The InterPlex Strategy Guide

3.3 File naming best practices

Properties2
tagsinterplex, workflow, best_practices
aliasesfile naming best practices, file name best practices, best practices for file naming, best practices for naming files

Synopsis

Clear and logical file naming practices are essential for streamlining organizational work in a team. Since joining The InterPlex, I have noticed inconsistent and redundant file naming practices that have caused some confusion and workflow slowdowns. For instance, the Google Drive is currently full of files that reference the same contributor by a mix of their first, last, and/or full names. Such inconsistency can clutter our organizational structure and slow down our workflow.

To remedy this and facilitate future work, I propose developing a more straightforward and consistent set of file naming conventions that will allow the team to reliably stay on the same page about which items go where, what those items should be called, and how to keep track of item versions and overall workflow. Together with 3.4 File organization best practices, this constitutes one of two major recommendations for overhauling the way we organize and store our documents and data.

1. Principles

While there are potentially numerous types of relevant metadata to include in a file name, there are a few general rules. A good filename should answer:

  • What is the item?
  • Which version of the item is it?
  • When was it created or updated?
  • Who last updated it?

Additionally, a file name should avoid vague terms like:

  • “new draft”
  • “final final”
  • “updated version”
  • “copy of”

Or, quoting the National Library of Medicine on best practices for file naming conventions:

  • Files should be named consistently using alphanumerics, underscores, and dashes
  • File names should be short but descriptive (<25 characters) (Briney, 2015)
  • Avoid special characters or spaces (!@#$%^&?), other than underscores and dashes.
  • Use capital letters, underscores, or dashes instead of periods, spaces, or slashes.
  • Use date format ISO 8601: YYY-MM-DD (or YYYYMMDD).
  • Make it extendible by using leading zeros (001, 002, 003, etc.) 
  • Include a README.txt file in your directory that explains your naming convention along with any abbreviations or codes you have use

2. Example

Taking these recommendations into account, I propose the following format, in this case for an InterDialogue in production:

2026-05-20_JaishriSanwalBhatt_IntroAudio_v01.M4A
2026-05-22_JaishriSanwalBhatt_IntroAudio_v02_FINAL.WAV
2026-05-25_JaishriSanwalBhatt_InterDialogue_v01.MOV
2026-05-30_JaishriSanwalBhatt_InterDialogue_v02_FINAL.MOV

In this case, we do not need to indicate in the file name who last updated it, since only one person edits InterDialogues. In other cases, it may be helpful to add a metadata field for indicating who last updated an item. Here is an example for an InterArticle in production:

2026-05-22_WrittenInRocks_v01_JSB.DOCX
2026-05-24_WrittenInRocks_v02_RG.DOCX
2026-05-27_WrittenInRocks_v03_DHR.DOCX
2026-05-30_WrittenInRocks_v04_JSB_FINAL.DOCX

In this case, the initials following each version indicate who last worked on it; thus, in this sequence the editorial timeline proceeds from Jaishri to Rowan, then to Henryk, and then back to Jaishri. The version marked “final” should serve, naturally, as the last installment in any series of file versions; to avoid confusion, do not apply this label loosely.

Note that in both of the above cases, the file names employ different metadata fields and conventions. For instance, in the first case, Jaishri’s full name is spelled out, whereas in the second, only her initials are given. This is to give a sense of the flexibility we have in deciding what information to include, how to present it, and in what order—although on that last point it seems apparent that the date, at least, should always appear first. As the National Library of Medicine source suggests, we should explain whatever naming conventions we employ in an easily accessible README file that can serve as a quick reference for ensuring consistent formatting.

Also note that it is possible and may be reasonable to assign different naming conventions to different files types; we need not choose to format files for InterDialogues identically to how we format those for InterArticles, and so on. The point is to choose a standard that makes sense for our purposes and apply it consistently.

Here is a possible naming scheme for files that we have not specified a unique naming convention for:

YYYY-MM-DD_Descriptive-Title_keyword1_keyword2.ext

Related

3.4 File organization best practices

References

Briney, Kristin A. 2020. “File Naming Convention Worksheet.” CaltechAUTHORS, June 2. https://doi.org/10.7907/894q-zr22.

NameChanger MRR Software: https://mrrsoftware.com/namechanger/

National Library of Medicine. n. d. “File Naming Conventions.” NNLM Data Glossary, https://www.nnlm.gov/resources/data/data-glossary/file-naming-conventions.

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