Naming your files

Most people don’t have time to be careful about the way content is named, however at the same time they're aware that they’ll need to find those files later. Whilst computers can, to some degree, help you find what you’re looking for they can only search based on what you’ve called your files, their contents and the keywords you’ve used to search for them. These simple tips, when applied at the point a file is created, can help when trying to locate your files later:

• Make your file names short but meaningful
• Avoid abbreviations or acronyms that are likely to be forgotten with the passing of time
• If creating similar types of documents (i.e. reports, articles, stories, letters etc) try to develop a consistent naming convention that clearly identifies them, such as 20161212LetterJSmithV2.doc or October2016TimesArticle.pdf
• If using dates in the file name be consistent, such as 20161212 or 12 December 2016)
• If creating different versions of the same file use a suffix to identify the version, such as *****V2.doc or ****version2.pdf