As new files are created, regardless of whether they are for research or other projects, a carefully crafted naming convention needs to be developed that makes it easier for anyone to find things and also to understand what each file does or contains.
For this activity, you will review file names and organization for grouping of files all related to the same project. When reviewing, reflect on the following:
- How do you currently organize your files? Consider the file hierarchy on your computer.
- How have you recently used the naming and organization system for your files? What works and what doesn’t work? What do you like/don’t like about your system?
- Who are you designing your organization system for? You? Collaborators? Think of all the people that will need to access the files. Is this system adequate for their needs?
File Conventions
Review the Best Practices for Organizing in the Open Workflows unit to help you strategize your own filing system.
Complete this Activity
In the comments below, share a strategy you could employ to name and organize your files based on the answers to the questions above.
Activity Credit: This activity was adapted from MIT Libraries Worksheet: Naming and Organizing your Files and Folders under a CC BY 4.0 license.
Currently, I organize my files based on their content. For example, files relating to my finances are organized by folders such as ‘taxes,’ then in folders by date, and their respective names. The amount of hierarchical folders varies depending on the complexity of the files.
I enjoy my current system because of its accessibility and readability. I like not having to open multiple files to check their contents, since I already determined it based on where the file is located and how it is named. As well, by including specifics in naming the file and dating it, it makes it much easier to search for when I am in a hurry.
Because I am the only one with access to most of my files, they are organized in a way that I prefer. However, I am confident that the process is very self-explanatory for anyone to sift through in order to find relevant files.
I organize my files within folders according to a system that words for me. I usually customize folder icons (using https://iconarchive.com/) as this visual aid helps me to navigate through my system more efficiently and breaks up the monotony of the default icons. Folders for completed courses share one icon, current courses another. High priority work is filed in a folder with an eye-catching icon, while the “photos” icon is smaller and more sedate.
I am always careful about naming files that I share so that the recipient doesn’t have to open it to know what is in it. For my own files, the naming system is pretty standard and would be accessible to others .
Currently I organize the files on my computer by their relevance such as classes, as I am a grad student, or job documentation, as I also find that I have to constantly update and refile cover letters and resumes.
I usually have these files in alphabetical order and that works best for me as I automatically know where to retrieve my files. This allows me to efficiently find files on projects that I have been working on or need to update.
Currently my organization system is designed for me to efficiently find documentation. This system is adequate for me to access my files, and all files are clearly labelled so that when I am sending the documents to peers or supervisors it is readily apparent what the files contain.
I organize my files by relevance and content.
If there are files I am using often and more often for the time being, they are organized into folders on my desktop.
The same folder files will exist within a folder archive, where I store folder files I am not as actively using.
It’s more that I tend to move files around between in use folders on the desktop or not in use folders within my folder archive.
Of course, I back-up pretty religiously as well.
So far I have found this works for me. The challenge however lies in setting time aside to review files in my folder archive and dispose of them when they are no longer relevant at all. This also creates a problem in that those files remain stored in my hard drive even if not on my laptop.
But so far, this is what has worked best for me.
I follow a folder system for organizing my files. The research I work on is under a priority folder. Similarly, my conference publications, past publications, or potential publication areas are different folders.
I name the project files with the name, draft version, and date of modification. In this way, I can always go back to a previous draft for retrieving data I may need to use again. So far the system has been working well. I would, however, like it to be more systemized and would like to develop links between files so I can do a quick review of files on the same topic but locate in different folders.
I am designing this system for myself and the system is adequate for me right now.
File organization is top of mind for me these days, as my department is currently migrating all its files to SharePoint, and in preparation we’ve had to do a great deal of cleanup. I store most of my materials on an assiduously organized shared drive (organized by another librarian with the help of a records manager; I can take no credit!). The system relies heavily on nesting, and was designed so that somebody, on day 1 of their job, could find what they were looking for with minimal help. It’s a great system, but I sometimes find it frustrating to have to click back and forth through, let’s say, five or six subfolders just to find what I’m looking for.
My own personal files (CVs, photos, etc.) are somewhat more disorganized. I keep almost everything in Google Drive, because I’m worried about my computer crashing and losing everything. My system has its quirks, but I can navigate it, and that’s all that matters for these files.
Talking about file naming conventions was such an interesting topic for me as it really was not something I had considered before. On my personal computer, which I use for some files from meetings and my past work from university, my file naming system is not consistent. The one consistent practice I have is the use of folders, which is helpful, but beyond that it is a bit of a mess. My personal files from meetings/appointments are sorted by date and specified by type of meeting, in case I need to submit them for benefits or other purposes. Any type of job-hunting files are categorized by the type of position and type of document (resume, cover letter, etc.) and may also include the date. Past files from university were even less organized, usually split up by subject/course title and the type of document (notes, paper, project, etc.). Sometimes, I do have multiple drafts of one file that may be saved separately, and the final version has ‘FINAL’ typically listed in the title of the document. My work computer is categorized in a similar way, broken down by year/time of year and often by subject or task. I typically don’t include specific dates on these files, other than including them all in a folder for the entire year. Thinking about my file naming conventions has been more eye-opening than expected. I realized I could definitely benefit from having clearer file naming conventions. The folders are definitely helpful, but using clearer file naming conventions could help cut down time spent looking for a file, and clearly describe what is actually contained within the file. Though I am the primary user of these files, having clearer naming conventions would also be helpful in the event that I need to share these files with colleagues.
