File Naming Convention

I got in the habit of naming files a certain way so that I could archive them and not have to worry about categorizing them into the correct folders. If I need to find something I can sort and scroll or use desktop search to find it.

First thing about the naming convention, I don't put any spaces in the name. Second, I prefix the file name with the date e.g. YYYYMMDDFileName. If the day or month is a single digit number then I put a 0 in front of it so that the prefix is always the same length e.g. 20070110. Since files travel from system to system, this naming convention ensures that the created date won't be lost. It allows the files to be sorted by date. Thirdly, it provides a versioning mechanism because when you save the file again tomorrow the date is different.

If the document is a certain type such as note, template, invoice, quote, etc., then I put the type right after the date. E.g. 20070110InvoiceVendorName. This way when I sort I can find all of the same type on the same day.

Finally, I put the most unique part of the name at the end. E.g. 20070110InvoiceMicrosoft.

The name might look funny, but it works. And, when storing the files in a SharePoint environment you can always display the friendly title of the document on the document library view instead of the actual file name.