this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2025
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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 120 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (5 children)

An arrow pointing into a folder, similar to this. Sidesteps the tech issue altogether.

collapsed inline media

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 65 points 19 hours ago (4 children)

I mean, you're just replacing one archaic symbol with another.

[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 25 points 18 hours ago

I still use folders to organize paper documents. Taxes and medical stuff mostly.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 7 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Normal people call computer directories 'folders'.

[–] Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe 5 points 9 hours ago

Which predate computers and floppy disks

[–] olafurp@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

It connects it to another computer symbol, the folder which is seen plenty of times as the thing containing files. It's a solid solution.

[–] GlendatheGayWitch@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

Isn't that used as an icon for moving a file from one folder to another?

[–] happydoors@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

I agree. I heard recently a lot of kids under 20 grew up in an iPhone, iPad, and chrome world and never learned “folder” or directory concepts so it’s a tough transition in the work world. Paper organizers are not nearly as ubiquitous as they once were.

[–] WanderingThoughts@europe.pub 6 points 16 hours ago

That's a good one for local storage.

Some software uses that arrow with a cloud to say it's saved into the cloud.

[–] Kaput@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

Yea replace the 90s tech icon for the filing cabinet paper folder , from who knows when. It's actually a good suggestions this technology still hasn't disappeared. But it will soon, as foretold by the paperless office prophecies. So I think a half buried treasure chest icon would be better as a forever lasting icon.

[–] blarth@thelemmy.club 2 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

We should do away with directories. Just one big block of files.

[–] bluesheep@sh.itjust.works 29 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Screw multiple files, just use one big one. Just append anything you want to add and you'll have everything in 1 spot

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 20 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Makes sense. Then you can add some kind of index to the file so you can jump to the parts you want. Just track a list of chunks, so they don't have to be contiguous.

[–] DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works 21 points 17 hours ago (3 children)

Yeah, and we could give that huge file some kind of internal and logical structure to find those chunks, maybe something hierarchical with human readable names!

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 12 points 13 hours ago

Yeah! Now we're cooking! I bet we could really improve resiliency and seek times with different data structures, too. B trees?

[–] rbos@lemmy.ca 9 points 13 hours ago

Or maybe we could keep the flat structure and have some kind of syntax for querying the data... some kind of structured language.

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

You've basically invented OneNote

[–] DasFaultier@sh.itjust.works 10 points 13 hours ago

Crap, I was hoping to invent file systems.

[–] justaman123@lemmy.world 6 points 18 hours ago

Easy to find saves time

[–] uncouple9831@lemmy.zip 4 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

I don't want you to take this as hyperbole: go away and never come back, Google

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Yes look everything up by ~~keyword~~ describing its contents to AI agent.

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 1 points 11 hours ago

Is there an icon that expresses the default cloud save location as well as the circuitous GUI you need to navigate yo select your desired location on local storage?