Let me explain how I do this.
the file system looks like this:
teaching
– 14sprg-intro
– 15sprg-intro
– 17win-intro
etc. etc.
i.e. every course has an identifier (saved as a TE snippet) that is also used in the filename for every file created for that course.
every syllabus is named identifier syllabus days of the week e.g. 15win-intro syllabus - mwf.pdf
So now I can create a smart folder which will have e.g. every intro syllabus I’ve used on a MWF schedule, as a starting point for planning the next iteration of the course. All the material stays where it belongs and doesn’t need to be magically refiled based on some program’s assessment of where it should be.
Likewise with slides - every class’s slides get a name like 15win-intro 7.3.key where 7.3 is week 7 class 3. I then have smart folders by course and week so I can instantly pull up all the slides I used at a given point in the course (this works better with intro courses where content is less variable from one year to the next). I also add tags based on the content so I can pull up all the slides related to a topic.
Same for lesson plans, assignments, handouts, etc.