About Folder And File Names

This article is about my thoughts on organizing files into folders and sub-folders and naming them.

I used to be awash in paper files a few decades ago, and could never find anything. But I did eventually find a self-help book "The Organized Executive" with some hints. It's pretty old, so don't go hunting for it, but the one thing that stuck with me from that time was this: "Organize your files so that you or your secretary can find any file in 30 seconds or less." That's pretty dated wording, and was referring to filing cabinets and paper file folders, but I have adopted that philosophy and I can now find most computer files in their computer folders in under a minute - and I don't mean by using "Search," that takes too long for my liking - I mean I find them because the names and locations are logical, consistent, and follow a pattern. Names are important. Locations are important.

Here are some basics of my philosophy on folder and file naming:

• Take the time to think about the name. It's not quite as important as naming your firstborn, but still...
• Take the time to think about a pattern for a name for many related files (Minutes-yyyy-mm-dd for meeting minutes in a clearly named folder).
• Choose a name that will help you find the folder/file in a year.
• Chose a name that will help your collaborators find the folder/file tomorrow.
• Be consistent about how you name your folders and files.
• Don't put too many files into a single folder. Unless the file name pattern is clear (e.g. Newsletter-yyyy-mm), about a dozen or two of files in a folder is about right for me. Use sub-folders.
• Make dates in folder and file names easily sortable in G Drive, File Explorer (Windows), or File Finder (Mac).
  • When using a date in the name, always use this format: yyyy-mm-dd, for example today is 2019-04-22. Don't omit the zero - the names don't sort right if you do.
    • If the day is not important, use yyyy-mm. If the month is not important, use yyyy.
    • If your file naming convention uses a format, stick with it even if you're missing a piece; use 00 for the missing piece(s). If you don't know the day, but other files are named with a full date, use yyyy-mm-00, and even yyyy-00-00 if you're missing the month.
• Be consistent about how you name your folders and files.
• In a single folder, when you're using a date as part of the name, either always put it first in the name (will sort all files by date) or last (will sort files by their pattern name first, and then by date).
• Do not "shout:" don't use ALL CAPS when naming files. Caps used to be the norm in MS-DOS, but that's long gone. Names don't sort right if you sometimes do and sometimes don't. I've observed that caps sometimes happen if you don't give a name to a document in Word - it then picks the Title as the document name.
• Use the same capitalization rules within a folder. I prefer to capitalize first letter in each word of a name.
• Be consistent about how you name your folders and files.

And here are my personal rules that I recommend but will break if I need to maintain name consistency:

• Do not use underscores in names, use a minus "-" instead. Reason: The underscore disappears in a link, and you don't know if it's there, or if there is a space there. Using underscores is a carry-over from computer languages where minuses cannot be used.
• I prefer not to use spaces in file names because I write a lot of scripts, and spaces in names make my life harder. But because most people don't write scripts, I'll use spaces to make your life easier - sometimes.
• I use capitals as first word in names with spaces, and I use CamelCase (mixed case, no spaces) by preference.

And, above all, to help yourself and other:

• Be consistent about how you name your folders and files.
• Be consistent with the pattern of file names in a folder that others have used there, even if it's not your style.