I currently organize my files in a slightly haphazard way, but only in the sense that I do not frequently sort things by folders, etc., that others have mentioned. I guess my system works well for me (and perhaps me alone). Most of my files relate to school so the system I typically use (and have used pretty strictly since my Undergrad) is by course code, subject, and last name, in a CamelCase format. For example, a project I finished this week past looks like: MSL2331Assignment1FORD. I find this works best for me because I can search by course code and find what I am looking for easily. It also helps those grading my work because the last name is featured. I do not often use various versions of my work, simply because it is not really that common in my field (HSS). I think I could improve upon my system so that it makes more sense to any collaborators, because right now it is very centered on my ease of organization, as well as include the date and reference to the version if it was ever needed.
For me thesis project I save all of my files with a shortened APA citation for my articles/sources (e.g. Anonymous (2008) Article Title), and leave a little mark using the ; symbol for the sources that I end up using. Having completed this module, I recognize that in order to make these files more available and intuitive, I should perhaps do something like “Cited_Anonymous_2008_ArticleTitle” instead.
Personally I quite like the APA citation being the most noticable element of my naming convention, because it allows me to easily navigate between my draft and the highlighted article PDF, so I would like to keep that element, as I don’t work with a team and as such don’t need to worry too much about the my versions of the articles being easy to find – that’s what the bibliography and in-text citations will be for. However, I’m glad to have learned the best practices for future use in team environments, such as my workplace.
I currently organize my school files by subject and function, which is reflected by descriptive folder names; they’re ordered alphabetically for easy identification and access. The names of the files themselves reflect both the content and the version (when applicable). I enjoy my organization system because it is designed and organized to suit my needs, as I am the only one that will actively need to use it. However, I am slightly bothered by my more vaguely named folders which end up being a catch-all for files because it can become hard to remember where I placed the files.
I currently organize my files in folders based on classes or a certain job (I am a grad student working an internship); within these folders are subfolders for each sub-project, and one sub-folder for administrative notes or documentation. I tend to name my files so that they are easily human-readable, and for any files with multiple versions (eg. drafted reports or iterations of a coding project) I add a ‘v1’ or ‘v9’ at the end. I like that my system is simple and intuitive. One thing to improve upon would be the machine readability of my files, as I tend to use spaces as opposed to dashes, and just manually copy and rename a file if I need to import it into an automated process.
I use two systems to organize my files. The first one is for work, however, I do not have much input on this setup. The file organization has been in place for a while and professionally it seems to work well within SharePoint. However, personally, for the courses I am currently taking. I organize my files by folders- chronologically by year. Within the year, I have folders for my courses. With respect to naming, the folders are labelled by course code and within these folders, I have a naming methodology for documents: Coursecode_Title of Assignment_Date. I don’t have a version number, as I use OneDrive, and version history is saved there. Once my assignment is complete, I add my initials and convert the doc to pdf for finality. I have tried many different file organization methods, but for now, this works for me. It keeps things simple and uncomplicated.
The files in my computer are organised in folders and subfolders. Since a large majority of my files are related to my coursework, I have main folders like “Coursework” and “Readings/Articles” with both folders having subfolders labeled after the courses I am and have taken. Depending on if it’s needed, I would also have subfolders within the course subfolders for projects and assignments The folders themselves are ordered alphabetically, while files inside them are ordered chronologically. I also usually use the naming convention of “coursecode-title of assignment” with the optional version number in addition. This is the organization system that works for me, but I may make small changes in the future such adding dates to filenames.
The files on my computer are organized using folders, subfolders, and naming conventions. It’s interesting when I look through my files, I can see that over time my organization has become clearer and more detailed. For example, nowadays, anything that requires a date I use a standard practice of ‘yyyymmdd’ so they will always appear in chronological order. My organizational system makes sense to me, but I can see where if I was working in a team I would need to make adjustments and/or develop a records classification system to ensure we were being consistent.
I make use of folders and sub-folders to organize my data. Important folders are labeled first with numbers so they appear first.
Otherwise, my file organization is probably a bit haphazard. Some of my working documents I organize via a date, so that the date is first and they will be organized that way. Its more common for me to organize my working documents (papers etc) with versions – where, after I have made substantial changes, I start a new document with a new version number. Changes made in between versions are marked with track changes.
I find that, when collaborating, I put more thought into naming files that will be shared – when files are for myself I don’t put as much effort into creating really clear file names, although I should.
My references are stored in Zotero, and I have specific “collections” for different research projects/sub-themes of projects.
This whole unit made me feel like I need to spend time house-cleaning my computer files – although it has been something that I slowly work on when I have extra time.
This module taught me so much about the importance of having a consistent file naming scheme. My personal files are very disorganized, but since reading about file naming conventions I started naming them differently, with date first. That has already made it much easier for me to find files I’m looking for.
I’m better about organizing my work files, since those will need to be accessed by other people in the future and contain important records. I separate things by folder and always include the date and the type of file. I’m going to be better about using underscores instead of spaces in the future, however.
The version number idea was new to me, and that’s something I will implement in my own workflow.
