2.4 Electronic filing naming conventions

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The success of any records management system rests on standardization and consistency. There are hundreds of different ways to name files, the most important thing is to take a look at some best practices/recommendations, discuss with your colleagues and decide on the conventions that will work best for everyone, making sure all employees are trained (current and new).

The graph below shows the basic elements of a good naming convention. Also listen to a short audio file (7 minutes) on how to name digital files. A transcript of the audio file is also provided.

Graphic Figure description
NamingConventions1v1.png Fig 1. Revised text for Document Naming Conventions graphic

This graphic is titled “Document Naming Convention” and gives an example file name, which is S:/Committees/DeptFacTenure/AgendaMinutes/RenewalTenurePromotion-Min-20150616-v01b.doc.

Each main element of the file name is highlighted with a green arrow and text describing that element. There are seven arrows. The first one is titled “Folder Title” and points to the highest folder level: Committees. This level of folder titles may come from the University’s Model File Plan or from your internal file plan. The second is also titled “Folder Titles” and points to DeptFacTenure” and to “AgendaMinutes”, the next folder levels. These are named based on your need.

The third arrow is titled “Document name” and reads: Include title, type of doc, date, version control”. It points to “RenewalTenurePromotion-Min-20150612-v01b”.

Beneath the complete file name are the four remaining arrows, which read from left to right as:  Subject: written in CamelCase. The fifth area is titled “Document Type” and gives several examples of abbreviations of common document types: Agn (Agenda), Appt (Appointment), Awrd (Award),  Budg (Budget), Cor (Correspondence), Ctr (Contract), Eg (Example), Min (Minutes), Mtg (Meeting), Nte (Notes; Note to File), Pln (Plan), Pol (Policy), Pres (Presentation). The sixth arrow says “Date: YYYYMMDD”. Finally, the seventh arrow box is titled “Version Control” and gives as examples: Draft (d01, d02, d03a). Version (Approved 01, 02). Minor revisions (01a, 01b).

Credit: Adapted from "Document Naming convention" by University of Victoria is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Transcript Download Transcript of the audio for "How to name digital files"