You will save yourself a lot of time and effort by using the standardized abbreviations that your company has for specific items within each file name.

A simple naming convention is a proposed structure that confirms the quantity and quality of data that is included within the file.

The average person will name a file in a way that best suits them and that file name might not have any information to the next person who needs to access the file.

If we are willing to set standards in place to save time and money in every other aspect of business, then it makes sense to set standards in place for file naming.

If youre tired of the free-for-all that comes with random file names, then here are some of the best practices to follow so that your folders and files can accurately display the information they contain.

Avoid having long folder names and complex file names that are impossible to remember.

No one should feel like they need a computer GPS system just to track down where the root file happens to be.

Instead of making sure that there is a complex hierarchical structure that shows the extreme navigation skills, look to create a file name that has a rich amount of information contained within it that makes sense.

Make sure the information in the file is easy to identify and retrieve.

Modern search elements can help someone retrieve a file with some basic search terms from their home screen.

In order to do this, however, there needs to be specific search terms included in the name of the file and within the contents of the file.

Avoid putting spaces or unique characters into your file names.

This is a place where the older filing systems in the 386 computers really comes in handy.

Although files today accept spaces and some of the characters that youll find on the top of your number keys on the keyboard, the best practice is to use an underscore to help separate specific search terms that are within your file name.

Using a hyphen is still better than using multiple spaces within a file name.

You can capitalize words and make your file name look like a subheading on a blog post, but this is harder to read for the average person then underscores and hyphens.

General and specific keywords need to be included in the file name.

Think of the file name as the physical address of the file just like theres a physical address or the home where you live.

You have a specific street or a specific PO Box where you receive your mail.

International mail takes us a step further by including the country of origin.

This is the same thinking that needs to go into the best practices for your file naming conventions.

Start with your general keywords and then moved to the specific keywords within every file so that everything can be found and ordered in a logical manner.

Always start with the year first and end with the day.

It is easier to sort through files when they are based on years first instead of months or days first because of the results that will be received.

If you sort by months first, then a basic result will give you all the files that you saved in the month of November over the course of your organizations history.

If you saved based on the date first, then youll get all of the files that were saved on that specific date in every month and in every year.

By saving the year first in the file name, then the month, and then the day, it will become easier to locate specific data that needs to be used.

There are some common abbreviations that almost every business uses for certain items.

A purchase order, for example, is often referred to as a PO.

Hrothgar Naming Conventions