I organize my files by content, year, and professor. So I work for a college library as a librarian and I have access to a shared drive. One of the folders that was created before I came to the library was a Lesson Plans & Materials folder. Within this folder, there is a list of subjects that each librarian is responsible for and I am responsible for the CMNS folder. I organized the folder by terms (Summer 2020, Fall 2020, and Winter 2021). With each term folder, I made course folders (CMNS 112, CMNS 122, CMNS 143, CMNS 280). Within each course folder, I made professor folders because each professor might want me to teach different topics (professor 1, professor 2). Files within these folders might be worksheets, presentations, and lesson plans. I like this format for organizing my files because I am easily able to find a lesson plan or worksheet that I created last term. I am this organization is for other librarians who might have to teach library workshops in my subject. The presentations are there so the librarians don’t have to start from scratch but can build onto my ideas.
I think my file naming strategy is quite effective and fulfills most of the cribbed in the unit for making things easily shareable and findable – the first part of the file name is the course code (since I do a lot of teaching) or a shortened version of the project name, _ , activity name (for courses) or file content, _, year month day with no spaces, _ version number. This works very well because the name is descriptive, if it’s a data set it can easily be imported into R, and if I am looking for a file that I don’t bear the name of I can easily narrow my search to a course and date/year. Also, it allows me to immediately find the most recent version.
What does not work at all is that during busy times, or when I receive files from others, I always end up not renaming the files according to my system, so I basically end up with a pile of stuff that I have a hard time finding, I don’t know what it contains, or what version it is. A way to better handle these situation may be to set up a directory with folders that are named systematically, so that I could at least temporarily drop files in the appropriate folders to help with organizing, and then taking the time to renaming them all would not be such a daunting task.
As other people in this discussion have already mentioned, I use a system for my personal files that is designed for… well, me. My system basically consists of using a simple naming structure on the files, strict folder organization, and I heavily rely on all the attached metadata (last modified, created, etc.).
Honestly, this system works for me! It is something simple that does not require a lot of work, so I use it consistantly. In this sense, relying on folders (and sub-folders, sub-sub-folders, etc.) makes it easy for me to find and retrieve documents, and I believe everybody could navigate them as well.
When I am working with others, I do rely on a more ‘comprehensive’ system. Along with a strict folder organization, I use NameOfTheFile_Author_Date_Version. I try to clarify this with collaborators, but so far, this system does work for everybody.
Reviewing this module has a) made me question whether my ‘folders within folders within folders’ is really the best organizational structure and b) has highlighted that I probably rely *way* too heavily on Windows’ ‘Date Modified’ folder sort for things like version control. I can see where some of my naming conventions approach the recommendations included here, but have also picked up a few techniques to carry forward that will help refine those naming conventions and, with any luck, help me break free of a nesting-doll folder structure!
I organize my files using an online shared drive, consisting of many folders. The folders are in alphabetical order, organized by content/subjects. Within each folder are the necessary subfolders, which are also alphabetical. I think I’m very lucky in that my workplace already uses the vast majority of the naming conventions mentioned in this tutorial (e.g. underscores, descriptive titles, and version control where needed).
I strongly prefer to use dates to organize as well, which is not always consistent in our current files. When possible, I save all files beginning with the ISO but this is not something that my workplace enforces so it is a bit haphazard at times. I like being able to easily find the documents I need, since a lot of my work relies on having consistent records and detailed background information. In my workplace, coworkers need to be able to take over specific projects easily (sometimes from year to year) so it is critical to be consistent, have backups, and have files be as accessible as possible. Our current system works well for this and has an automatic backup, but it only functions the group follows all guidelines consistently.
How do you currently organize your files? Consider the file hierarchy on your computer.
How have you recently used the naming and organization system for your files? What works and what doesn’t work? What do you like/don’t like about your system?
Who are you designing your organization system for? You? Collaborators? Think of all the people that will need to access the files. Is this system adequate for their needs?
I work in several different departments, one of which has good file organization, and I’ve been trying to bring their approach to my other departments. Folders are generally broken down by functional area, and within that, filenames are preceded by their date in the YYYYMMDD format, so that things can always be filed and found by date. This is sometimes tedious and results in a lot of folders, but it makes it easier for me to recall and recreate what I have done before, and for others to do the same if I’m not around. The department that implemented this structure first has had a few student employees, and it’s been helpful to be able to find their documents after they’ve graduated.
I organize my files by content. One file for things related to my College teaching and service responsibilities; one file for my real estate practice; one file for my dispute resolution work, and so on. I create sub-files for more specific content. So under “College” I have separate files for class schedules, training, class notes, etc. Class schedules, for example, have further folders underneath it for each semester. Finally in each semester’s file I have Excel files (which are dated to show when they were modified) and a single PDF file which is the output when the most recent Excel file is converted to PDF.
The system works relatively well, and I haven’t had any problems finding what I needed unless it relates to something that crosses main subject topics (so a real estate training class I attended might be under College or it might be under Real Estate, depending on whether I paid for it or the college did.
The system is designed solely for my use. I can’t imagine anyone else needing to access them.
My files don’t follow any consistent naming principles, but there are a couple conventions that I apply to certain documents. For example, with school-related files, I’ll put the course code and type of file (assignment name, notes, etc.) as well as my progress (e.g. draft 1.0). However, my system is for my own use, so not all files are named quite as well and are often disorganized in the folders that contain them.
