By Gail Polivy, Contributing Columnist

Storage solutions for files are abundant!  Vertical files, lateral Files, shelf files, shelving, storage boxes, off-site facilities.

So let’s work with the basics, and assume you’d like to maximize your office real estate.

Vertical files are ‘old fashioned’, take up more office space, and are not as functional as lateral files.  Lateral files are more attractive,  more slender and fit nicely as a file bank in an open area, or against/under windows on wall exteriors, or as an end-cap to a run of cubicles.

To maximize filing space – choose 42”wide lateral files, and file front-to-back (rather than the standard ‘side-to-side’).  By filing front to back, you can have 3 rows of letter size files per drawer.

So the basic 42”wide lateral would give approx 40” in side-to-side filing, while the 3 rows of front to back would give you approx 50”.  10 more filing inches per drawer (so that would be 40 more inches per 4-drawer lateral file) makes a lot of sense!

Gail R. Polivy is President of Professional Spaces located in Oakdale, NY.  www.professional-spaces.com (631) 567-1072.  Gail is the Long Island Partner of Indoff Commercial Interiors, and Technology Committee Member of LICN (LI Commercial Network) and member of LI Center for Business & Professional Women.