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Article:FolderandFileNamingConvention10RulesforBestPractice
Article:FolderandFileNamingConvention10RulesforBestPractice

By:VincentSantaguida
eXadox
January2010

File/FolderNamingProblem?
Afreeforallmentalityisquiteprevalentwhenitcomestothenamingofelectronicfilesandfolders.Theproblem
stemsfromthefactthattherearenoofficialstandardsorfilenamingandstoragepolicieswithinmost
organizations.Insuchinstances,managementmostlikelyhasnottakentheinitiativetoestablishfolderandfile
namingconventionsthatstaffmemberscouldfollow.Mostemployeeswilldowhattheythinkisbest,butwithout
theproperpoliciesinplacetheresultscouldbeunpredictableandextremelycostly.Inthedaysofmanaging
paperfilesandfolders,bestpracticeswereinplacetoensurethatpaperbasedassetswereproperlyfiledto
facilitateretrieval.Sowhynotthesameforelectronicinformationassets?

NamingConventionHowto?
Thestrengthofafolderandfilenamingconventionisdependentontheproposednamingstructureandthe
qualityandquantityofthedataelementschosentobuildit.Itshouldbeofnosurprisethatforanybusiness
activitythereisalwaysanidealnamingstructure.However,anystructurednamingconventionthatattemptsto
beallencompassingmayresultinoverkillandunwieldiness.

Herearetenbasicrulesthatcouldserveasageneralguidelineinstructuringfolderandfilenamingconventions:

1. Avoidextralongfoldernamesandcomplexhierarchicalstructuresbutuseinformationrichfilenames
instead.
Dos: Z:\Prod\QA\AssL7_WO_Suzuki_L3688_20090725.xls||Z:\Pubs\Article_eXadox_FileNaming
Conventions_V03.doc
Donts: Z:\Production\QualityControl\AssemblyLine7\WorkOrders\Clients\SuzukiMotors\LOT3688_July252009.xls||
Z:\Publications\Articles\eXadox\FileNamingConventions_V03.doc
Reason: Complexhierarchicalfolderstructuresrequireextrabrowsingattimeofstorageandatthetimeof
fileretrieval.Byhavingalltheessentialinformationconciselyinthefilenameitself,boththesearchand
identificationofthefileisstreamlinedandmoreprecise.

2. Putsufficientelementsinthestructureforeasyretrievalandidentificationbutdonotoverdoit.
Dos: NOVALEC_37507_INVOICE_20090703.pdf||FUJITSU_S1500_SPEC_Scanner.pdf
Donts: NOVALEC_INVOICE.pdf||FUJITSU_S1500_SPEC_Black_Desktop_Scanner_ModelReplacesS510_.pdf
Reason: Precisiontargetedretrievalrequiressufficientelementstoavoidambiguoussearchresultsbuttoo
muchinformationaddsundueeffortatfilenamingtimewithlittleornoreturnsatretrievaltime.

3. Usetheunderscore(_)aselementdelimiter.Donotusespacesorothercharacterssuchas:! # $ % &
' @ ^ ` ~ + , . ; =)(
Dos: SMITHJ_AXA_76546_POLICY_20120915.pdf||FUJITSU_S1500_SPEC_Scanner.pdf
Donts: SMITHJAXA76546POLICY20120915.pdf||FUJITSU$S1500$SPEC$Scanner.pdf
Reason: Theunderscore(_)isaquasistandardforfielddelimitingandisthemostvisuallyergonomic
character.Somesearchtoolsdonotworkwithspacesandshouldbeespeciallyavoidedforinternetfiles.
Othercharactersmaybeinterestingbutvisuallyconfusingandawkward.

4. Usethehyphen()todelimitwordswithinanelementorcapitalizethefirstletterofeachwordwithinan
element.
Dos: SmithJohn_AIG_76546_POLICY_20090915.pdf||WhitePaper_StructuredFileNamingStrategy.doc
Donts: SmithJohnAIG76546POLICY20090915.pdf||WhitePaperStructuredfilenamingstrategy.doc
Reason: Spacesarepoorvisualdelimitersandsomesearchtoolsdonotworkwithspaces.Thehyphen()
isacommonworddelimiter.Alternatively,capitalizingthewordswithinanelementisanefficientmethodof
differentiatingwordsbutishardertoread.

5. Elementsshouldbeorderedfromgeneraltospecificdetailofimportanceasmuchaspossible.

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Article:FolderandFileNamingConvention10RulesforBestPractice eXadox

Dos: FY2009_AcmeCorp_Q3_TrialBal_20091015_V02.xls||Production_PaintShop_WorkOrder_7752.xls
Donts: TrialBal_Q3_20091015_AcmeCorp_V02_FY2009.xls||PaintShop_7752_WorkOrder_Production.xls
Reason: Ingeneraltheelementsshouldbeorderedlogically,inthesamesequencethatyouwould
normallysearchforatargetedfile.

6. Theorderofimportanceruleholdstruewhenelementsincludedateandtimestamps.Datesshouldbe
ordered:YEAR,MONTH,DAY.(e.g.YYYYMMDD,YYYYMMDD,YYYYMM).Timeshouldbeordered:HOUR,
MINUTES,SECONDS(HHMMSS).
Dos: RFQ375_CablesUnlimited_BID_200910151655.pdf||20091120_AMATProj_Phase1_Report.doc
Donts: RFQ375_CablesUnlimited_BID_101520091655.pdf||Nov202009_AMATProj_Phase1_Report.doc
Reason: Toensurethatfilesaresortedinproperchronologicalorderthemostsignificantdateandtime
componentsshouldappearfirstfollowedwiththeleastsignificantcomponents.