To improve upon my current system, I would better name and organize folders so that similar files are grouped together and are ultimately easier to find. For my school-related files specifically, I would also add the date that they were last updated as well as improve my naming conventions. I’m still in the habit of using “final” and “final final” in my file names, but switching it to revision numbers would be much better and more accessible.
I work in syllabus services, where we have to keep track of completed syllabi for statistics and we may consult them again for content each semester.
Therefore consistent naming for files and folders for storage is essential.
Currently, the syllabus file name contains the course code and professor’s name. I usually add the month and day to the file to keep track of versions when I am working on them eg ENG100_Smith_John_Feb27. However, since we do not need old versions, I usually discard them once I have a final version.
There are 2 final versions kept, one with comments and one without (final versions without comments are returned to the professor). The comments file name would be ENG100_SmithJames_comments. Each course gets its own folder because scanned readings (pdf”s) are placed in the same folder with the syllabus file, thus the folder name would be ENG100_SmithJames. Scanned pdf file names are the citations used in the syllabus (author, title, pp…). This pdf file names make the item easy to retrieve.
When completed the course folders are placed in a semester folder ie. UTM2021Fall on the computer desktop. At the end of each semester these completed files and folders are all uploaded to Sharepoint, where they are placed in a course reserves archive folder. In the archive there are folders organized by subject area. The completed syllabus folder (containing pdf’s and two final syllabi files) is uploaded into the subject folder (English) in the Course Reserve Archive. The folder name will changed from ENG100_John_Smith to ENG100_2021_Fall, prior to upload.
This file/folder naming convention makes items much easier to retrieve and anyone working in our team knows how to access them.
Other team members need to consult these file for profs when you are away or when they work on the same syllabus the next year.
I organize my files by date_brief description of contents_file type_intended group or person or class or organization.
More specifically, I add the date the file was first created (e.g., 28_02_2021) followed by a brief title that summarizes the contents. This allows others who are sent the file to easily determine its contents. If applicable, I will add what the file generally is (e.g., brief, assignment, report, essay, calculations, etc.), followed by the subject, organization, or group that the file pertains to. If this is a file that has been updated, I will indicate this by changing its name to reflect that the file has been altered. These files are then categorized into folders, which follow their own hierarchy. If I am working with others who have pre-established organization and naming conventions, I will create copies of files, where one follows my convention, and the file that is sent to collaborators follows their organization system. However, I have found that my system tends to work well when collaborating with others.
I currently organize my files by topic and relevance with the most organized folder being my applications used for various job listings. In this folder, many of the files are various cover letters and resumes that I have customized to the job posting. In order to distinguish them from one another, I name them with acronyms for the job posting. For the purpose distinction once the the reviewer downloads the file, I do include my full name in the title of every file. When there are revisions to my application, I will include the date within the name of the file so that it can be clearly identified as an updated version: ‘BHPC Wu Tong Personal Statement Feb22’.
Hmm, yes, reorganizing files feels like an unending process, which I would love to have set in at least jello if not stone. Currently yhere are too many file folders. Some things belong in multiple folders and I do not want to duplicate them so I fumble.I have tried relying on the search fuction and having just a few broad category folders, though the searching often seems to take too much time and feel ineffective when I can’t quite remember what word was used. What has been working for me has been labeling files with the date they are created, in addition to a type and description. This specifically helps me deal with the timeline of my project and remember where and when thing X is in relation to thing Y. For now I’m designing this system for myself, and it lives in my own files. When the types of files I’m dealing with change this too will change, for I am in the beginning stages of a project and without close collaborators at the moment. Something that I find hard is the sharing of files with folks outside of the university, because for data security purposes I cannot use the platforms most easily accessed and widely used by non-university actors.
How do you currently organize your files? Consider the file hierarchy on your computer.
-Currently I organize files under a number of folders and subfolders. An example of this is: Work > Learning Commons Coordinator > Conferences, Meeting Notes, Onboarding, Resource Development, Workshops and Presentations (among a number of other folders, all sorted alphabetically). Within those folders, I label files by their name, and ‘sort’ by date so that the most recent appears at the top. For things like meeting notes, I categorize by date. For projects, I label drafts as well as FINAL.
How have you recently used the naming and organization system for your files? What works and what doesn’t work? What do you like/don’t like about your system?
-I find that alphabetical labeling of folders and ordering files by date within those folders is helpful for me to quickly access information and to know what is the most current. I find that I end up with a number of documents full of meeting notes for work, which I never revisit. I am considering compiling all those into one Word document PER meeting topic for recurring meetings. Here’s where a tool like Evernote would be helpful; I just haven’t gotten around to it. Since working partially remotely I’ve been using my laptop and never established a great organization system for meeting notes.
Who are you designing your organization system for? You? Collaborators? Think of all the people that will need to access the files. Is this system adequate for their needs?
-This is for myself, and so it works for my needs. I’ve never had trouble finding things with this system. However, my workplace uses a shared drive of folders, and we’ve had discussions over the efficacy of its organization before. It can be challenging when multiple people are contributing to the same system- people label things differently and have different preferences for file organization. I’ve found that to prevent frustration it’s necessary to discuss changes in organization before implementing said changes. Reading about the best practices is inspiring me to change things in my own file organization… though that is a bit daunting to change everything I currently have!
How do you currently organize your files? Consider the file hierarchy on your computer.
