File folder

File folders can easily be purchased at office supplies stores.

File folders are a core organisational tool of bureaucracy, business administration and scientific management.

The medical profession, in particular, make heavy use of file folders for individual patient records, usually collated ready to hand in rows of filing shelves of filing cabinets in alphabetical order, and continues to do so in many practices despite the ongoing migration toward electronic health records.

Elimination of paper records, and the file folders used to organise these, is a goal of the paperless office.

Document imaging through document capture software remains a labour-intensive process for archival materials; archival records often end up boxed in Bankers Boxes packed with file folders in secure storage facilities, with a retrieval time of hours to days.

The term file folder seems to be one that dominates North American language, but does not seem as common in other countries.

Or someone might say, "When you run to the store would you get me some legal size file folders?"

In computing, the word "folder" (or, in some cases, "file folder") is often used as a synonym for "directory", while the word "file" is universally used for actual data items on a disk (sometimes called "documents", especially on the Apple Macintosh).

Tabs are often helpful when many files are being stored together and there needs to be an easy way to differentiate them.