My Entire File System in 9 Minutes

Summary

Tiago Forte demonstrates how he organizes files across his computer and three Google Drive locations so he can quickly give an AI assistant access to relevant material.

File organization

• PARA structure: His drives use the PARA categories—Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives—along with an inbox. Finder sidebar shortcuts provide quick access to these folders.
• Separate personal and work files: His personal Google Drive and individual work drive are kept separate. Both are mirrored locally, while some files remain only on his computer.
• Stream a large shared drive: The company shared drive contains about 17 TB, so it is streamed rather than fully downloaded. Folders appear in Finder but remain in the cloud until marked available offline. Forte downloads only active projects.

Using folders as context for AI

Forte demonstrates an AI workflow in which he provides a specific project folder and broader area folders. For example, he asks the assistant to analyze an AI course project and use the Marketing and Content areas to develop a launch plan. The project provides detailed, immediate information, while the areas contribute longer-term context.

He also suggests combining folders for different analyses, such as comparing projects, connecting lessons across areas, combining resources, evaluating a portfolio of projects, or searching archives for ideas to revive. The underlying principle is that a structured folder hierarchy creates reusable collections of information for AI to analyze.

Free Claude skill

Forte says a free skill can inspect a user’s files and propose a step-by-step plan for organizing them into the system. He says it is available through his newsletter.

Guide or tutorial covered

The video walks through Forte’s file setup, demonstrates using folders as context for an AI task, and introduces the free Claude skill for planning a file-system reorganization.

Main speaker and source

• Tiago Forte — presenter and creator of the PARA method.