I currently organise my files based on courses I teach, courses I am taking, my business, and major topics of interest. In the past, I have had a tendency to save things all over the place with no system but in the last year, I have progressively been working to organise my files as it drives me crazy when I cannot find something!\
How have you recently used the naming and organization system for your files? What works and what doesn’t work? What do you like/don’t like about your system?
I have found organising under large categories and them moving to sub components has proven to be a great strategy. For example, I work at different colleges and universities, so I have a main folder for college A and under it, I have a folder for each course I may have or am teaching there. I then further divide those folders into course delivery by year and semester.
College A – COMM 1234 – COMM 1234 2021W, COMM 1234 2020F, COMM 1234 2020Sp etc
I particularly like saving the materials related to when they were delivered because as courses change, I have the edition of that course delivery.
Ontario Extend – Curator Model – Assignments
There is nothing I do not like about organising my work in this format. I can find materials I want quickly and if I want to look back at material delivered at set time, I can do so.
Who are you designing your organization system for? You? Collaborators? Think of all the people that will need to access the files. Is this system adequate for their needs?
The only person that needs to access my work is me for the most part. When I do collaborate on curriculum for a set course, then I tend to use a similar system but layer it using weeks:
COMM 1234W – week 1 – assignments PowerPoints, exercises, teacher resources and then repeat for week 2.
I generally use SharePoint and have found this structure to work well for everyone as we can add content etc to the week of delivery so everyone knows where the materials belong.
I organize my files on my personal computer by creating folders and multiple subfolders under each topic. For school, I have it separated by semester, then by courses, and then by projects. My naming system is generally Firstname-Lastname_Title_Heading_Date at the moment. I keep revising the format for when I use the underscore and hyphen because sometimes it gets confusing when one word ends and another begins.
When I work with collaborators, I put the most useful information at the beginning of the file which is usually the category or reading, so it is easy to tell what it will be about. Whereas for my personal use, I usually start with my name because it is expected to be sent out to other people so it is probably the most important if they know who it came from.
I organize my files by year and then subject, as most of my files are school related. Within each subject, I further break it down by assignment, and if necessary, resource type. Personally, I do not mind the clicking through folders, but I see that others may prefer viewing all their files at once by organizing them through a naming convention. At work, we work in a shared drive so it is important that we all practice the same naming conventions, specifically when dealing with title lists for different collections from the same vendor. Typically, we start with date and then a description of what is contained, i.e. ebooks, journals, and state the publisher/provider’s name.
I have multiple systems for organizing my files depending on who else will need to access them. Collaborative projects require a lot of careful coordination and the read-me file is an essential component of keeping everyone consistent. One problem I have noticed especially with course syllabi is that different people record the academic years differently. A course taught in Winter Term 2 could be labelled with the academic year (e.g., 2020 for the year it started) or the calendar year (e.g., 2021 since this is when the course actually took place). I switched systems one year with my own files and did not realize it until I wasted a long time looking for a course syllabus that was filed in the new system .
I organize my files by intention and topics. So the highest level could be the institution that I attend or work at (i.e. UBC), then courses, year and semester, name of course, etc. Naming of files of anything I am submitting as assignments look different to those that I know will not be shared, or most likely will not be shared in a formal way at least (class notes, another category). As someone else mentioned, I also do not mind having folders rather than having everything in one place and organized by naming convention. To me, I like to see fewer items to easily locate the one I need rather than having to scroll. I do not put spaces between items with the exception of folder naming, which I may actually change in the future. I typically use underscores but have been recently debating whether hyphens are better practice. And depending on the file name, I may also need to use pascal casing. This is all for my personal computer, so it’s all designed to suit me and my needs for information retrieval.
I tend to saving an item that’s been sent to me without editing its file name and really need to get better at at relabeling it before saving to my computer for consistency and so I have a better sense of what the item is in the future.
For me, file organization is of the utmost importance. When filing school assignments, I have used the same conventions throughout my undergraduate and graduate career, and ultimately this has allowed me to easily be able to locate prior assignments/articles. I usually start with the course code followed by a dash, and then the name of the assignment. Each course, and even each institution, has its own folder.
Currently I organize the personal files on my computer sort of by topics, then by year (where it makes sense), then by function or specific event/project. I say “sort of” because there are some folders at the topics level that should really be subfolders at the function level. I do like the year folders because it helps differentiate documents that only differ because of the year (e.g. tax information). One of the other main issues I have with my file system is that there aren’t clear instructions for what documents should go in which folder. This results in some confusion and inconsistency over where I store files. Sometimes I sort them according to the project; other times I sort them according to the topic.
For my personal files I typically have folders containing files about a certain topic, and I give these files descriptive names. It generally works for me because I’m the only one using these files; however, for some time I’ve thought it could be improved due to the volume of files I have, and the content of some of them change quite a lot over time. Furthermore, while I do organize my photos in specific folders, the file names could definitely use some improvement. I do like the file naming conventions from this unit; I will think about how to implement it for my own files.
