APTS File Naming Conventions - Descriptive AND Consistent Knowing how or what to name a file is important. What a file is named helps other users who are searching for a document on a server or even as email attachments find the file quicker. Having a set of file naming conventions at APTS will help us to better our organization’s file sharing. The following list is a basic set of conventions we will be following for folder structure and file naming: Use meaningful descriptive folder and file names. Keep file names short, but meaningful. Avoid long folder and file names and instead use information rich names. Abbreviate the content of elements whenever possible. Put sufficient elements in the structure for easy retrieval and identification but do not overdo it. Elements should be ordered from general to specific detail of importance as much as possible. The file name should include all necessary descriptive information independent of where it is stored: Incorrect: 0001.tif Correct: wwI_poster_owens_0001.tif The order of importance rule holds true when elements include date and time stamps. Order the elements in a file name in the most appropriate way to retrieve the record. Dates should be ordered: YEAR, MONTH, DAY. (i.e. YYYYMMDD, YYYYMMDD, YYYYMM). Time should be ordered: HOUR, MINUTES, SECONDS (i.e. HHMMSS). Use the underscore ‘_’ as element delimiter (or separators) instead of periods or spaces OR capitalize the first letter of each word within an element (i.e. WwePosterOwens.tif). Spaces do not allow for the best searching when trying to look for documents on a computer or server as they are usually saved as ‘%20’ which is considered a special character. This also takes place when a doc with spaces is converted or saved as a PDF. So remember: Avoid using special characters in a file name such as: # $ % & ' @ ^ ` ~ +, ; = ) ( Use capital letters to delimit words, not spaces. Personal names within an element should have family/last name first followed by first names or initials. Be mindful of protecting confidentiality when naming files. Where a version number is applicable, it should always appear in the file name of the record/document so that the most recent version can be easily identified and retrieved. An element for version control should start with V followed by at least 2 digits and should be placed as the last most element. To distinguish between working drafts (i.e. minor revisions) use PosterOwensV01-DRAFT.docx To distinguish between final drafts (i.e. major final version release) use PosterOwensV01-FINAL.docx Be consistent. Always use the above conventions, and always ensure that your department is consistent in all folder and file naming. If unsure please ask your department head to outline the department file organization and naming convention. Namely WHERE and HOW the SAVE and STORE files.
