The information below is courtesy of Megan Sapp Nelson
Why Should I Use a File Naming Convention?
A file naming convention (FNC) can help you stay organized by making it easy to identify the file(s) that contain the information that you are looking for just from its title and by grouping files that contain similar information close together. A good FNC can also help others better understand and navigate through your work.
Consider the following examples:
Files without employing an naming convention:
- Test_data_2013
- Project_Data
- Design for project.doc
- Lab_work_Eric
- Second_test
- Meeting Notes Oct 23
Files with a naming convention:
- 20130503_DOEProject_DesignDocument_Smith_v2-01.docx
- 20130709_DOEProject_MasterData_Jones_v1-00.xlsx
- 20130825_DOEProject_Ex1Test1_Data_Gonzalez_v3-03.xlsx
- 20131002_DOEProject_Ex1Test2_Data_Gonzalez_v1-01.xlsx
- 20141023_DOEProject_ProjectMeetingNotes_Kramer_v1-00.docx
The files with a naming convention provide a preview of the content, are organized in a logical way (by date yyyy-mm-dd) identify the responsible party and convey the work history, unlike the files without a naming convention.