I write and manage communications for an organization that produces weekly newsletters and quarterly reports. These files need to be accessed via a shared location by several different folks who work in the office. At first, we had many folders with files inside but we found that this did not allow information to be retained when the file was viewed outside of the folder structure (such as when it is sent to someone as an attachment). We also decided the most important information about the file was the date, followed by version. Over the last 3 years I have, organically, developed a naming convention that includes many of the recommendations in the UBC video :20220215_member news_v1_JN.docx
This structure allows us to quickly locate the newest content at the top of the file structure, keeps content types together (member news vs. reports), the v1 and initial lets us know who last worked on the file. When it is complete, we remove v1 for c1 – this files first in the list and indicates it is a published version. As the video noted, we learned not to use “complete” as typos occur!
This structure works for us as we do not have multiple content types to describe. I’ll admit, we do depend on the search function to find content inside the files – we feel the title would be too long if we tried to describe the various articles within each week’s newsletter.
Spend time planning out both folder hierarchy and file naming conventions in the beginning of a project. Consider how you or others will look for and access files at a later date. Do you think about them by type, location, study or something else?
Currently, I organize my files by organization (e.g., a large folder named UBC) with smaller sub folders (e.g., each of my courses has a folder), and more sub level folders (e.g., readings, assignments, etc. within each course folder). This system works well for me to stay organized and know where to find things. I use naming based on whether I will be the only person to view or use the file. When working with other people, I use the naming formation outlined by this module and always find the date especially useful in file names. For the most part I use these elements for my personal files but may adapt it depending on how important the file is. On my personal computer, the organization system is organized for myself and in some cases co-workers, other students, etc. When I have access to other computers (e.g., company owned for work) I follow their file naming organization system which is either the exact version outlined in the module or a variation.
Currently I organize my files within folders according to a system that words for me and usually recommend to students that they do what works best and makes sense to them. I usually color code all my folders so I can easily recognize which one is which. For my own files, the naming system is usually done by date, as well as with a recognizable keyword.
I keep my folders extremely organized and rely on file hierarchy to do so. I have folders for each class I’m in, as well as for other things (like work, tax documents, etc). Within my class folders, I have subfolders for assignments, readings, etc, and often have subfolders within those subfolders. I follow consistent file naming conventions within these folders, relying for instance on the name my professor has given to an assignment (for easy recall), as well as the date. I also add “tags” to the documents so that I can rely on the metadata to search for broad topics. This is quite useful when I am searching for documents long after a course is over and I no longer remember what assignment folder (or even what course folder) a document is filed in. After reviewing these units I am definitely going to start implementing versions into my file names.
I think file naming is essential for organizing any data. For example, when I created an essay data, I made the file name Essay_2022-02-24.docx. I organized my files by adding the date I created that file. I believe this is the simplest and most organized way to make a file name because the naming and organization system for file naming has not been beneficial to me as they seem to be complicated. However, if I work with other colleagues, using the sole system could be one way to decrease confusion among different file names and increase work efficiency. Even so, as long as we follow the clear rule of file naming, my collaborators may quickly figure out the meaning of the name, so I would stick to one file naming style offered by the library guidelines for organizing my files.
Currently, I am organizing my files on my laptop (that are work-related files, such as research, teaching, and administration) and private files (such as finances, organization, housing) according to content. I usually sort them alphabetically, but also (as Mac has the function), sometimes by “last opened”, which is often very helpful. I have to admit that the overview in this module made me think a lot as I feel that my files are sometimes difficult to find. This has several causes: (1) Grouping by content can be difficult, in particular in my “library” folder that consists of all the research literature (of current or future research) and is growing everyday. Naturally, some books or articles will cover different research subdisciplines or topics, and that makes it hard to find them later (other than by file search). For example, a book may cover Buddhist doctrines but also views on bioethics such as organ transplantation. When you have a lot of data, you won’t know anymore. Together with (2) insufficient file naming, this creates transparency. I plan to rename all my files with the help of this module (step by step) to standardize the naming system. This is sometimes not too easy, for example, different projects work with different naming systems and those are all on my computer. Should I know rename all the files, but I can not do that as long as I send files back and forth with those teams. I need to think more about this and the suggestions of the other comments are very helpful. My standard naming system, which I don’t follow consequently has been: NameContent/whatitis_Date/yyyymmdd_Draft/FinalVersion/etc_sometimesperson, for example: SecularizingBuddhism_Bookreview_20220308_DS. But, as I said, I want to develop a better system based on your suggestions.
I’m wrapping up a project in which I’m developing a list of potential OERs to be shared in our library’s disciplinary libguides. As part of the project, I initially created a variety of files with no consistent naming convention, other than that the file names were obvious and descriptive. This approach isn’t particularly useful for sorting and certainly doesn’t lend itself to machine readability. As I’ve been cleaning up the files and prepping them to be shared with the relevant outside parties, namely subject librarians, I’ve begun renaming everything, eliminating my use of upper case letters and using dashes rather than spaces to separate words. As someone who likes things to be neat and orderly, this new approach really appeals to me aesthetically, but it is also valuable in that my colleagues should be able to easily recognize what certain files contain without me there to personally explain it to them. I like the idea that if I should disappear tomorrow, someone could step into my role and reasonably be expected to pick up at least some things where I left off. (Though I’m not sure that that says about me personally – like, why would I just disappear?! And why do I relish the idea of being easily replaceable?!)
While I am not in research, I do organize writing for my books in a clearly defined, and easy-to-find way. There is a clear hierarchy where individual (Word) pieces are titled with dashes, and to differentiate drafts from another, I simply put a number at the end. This way, it is easy for me to find the latest version, but also can refer back to specific drafts if I feel like it (or parts of it) can be used (or modified) in the current draft I am writing. For highly-important documents, I always begin their file names with an exclamation point (or the number 0) so they are remain at the top of my list.