7. Personalnameswithinanelementshouldhavefamilynamefirstfollowedbyfirstnamesorinitials.
Dos: TatePeter_SunLife_175662_POLICY_10YrTerm.pdf||SmithJ_ID3567_ADMIN_WageReview.xls
Donts: PeterTate_SunLife_175662_POLICY_10YearTerm.pdf||JSmith_ID3567_ADMIN_WageReview.xls
Reason: Thefamilynameisthestandardreferenceforretrievingrecords.Havingthefamilynamefirstwill
ensurethatfilesaresortedinproperalphabeticalorder.

8. Abbreviatethecontentofelementswheneverpossible.
Dos: RevQC_QST_2009Q2.xls||MCIM_27643_POD.doc
Donts: MinisterofRevenueQuebec_QuebecSalesTax_20092ndQuarter.xls||MultiCIMTechnologiesInc_27643_Proof
OfDelivery.pdf
Reason: Abbreviatinghelpscreateconcisefilenamesthatareeasiertoreadandrecognize.

9. AnelementforversioncontrolshouldstartwithVfollowedbyatleast2digitsandshouldbeplacedasthe
lastmostelement.Todistinguishbetweenworkingdrafts(i.e.minorrevisions)useVx01>Vx99range
andforfinaldraft(i.e.majorversionrelease)useV100>V9xx.(wherex=09)
Dos: MCIM_Proposal_V09.doc||eXadox_UserManual_V102.doc
Donts: MCIM_Proposal_9.doc||eXadox_UserManual_V2FinalDraft.doc
Reason: TheVhelpsdenotethattheelementpertainstoaversionnumber.Aminimumof2digitswitha
leadingzeroisrequiredtoensurethatsearchresultsareproperlysorted.Theintentistoavoidthesituation
whereforexample,afilenamewithaV113willwronglyappearbeforeanidenticalfilenamewithaV12
versionnumberwhensortedinascendingalphabetical/numericalorder.Todistinguishbetweenworking,
reviewandfinaldraftasingledigitprefixfollowedbyhyphenispreferredtofacilitatepropersorting;using
wordsinthefilenamesuchFinal,DraftorReviewinthefilenameaffecttheorderandshouldbeavoided.

10. Prefixthenamesofthepertinentsubfolderstothefilenameoffilesthatarebeingsharedviaemailor
portablestoragedevices.
Dos: Prod_PS_AssL7_WO_Suzuki_J368820090725.xls||FY2009_AcmeCorp_Q3_TrialBal_20091015_V02.xls
Donts: WO_Suzuki_J368820090725.xls||Q3_TrialBal_20091015_V02.xls
Reason: Attachedfilesandfilessharedthroughportabledevicesincludeonlythefilenameandcanbe
totallydevoidofthecontextthatisgenerallyprovidedbythefolderstructureoforigin.Tocompensateand
avoidconfusionitissometimesessentialtoprefixthenameofthesubfolder(s)tosuchfilenames.


NamingConventionSolutionPlanning
Anyefforttoinstitutefile/foldernamingandstoragepoliciesmaybeinitiatedbyanyoneinanorganization;
however,toensuresuccessitisextremelyimportantthatsuchpoliciesbedictatedbythestakeholderwiththe
highestauthority.Thisindividualmustappreciateandinstiltoallparticipantsthatelectronicfiles:

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Article:FolderandFileNamingConvention10RulesforBestPractice eXadox

areinformationassetsthatarethepropertyoftheorganization.
areshareableresourcesalthoughsometimesforrestrictedusersonly.
arecriticalcomponentstooperationsthataffectproductivityandprofitability.

Ideally,itwouldbedesirabletoachieveconsensusonfolderandfilenamingconventionswithinateamor
department;however,thismaynotalwaysbepossiblebecauseeachparticipantmaybelievetheirideasarethe
best.Byreferringtotheabovetenbasicrulesitmaypossibletoresolvethemajorityofdisputesandfacilitatethe
task.Ifthisisnotenoughitmaybenecessarytogetoutsideassistanceorjustsimplyagreetodisagreeonany
minorissuesbutultimatelytheremustbebutonestandardforeachuniquebusinessactivitywhetheruniversally
acceptedornot.

Execution
Oncethefilenamingandstoragepoliciesarefinalized,theyshouldbedocumentedandmadeavailabletoall
participantstofollow.Everyoneshouldbesensitizedtotheimportanceofdiligentlyapplyingthenamingpolicies
andthatdeviatingorcompromisinginpolicyadherencecouldhavecostlyconsequencestotheorganization.
Thereforeitisincumbentonmanagementthatpolicyadherencebemonitoredasmuchaspossiblebecausethere
isalwaysanaturaltendencyforparticipantstostrayawaymostlybecauseofhumanfactors.Ifthisbecomes
problematic,itisimportanttobeawarethatsemiautomatedstructuredfilenamingandstoragesoftwareexists
thatcanbeusedtohelpenforceandmonitoradherencetonamingandstoragepolicies.Fordetailspleasereferto
eXadoxWhitePaper:SemiAutomatedStructuredFileNamingandStorageorvisitwww.exadox.com.

Abouttheauthor:VincentSantaguidaisthepresidentofMultiCIMTechnologiesInc.,asoftwareengineeringand
businessprocessautomationcompany.HewastheconceptualdesignarchitectforeXadox,anapplicationthat
exploitsasemiautomatedstructuredfilenamingandstoragestrategyasasimplemeansoforganizingand
retrievingelectronicfilesandfolders.

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Copyright 2010, MultiCIM Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. eXadox is trademark of MultiCIM Technologies Inc.