How I set up one client folder in LinkBoard without making a mess

I used to start jobs by making a Slack channel, a Drive folder, and a bookmark folder named after the client. By week three the “real” files were whichever of those I had opened last. This is the sequence I use now. It takes about twenty minutes. I do it before I send the kickoff email, not after I have already lost a logo file.

I name the directory after the job, not the vibe

In LinkBoard the button is Create a New Directory. The name field is not the place for cleverness. I write “Harbor Coffee — website redesign” or “Northwind — Q3 onboarding.” I have a folder in my old Chrome bar called “work stuff.” I still cannot tell you what is in it. So I do not repeat that.

The description field is the sentence I would have typed to a contractor at 9 p.m. Example I actually used, edited only to drop the client’s legal name:

References for the cafe website: the brief, brand files, three competitor homepages we discussed on the call, and the Figma. Contracts stay in email. If a link is only for me, it does not go here.

If I later make the directory public, LinkBoard asks for at least 120 characters in that box. I write it properly even when the folder stays private, because future-me is as lost as a stranger.

Five links on day one, not fifty

I add a link with the URL, then I rewrite the title. Page titles on the web are often “Home” or “Welcome to X.” I write “Harbor — current live site” or “Brief, 12 Mar, Google Doc.” Then I force myself to fill the note. If I cannot, I probably do not understand why I saved it.

The five I start with, almost every time:

The live site or the current PDF they think is the brand.
The brief, even if it is a messy email thread exported to a doc.
One competitor they mentioned unprompted.
The working file (Figma, Notion, whatever they already pay for).
A calendar reminder in LinkBoard: “Review this folder, Friday, 15 minutes.”

I do not import their entire Pinterest board. That is how the folder becomes a second junk drawer and they stop opening it.

What the client can actually click

Default is private. I invite them as a viewer if they only need to look. Editor is for when they are dropping assets. I have twice made a folder public because “it was easier than inviting,” and twice I had to go back through notes that said things I would not put on a webpage. Do not do that. Public is for lists you would print.

Password protection exists on Pro if you want a URL you can paste without indexing the whole internet. I use that when a client refuses to make an account. I still write the description as if they will forward the link to someone who was not on the call.

Where the decision goes

If we pick a homepage direction, I do not leave that in Zoom chat. I put a line on the winning link: “We chose the left layout, 3 Feb. The other file is archive.” If we used a poll in the same directory, I still copy the result onto the link. Six weeks later nobody opens the poll history. They open the link.

More on that habit: decision notes. If you want the product tour first, getting started is the click-by-click version.

If you want the click-by-click setup, use the getting started guide. Questions go to admin@linkboard.io.