I find that naming conventions with dashes and numbers at the end works very well for me and I like that it is a simple solution to make the writing and editing process easier and less cumbersome. While this system works for me, I find that it is also easier when sharing drafts with other writers. In this case, I just add my initials to the end of the file name, and I request that the recipient do the same when sending the file back to me with their edits. Doing so, the files essentially “self organize” when I put them all together in my folder(s).
Genuinely, all I want to do is go back through these comments and read what everyone is doing with this! File naming systems is something that I have always thought would be great, and then end up doing the final final final done last print print now.pdf instead. For some reason, I’ve thought it takes too much time but that really isn’t correct at all. I am going to start a new file system this month, and go back into my recent projects and rename files to make them more organized. I am going to use a similar approach to the video we watched in this unit. First, I will identify overarching projects and assign files based on those projects. Then use a series of sub-project codes to distinguish between my files. I feel like this could even replace the folder structure that is built into windows – that, while I like it, often leaves me rooting through folders trying to find stuff I want. One thing I think will be important is to really think about the “projects” and naming conventions I think will be helpful before trying to just assign them as I go through my files. I don’t want to end up with my convention making things more difficult to find. My biggest concern is around collaborators because I work with a lot of people and they each have their own naming conventions and styles. Sharing files and versions between the group is so common place and it is a big challenge for me already to even know what the different files include. Maybe I will bring it up as a dicussion piece at the start of any new collaborations and see if they want to try out the conventions as part of the project. This may also help me keep on track with it. Again, this is where I just want to stop writing this reflection and go back and read what everyone else wrote!
I really appreciated this part of the unit because I know it is something I can do better with but it also highlighted how important this is when you are sharing your files in an open way with others. To be able to figure out what files mean and contain is an important part of both documenting your own work but for others to look at your work and know what each item is. Thanks
I am generally very descriptive in my file naming. Even though no one else accesses my personal files, I like to name them so it would be obvious to anyone what they are. Where this system breaks down a bit is documents where versions are needed. My job application folder is a good example. I will have a file name like “Resume post X job” when it would probably be more efficient to have a naming convention based on date, like: resume_applicationname_YYYYMMDD. I have also never taken machine readability into consideration. I will definitely make an effort to use underscores rather than spaces, leave out any symbols/punctuation, and stick to lower case letters.
Currently, my files are organized only for myself. For my academic work, I have organized files according to each institution I attended, with data files and drafts organized into sub-folders according to classes or projects. I can admit that folders for finished projects are much more organized than for ongoing ones. I have a separate folder on my computer for all my readings, which are organized externally through Zotero. As I am the only person using my computer, I do not have a consistent file naming system across all projects; however, I know that if I implement this, it will be much easier for me to find something through the search function, for example. For the future, I think including version dates into the file name could make organization clearer for me, as it will not involve me looking into the metadata.
I’m not going to lie, this section took me forever to complete BUT that’s because it was the information I’m most unfamiliar with. Coming from a humanities background, most of research was based qualitative, anecdotal evidence; but, even that needs proper file nomenclature and consistency. After reading about naming conventions for files in this section I started to name my files more consistently.
I do realize I rely far too much on folders for my organization and have found myself clicking wrong versions of things. Moving forward I need to decide and commit to an organization method based on the suggestions in this module. If anything, my naming be a little too descriptive!
UBC Studios Okanagan’s current file naming conventions for our video footage is quite clear and simple. Being in a team where all members must be able to access files at a moment’s notice, it is essential all files are quickly identifiable and the process is uniform so each producer follows the same guidelines. All files are stored on our central media server in a folder that is assigned a number at the time a project is taken on. This number is the last two digits of the year, then an incrementing number in the hundreds, i.e. 22001. Video files are then labeled based on their content starting with B-Roll (BR), Sounds-ups (SU), or Interviews (INT). Next is a short 2-5 word description of the content, followed by camera frame size as Close-Up (CU), Medium (MED), or Wide (W), any particular camera movements, and finally a take number. An example would be INT Joel Thiessen MED Zoom 01 or BR Flower Blossom CU Rack 02
This is an effective system because at a glance it will tell any video producer what the files contain.
When I was reading the Best practices for naming, O noticed that I already adopted most of them. What surprised me was the data. I used to put”2023_06_02″ rather than 20230602. However, I understand the advantage of using “_” just to divide different categories rather than each name. I have changed my way of naming based on this section.
This activity really helped me reflect on my current file naming conventions. These have evolved somewhat throughout the years, but more so during my tenure-track journey. Having a consistent way to name files during tenure-track can go a long way when applying for tenure and locating the files needed for the application that covers 5-6 years of work.
I first decided to read everyone’s comments on this activity bank as a form of learning with, from and about each of you in relation to what approaches you have used, found helpful and abandoned. I then took some time to look at my own files and engage in a self-reflection on how seeing the current ways I name files made me feel based on what I learned during this June unit.
