Maybe you have been wondering about file naming convention and how it is linked to digitization.
File naming convention will be able to ease your document searchability. By setting a standard file naming convention for your company and having everybody adhere to it will ease your document workflow process.
File naming convention is the naming of your files describing their content and their relationship with other linked files.
If you have a file naming convention while using paper documents then it will make your work even easier when transitioning to a digital space. This will help you create your digital folder structure in your digital repository and have your files stored systematically.
It is crucial to create a file naming convention before sorting out your files and data for uploads and storage. If you had it before digitization then that is a plus.
Why is a file naming convention important?
Both in your paper files and digital files space file naming convention is important though here we are focusing on your digital space. We are encouraging you to move to the digital space and eliminate paper use in your work space. Being used to using paper in our workspaces has made it harder to transit through it. Changing our mindsets will make it easy and possible.File naming convention will help you
- Improve your documents organization and retrieval. you are able to search and access your documents easily. Having consistent file names will enable you to organize your files systematically and also help you manage bulk files easily. Improve collaboration. With your company having a standard naming convention you are able to reduce confusion in the workplace. Your team members will be able to use and share correct files when and as required.
- Minimize duplication especially with paper documents, eliminating wastage and reducing cost. With digital documents it enhances clarity, speeding up the work process.
- Support version control. A clear naming convention includes version numbers. It will bring clarity to your document’s life cycle. Clear versioning will help you eliminate use of wrong document versions and duplication.
- Improve search ability.Your team will be able to define file names based on the file naming convention thus reducing time wastage.
- Perform accurate and efficient searches making locating files easy.With your digital documents the file naming will make it easy for you to search using keywords.
- Ease archiving. Consistent file naming will make it easy for you to determine the document retention period. With a document retention policy in place and consistent file naming, you are able to determine which documents have reached their retention period.
- In your audit and compliance, when it comes to adhering to regulatory standards.
- Minimize errors. Consistent and clear naming will help you avoid the use of old version documents or wrong files. With structured folders and naming, placing or losing documents in wrong folders will be eliminated.
- In long term use.With a structured and standard file naming format you would have file use consistency long after the current team members have left. Standard file format will also encourage use across different operating systems and software.
- Ease automation process. Automated processes are made easier with a consistent file naming convention.
- In legal documentation. A proper file naming convention will support you in handling, tracking and retrieval of documents.
- In document security the confidential or security levels can be included to help you manage control access to sensitive documents.
File Naming Convention guide
This guide is to help you align your documents to help ease search. These points will give you guidance on how to about naming your files going through your digitization journey
1# Identify your files and their groupings.
Do you already have an established naming convention? If you have one it will direct you in storing your files. If you have none or want to change your naming convention then you have to start from scratch.
Start by identifying the most important metadata [metadata is a set of data that is given to describe or help you use other information (Cambridge dictionary)]. Start by putting the most important information first. This can be the date. Then a name which should be descriptive. For the files to stay in chronological order the date to preferably start with the year, month and the date.
Use a sequential number system which leads with zero for clarity. For example “001,002, ….010,011……….100. Using a standard naming format for all your files and folders will ensure consistency within the whole company. The whole team agreeing and using this naming format will increase consistency.
2# Create and document codes for future reference.
You have to agree on the shortened codes, these will help in having shortened and easy to access naming. By standardizing categories into 2 or 3 letter codes allows ease of search. Use as minimal text as possible.
3# Using versioning
Use of versioning will help you identify revised versions of a document. Use of version no. and version date will help In differentiating the revised versions. Versioning will also help you track different versions of a document with a standard format. Use of v1, v2, v3 or v1.0 v1.1 denotes major and minor revisions. Examples proposal v1.0
4# How will you search for files?
Thinking about how you will search for your documents will help you define the naming. This will also determine the order of the metadata in the file name.
Decide what metadata to start with. Though the date is the most crucial because it helps align your data chronologically. Using ISO 8601 formatted dates can help you through this.
5# Separate metadata elements
Avoid using special characters and space in your file names.
You can use characters to separate each piece of metadata in the files. You can use underscore ( _ ) and hyphens ( – ) to separate your metadata. Avoid special characters such as @,&,$,#,<,>,%,*,^,+,~.
6# Include a Project or Department code
Include a project or department code to help you define a project or department. For example for HR : HR 2024_08_08_Employeehandbook v1.0.
7# Include Status indicators
What is the status of your document? You can indicate this in the naming of your documents for clarity. Define whether it is in the “Draft”, “Final” or “Archived” Status. For example “Budget report_2024_Final.pdf
8# Use of Caps
You can use capital letters at the beginning of every word to help identify the words and make them legible. Avoid all caps if possible unless it’s a standard code.
9# Document your file naming conventions
After creating your naming conventions, have them documented for future reference. The file naming conventions file should be easily identifiable and accessible to your team. File names having 40-50 characters makes it less tedious to understand. We encourage much use of alphanumeric characters, underscores and hyphens.
Conclusion
File naming convention creates order whether paper or digital documents. This will help you improve efficiency and productivity in the company as a whole. With documents being easily accessible the stress of losing or misplacing documents is highly reduced. Files are also easy to find, share and use which is very crucial when it comes to productivity and collaboration within an organization.