We received a terrific email today that raised three great questions.  Let’s address them one at time.  For today, we’ll take the topic of  “Online Service” versus “On My Own Computer.”

Relatively recent trends are moving toward “cloud computing,” where not only involved data is stored by a hosting service, but the programs themselves run from distant servers.  Naturally, fear of the loss of control and potential privacy invasion keep some away from utilizing on-line services.  Believe me, I’ve debated whether to develop The File Harmonic as an online service, or build and sell an executable program.  As always, there are pros and cons to either, and eventually we hope to offer both.  But for now, the online service wins hands down.  Let’s look at why.

Security of your data is multifaceted.  Security issues don’t refer just to privacy and prevention of theft, but also relate to potential loss and integrity of data.  Consider what your purpose is:  to create a filing system you can have confidence in no matter how big, how complicated, or how old it gets. If you commit to a support system that depends on keyword lookup, you have to believe that there will be no interruption of that control system, for any reason, for life.  Forget theft or privacy invasion for the moment.  Just think of all your material in numbered files, then losing access to your keyword system!

This very thing has happened to me twice during the past 24 years of working with this filing system on my own computer, both times from crashed hard drives.  As with many computer owners, my backups were not current, which left me with scores of undocumented folders scattered amongst thousands of folders.

The greatest risk to your lifelong pleasure with a keyworded filing system is not theft or privacy invasion.  It is data integrity.  Responsible online services provide professional levels of data redundancies, while home and small-business computers are seldom adequately backed up.  Modern hard drives have an average performance life of three years, yet are rarely replaced before they break!  From a customer service standpoint, we can much better ensure your long term success with an online service than we could if offering a locally run program.

And what if we were to close down, go out of business, or get wiped out by a bomb?  Don’t worry.  As long as you permit The File Harmonic to do its automatic backups to your own computer, you’ll always be okay.  The .csv file can be opened and read in any spreadsheet or word processing program.  All your data is there on your computer, and can be used in a local program, or very likely could be imported into a replacement service.  And, with our “print report” feature you can also print out a formatted hard copy any time you like.

Now, about that privacy and theft thing.  Keywords are only hints of contents.  Your actual contents are safe at your location.  Your name and address is offered to and kept only by PayPal, not us.  Our database doesn’t even know who or where you are!  All we have is an email address and a password.  No one looking at our database can know where a given set of keywords fits with a file system.  As long as you don’t keyword things like complete account numbers, there will be veritably no risk of privacy invasion.

Online service provides other benefits, as well.  You’ll always be using the latest software.  And documentation and support is always current and available.

So where The File Harmonic is concerned, “Online Service” receives a standing ovation!

Twenty-four years ago I created what is now The File Harmonic.  It started on paper and index cards, then went to word processing, then databases, then spreadsheets, then custom programming…and now, at last, a web based service.  In all its 24 years, I’ve never before enjoyed the versatility that we now have in the web service version of The File Harmonic.

Today I’m working at my new Wirewaves office, and my seasoned 24-year personal filing system is at home and unavailable to me.  But here I am with items I want to get off my desk and into a filing cabinet, that belong either to me personally or to one of my other companies…and those items belong in that filing system at home! Since we’ve got our Wirewaves corporate version filing system going here at the office, for all employees to use, it seems inappropriate for me to use a section of that system for personal things.

The File Harmonic is giving me the perfect answer!  I just now registered for two more Free Trial accounts.  These limited accounts give me plenty of filing power for everything “personal” and “other-business” related.  When I number the folders, I just put an initial before the number:  “P” for my personal system, and “C” for my other business.

In the program, I have selected a different color theme for each of these two accounts, so I have a strong visual cue on screen to tell me which account I’m in.

Now, any time I wish I can take folders from these two accounts home to the other system and re-integrate those items there.  I’ll determine later whether I can work just with free 30-day accounts indefinitely, or pay eight bucks a year just to keep the systems alive and handy.

This is too cool!  It’s the best system I’ve ever had in my 24 years working with it!

–Bryan

The File Harmonic is a fairly straightforward and easy program.  But that doesn’t mean new users and lookers might not appreciate some helpful guidance and tips.  So, we’d like to make webinar help sessions available on request.  This offer is open to anyone:  individuals considering the program for a home paper filing system use, or corporate groups considering a multi-user, company-wide paper filing system.

Requested times must be made at least three calendar days in advance, for any time between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. (specify your own time zone).  Submit requests by return emails, or use our Contact form on the web site.  When a session is requested and a time set, we’ll post a notice on the blog, and send an invitation to those registered on our email list.  Or, if you prefer a private session just for members of your company, let us know.

These sessions will be focused on your questions and curiosities.  Be ready to interact.  We’d prefer a question-and-answer format from the very start, rather than a structured lecture or sales presentation.  Also, tips and hints that users have come up with themselves will be welcomed.

After several of these sessions, we’d like to gather all the questions and tips that actual users have offered, and begin to develop online video tutorials based on that input.

We look forward to seeing you online.

Consider Wirewaves and The File Harmonic a privacy advocate to the max.  Obscenely.  Want to get Bryan’s dander up?  Just mention grocery preferred-shopper cards.  Try it.  You’ll see what we mean.

This morning Bryan showed up and declared the Trial version shouldn’t require anyone’s email address.  “But…,” we said, and proceeded to explain an email address is required for database identification, and since User Names are personal email addresses then logging in requires a valid email format, and…so on.  Not good enough, not for the un-masked Protector of Privacy.

So, by this afternoon, it’s done.  If you are one who resists registering even an email address for looking over a product, you can now go through a full fledged 30-day trial without even registering your valid email address.  Mind you, we encourage you to register with your real email, simply because it’s more intuitive when you go to log in, and it will be more seamless when you are ready to upgrade, and also so you get the Day-20 reminder email.  (That’s it for messages;  we won’t hit you with a bunch of spam.  Just one kind reminder at 20 days.)

We know people like choices.  We’ve just given you another one!  Hope to see you soon!

Go ahead, do a search on how to set up a paper filing system.  You will find many excellent articles, all telling you “How To.”  Some speak of “category” filing, some of “numerical” filing.  Some speak of keywords, some suggest setting systems up in Excel to use its search function.  Some separate “active” files from “archival” files.  Most represent good ideas.  Many work well.  Some authors admit that what works well for one person does not necessarily work well for another, as we all think a little differently.

And, after reading…you’re still on your own, to reinvent filing all over again, your way.

Now comes a remarkable new tool that, amazingly, accommodates any and all of these filing concepts, and all our different ways of thinking, providing you a working slate on which you can create a filing system that matches the way you think.  Works the way you want to work.

The File Harmonic blends categorical and numerical filing in a fun and effective platform that offers unlimited flexibility, remarkable versatility, at the level of complexity or simplicity that you choose.  Whether you think entirely categorically, prefer to work completely numerically, or follow The File Harmonic’s recommendation to blend the two, the system will match your style.

All at once, the entire File Harmonic platform is both “active” and “archival.”  After all…just who really knows when to, or wants to mess with, moving papers from one to the next.  Use The File Harmonic’s structure, its keyword searching, and its file extension names to transparently blend active and archival files, and never worry about when to relocate a folder from one to the other.

Lots of people have told you “how to.”

The File Harmonic now helps you do…and actually makes filing fun.