First of all, I am famous for creating a folder within a folder within a folder. I love to organize my work this way, as it makes it easier for me to access. Then, I tend to have the same file names in multiple folders. For example, in my research folder where I have folders for each one of my research projects, almost all of these folders have a file labelled references, protocol, REB application, literature review, etc. I have realized how problematic this can be especially when working across projects. I ended up spending half a day relabeling all of these files to ensure I do not run into issues in the future and work from the wrong document because it is not labelled with the project it relates to, even if it is in the right project folder.
Second, based on my leadership position at our school of nursing, a lot of the work that I do involves collaborations with large groups of people across various organizations. So, I rely a lot on google docs and sharable documents. While naming of these documents makes sense to me and follows a convention that has worked for me, reviewing their labels made me realize how problematic they can be for others. Particularly, I have had instances where wrong versions of a document were edited by other team members mainly because the naming convention of the document did not make sense to them. While I thought it was self explanatory, even if file names did not follow a common convention, that people would look at the date of the available documents to work with the most recent version, this is not often the case. Thus, I have taken the “lessons learned” from this unit and have applied it to my files. It did take some time to relabel files, but I hope this will lead to a better workload moving forward.
I selected this activity because I think that naming and organizing my files effectively will be so important as I begin my PhD research.
My current organization of files (in google drive) consists of shortcuts to folders shared with me (for work) as well as personal folders organized based on projects / coursework / PD activities, etc. I have limited control over how some work folders / files are named and organized, but I certainly can improve some aspects of this, as well as my personal files / folders.
I haven’t used the naming and organization system introduced in this module before but I certainly see how it could be so valuable. I’m thinking I’ll keep a file convention reminder on my bulletin board / white board in my office so I can quickly look over for reference when naming files (until it becomes more automatic). Since I’m going to be organizing the files and folders for my PhD research myself, but I will likely provide my supervisor and committee access to some files, I think it will be really helpful to maintain a consistent naming scheme but also indicate when documents are going to be shared.
Currently, I’m beginning work on my literature review for my candidacy. I’m saving my literature in Zotero, but I’ve also found it helpful to create google doc summaries of particularly important papers (which I then link back to Zotero). I might organize my work for my candidacy as follows (I’ve tried to show how I might organize folders and file names):
Folder: Candidacy Paper
Sub Folder: Literature Summaries
Example file names (where I list the author names and year of publication, but also identify that it is my summary by including my initials):
Chinn_Barzilai_Duncan_2020_CBSummary
Scheufele_Krause_2019_CBSummary
Sinatra_Lombardi_2020_CBSummary
Sub Folder: Chapter Drafts
Example file names (I will need to differentiate between chapters and versions, as well as whether they are shared with my supervisor / she has provided suggested edits)
Chapter01_Introduction_20230612
Chapter01_Introduction_20230620_JPedits
Chapter01_Introduction_20230623
Chapter02_LiteratureReview_20230710
Chapter02_LiteratureReview_20230725_JPedits
Chapter02_LiteratureReview_20230810
This (proposed) organization scheme is a departure from how I would normally organize things – I would normally include more folders (ex Chapter 1, Chapter 2), but I can see how fewer folders may be possible / preferential, especially when you can easily track chapters and revision history through an effective naming system. It also makes a lot of sense for me to use dates to follow document revisions / versions. Is it nerdy that I’m excited to be improving my folder and file organization? 😉
How I organize my work as a student is that I try to be consistent with my naming/titles, use tags, remove old files to keep things tidy, and try to never name anything the same thing twice/similar as that tends to confuse me. If dates are allowed and needed, I will also try to include them as it helps me know what’s more recent compared to old files (like by year or month). It’s also good to be clear with your naming and to know that when you need to access your work in the future, the naming isn’t going to be confusing later on.
I’m coming at this activity as a former metadata librarian, so I must say I both have spent a lot of time working with structuring data and metadata, but I’m also regularly surprised at how much I still have to learn!
I organize with a fairly minimal file hierarchy. For example, I have a folder for research, subfolders for each project, and then a subfolder for each activity (raw data, literature, analysis, final copies of data and writing), but I rarely create any subfolders after that. I include README files at the project level.
My files consistently use yyyymmdd_file_draftORrevision naming conventions, and I often use non-proprietary formats (such as .txt, .csv) but not always. I find that ensuring the files meet accessibility requirements often means that it’s easier to go with word or excel, and I’m not always sure how to resolve that tension. In general, I find I design the organization mostly for myself, but, like the accessibility consideration, I’m trying to be more thoughtful to make things understood. I try to strike a balance between being organized (not including draft files and finished files in the same location for example) and not overly reliant on file structure (instead relying on the file metadata).
I am not the most naturally organized person, but I do make an effort to structure my files based on their intended use. For instance, I create hierarchies under different categories like “Program -> Coursework -> Course -> Primary Readings.” I’ve found this system to work quite well for me as it helps me quickly locate the files I need.
I keep a lot of literary works and secondary articles for my work, so when it comes to naming files I adopt a simple format like “Title of Work (Author) – Publishing Year.” For my own writing, I prefer “Title of Work (mm.dd.yyyy) – Version.”
I design my organization system for myself, but I also try to be considerate to my collaborators and readers when sharing files. My files generally do not involve overly complicated hierarchies or naming conventions so that also helps.
Although organizing is not generally my strength, I do my best to organize my files in order. I normally divide files under different courses. Then, I create a new folder for dividing materials based on the time periods of the cinema that are discussed in the article.