again.  "Don't show in Home" will be replaced by "Show in Home" in the More menu.

Cheers!