All About File Folders

A folder by any other name works as well

The world is full of little innovations that are taken for granted. For example, there's the file folder. It's unclear who invented file folders. They appeared in America sometime around the mid-19th century, in conjunction with the widespread adoption of the filing cabinet. The offices of most clerks before then must have seemed a short story by Jorge Luis Borges in which the entire world becomes a reference desk. And thus the prosaic and efficient file folder came to inhabit the earth.

Paper stacks

Before the file folder, papers were organized in stacks, or thrust singly into the pigeonholes and letter receptacles of secretary desks, or hung from spikes until, too crammed to fit any more, the papers would be pulled down from the wall, bound together, and shoved into a box.

Flat or vertical storage of these paper stacks was standard before the advent of file folders. This was incredibly inefficient. Though tabs equivalent to modern file folder labels were employed, it was necessary to lift up all the papers preceding the files that were needed. For frail or consumptive clerks, this would prove very difficult and time consuming, and a needless frustration to everyone involved.

Dawn of the file folders

The genealogy of the modern and efficient clerk seated at a computer can be traced to the beginnings of file folder usage. Where older filing systems may have required individual knowledge of a folder's whereabouts, wooden filing cabinets filled with sliding drawers of neatly labeled hanging file folders demanded no more than a knowledge of the alphabet.

File folders are still often referred to as Manila folders, a phrase which is also a throwback to the 19th century. Manila hemp, or abaca, was a fiber native to the Philippines that was used for making marine ropes because of its strength, lightness, and water resistance. Over time, Manila hemp was adapted for other uses, including file folders, which is why at those times when an office clerk has been filing for an entire afternoon, he acquires a faraway look in his eye and walks with a sailor's rolling gait.

File folder lexicon

Knowing what is a file folder and what isn't has gotten more complicated thanks to the personal computer. Now when you read something about file folder history, it's likely to be discussing how to delete your Internet history cache. There are multiple terms that are used to refer to the file folders used for office storage, including:

Desk organizer file folders

Archival file folders

Hanging file folders

Legal size file folders

Letter size file folders

File folders and file folder accessories are also referred to by manufacturer's names, such as Smead file folders or Avery file folder labels.

Tabbed file folders introduce a whole different range of descriptions. Left tab file folders is one such description. Other file folder tab positions are known as 1/3 cut, 1/5 cut, 2/5 cut, and 1/2 cut.

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