A few suggestions for naming files to aid in organisation and search.
When naming a folder hierarchy, try to follow the 3 nested folder rule: Area, Subject then Item.
So for example when storing a collection of mp3 music files, you might have Music as the top level folder name, then Artist, then Album and then the individual files: \Music\The Beatles\White Album\Dear Prudence.mp3
When storing a set of Annual financial reports, you might have Reports as the top level folder name, then Financial, then Year: \Reports\Finance\2024\
Avoid storing any files directly within the top 2 folder levels, so in the examples above, the Music folder or the Finance folder.
Also try to avoid creating more sub-folders below the third level, if you do have thousands of files in a single 3rd level folder, that may indicate it is time to rethink the structure above rather than just adding more sub-sub-sub-folders. The more hierarchy you make people wade through, the less likely they are to store anything in the right place.
Using numerical prefixes like the 'Johnny Decimal' system for folder organization is fine for personal files, if that floats your boat, but trying to implement it in a shared team area can be a recipe for strife. At best people will think you are slightly mad expecting them to memorise lists of numbers just to file things.
The first part of a filename should be the most unique identifier, the part you are most likely to search for.
A set of files all about birthdays could be Katies Birthday.docx, Ashleys Birthday.docx, Kenneths Birthday.docx etc.
A set of files all about Katy could be: Birthday Katy.docx, Medical Katy.docx, School Katy.docx, etc.
When a version number or draft status is applicable, add it to the end of the filename:
Marketing Plan 2024 v01.pptx
Marketing Plan 2024 v02 DRAFT.pptx
Marketing Plan 2024 v02.pptxThis is really just restating the paragraph above, many different documents will have v01 or v02 so this is not a unique part of the filename.
Choose the shortest filename that is still meaningful, removing anything non-essential.
Some words add length to a filename but do not contribute towards the meaning, words like “the”, “a”, “and” or any word which is going to appear in a large percentage of your files, such as your organisation’s name.
Avoid unnecessary repetition and redundancy between filenames and the folders where they are stored.
For general working documents, if the filename needs to include multiple words, split them up with spaces: Katies Birthday.docx
In most systems, searching for a file will, by default, try to match words broken by spaces. e.g. Microsoft SharePoint KQL will break on spaces or punctuation.If there is any chance that the file will be published on the internet or an intranet, then use dashes in place of spaces, as this will display better in a web browser URL: Katies-Birthday.docx
Using a mixture of upper and lower case letters will make a filename more readable in a listing of many filenames or search results.
So instead of: KATIESBIRTHDAY.DOCX or katies_birthday.docx use Katies Birthday.docxWhere capitalised acronyms are used in a filename, the acronym should appear in capitals and the first letter of the following word should also be capitalised: DHL Deliveries.xlsx
For files that will be widely published on the internet, e.g. as part of a marketing campaign, then make the filenames all lower case:
product-brochure.pdf This is for better compatibility with Search engines (SEO).
When using a date as part of a filename use a non-ambiguous 4 digit year: Annual Report 2015.docx
For month and day, either spell out the month or use an ISO8601 format: Annual Report 2015-Feb.docx or 2015-02-14 Annual Report.docx
Disk space is cheap but the time spent searching for documents is expensive. When a document is outdated, either delete it or archive to a separate area.
“The one thing I want to leave my children is an honorable name” ~ Theodore Roosevelt
ISO8601 date formats.