| Now where did I put that file? |
| Part 3 - What's in a Name? |
| by Jan Johansen |
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| Have you ever had your boss or client ask you to attend a last minute meeting about a project and you can’t find the necessary files? Perhaps you’ve also created several versions of the project in different folders and you have no idea where you saved them! |
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| This article will help you avoid future embarrassment by teaching you how to come up with easy to find and identify file names. |
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| Gone are the days of file naming limitations & restrictions. Use meaningful names and don’t be afraid to include as much information as you need to know at a glance what the file or folder contains. |
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| Always include info about the client, project, or subject matter. If you have photos for a newsletter, use a descriptive name for the photo, without limiting it to the newsletter issue. Instead of calling the file “Four Guys” or “Team - June 2006,” consider calling it “ABC Mktg Team 2006-06.” Then, if you need a picture of the same team for a future issue, you’ll know immediately from the file name who’s in the picture and when it was taken. |
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| Web Tip: Keep in mind that web-based applications don’t take kindly to files with spaces or capital letters. Use all lower case file names with underscores instead of spaces – “abc_mktg_team_2006_06.” |
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| How about a date? |
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| It’s also a good idea to include a date or version number in your file & folder names. Again, think about how the files will sort when you view them – do you want the date before or after the name? What about the year? |
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