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How do English people convey the meaning of the action of tidying up a great unordered amount of sheets of paper, books, and notes in a single word or phrase?

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    My wife would use the term "bonfire".
    – Hot Licks
    Dec 31, 2014 at 14:12
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    'arrange", straighten, organize etc.
    – Misti
    Dec 31, 2014 at 14:13
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    I organize or tidy up my 'filing system'. Apparently random piles of books and papers on the chairs, sofa, floor, and windowsills do constitute a filing system.
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Dec 31, 2014 at 14:22
  • @WayfaringStranger : I prefer to think of piles of stuff as 'chronological ordered by most recent use'. If you have multiple piles, they're likely organized by some other concept, as well.
    – Joe
    Mar 31, 2015 at 17:02

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I think most people (I'm Canadian, not English, but I feel fairly confident in this proposition) would simply say organize:

(v) arrange into a structured whole; order. [from Google dictionary]

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