TL;DR at bottom
Nested folders get a bad wrap, unnecessarily. Ever since the Zettelkasten trend took over (yes, it’s a trend, not the one and only method for every note taking case), the default advice is to dump every file into the absolute minimum number of folders and tag everything. There are negatives here that never seem to be talked about.
Tagging is useful, but the problem with using tags for organization is that they are all added to the same tag list, which will grow long very fast, and unrelated concepts are listed alphabetically, which makes it less useful to browse and scan. The benefit of another type of linked graph, a folder tree structure, is lost.
There is also the friction of “what do I name this tag?”, and if every note is named with multiple tags the list grows even quicker. One could organize the tags by adding a hierarchy or prepending a name or idea, but then what does that yield: a tree structure that mimics folders! And in a long list of tags, the only way to know what each tag contains is to click each one - - can’t unfold them. (requires different view or plugin)
The biggest thing is that I hate long random lists, unless they are in a tree structure. Organization is very important to me, so the small friction of where to put the note is basically nonexistent and overblown. Comments moaning about the 1st world problem of trying to place a file into the correct folder are so odd (no offense). This small friction is more comfortable to me than the long tag list, and it doesn’t feel like friction because file organization is like virtual dopamine. It also helps enforce workflow processes and mental frameworks.
Finding the note is easier than with tags because there is search plus a tree structure, not just search. The tree structure came from my mind, no one else’s, so I know where to put and find things. If there is too much friction, just drag and drop a folder or two. If it requires even more effort, it’s worth it, because the end result is more useful, more organized.
The biggest negative of too many folders is just another long list of folders, I get that. Some things are just unavoidable at some point. Between the two, I’d rather have a long list of nested folders than a super duper long list of tags. That’s why using a balanced amount of folders is important. Not the minimum, enough to get the benefit with as little fuss as possible, while still allowing the folders to hold a large collection of things. I want Goldilocks folders, not an obsessively organized clothes closet, and not a single ‘everything’ kitchen drawer, either.
In an abstract software world where Google and Apple don’t care about users knowing where data is stored (jUsT sEaRcH fOr It), and an entire generation grew up not knowing how to click through file explorers or type in a terminal, file organization on the disc itself is even more useful and important than people realize. Tags are not structural, on the disk; they are abstract, in the file itself. A different program would have to parse the tags inside the files to recover the groups, but folder organization is self-evident and can survive across media, across different file types, across different programs, across years of technology changes.
So all of these are reasons, imo, that just tagging everything in minimal folders feels like a dead-end organization method. Tags are better for gathering things together in the same concept, coming up with mutable novel tree structures, and monitoring status changes, not actual file organization.
Honest caveat: I do use a modified zettelkasten system with some folders that contain heavily linked notes, but it’s only one layer one part of my vault and workflow. I name those folders something like ‘idea cloud’ or ‘topic cloud’, and they are integrated with the rest of the vault, which uses a modified PARA-type system combined with a decimal method to sort folders filled with evergreen notes.
TL;DR stop watching TikTok and read something
Yet Another Hot Take on “Folders vs Tags”