Naming conventions

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One of the most difficult things to get across to your users is the need to name their documents and folders correctly. No matter how often you explain this to them, users will insist on naming their work idiosyncratically, erratically, eccentrically and in ways that ensure neither they nor their colleagues can find their work.

It's not rocket science to name your documents and folders properly. Yet I have heard of some classic howlers both in my organisation and outside. My favourites include a series of folders beginning with a person's name (which is always a big no-no). The one we looked in was called Fred. The next level was 'Miscellaneous' inside which was 'General'. The document the user complained he couldn't find was called 'doc1'. And he was complaining to me that he could never find his stuff!!! Aaargh!!! How he decided on which documents should be filed in 'Miscellaneous' and which in 'General' is a complete mystery to me!! And don't get me started on words like 'New' (which is soon out of date) and 'Stuff'!!!

I cannot stress too highly the importance of good naming disciplines. You and all your colleagues will need to find your work at a later date. If you can't remember what you called it, or you put in folders that are obscurely titled, it will be extremely difficult to find.

We use the following guidelines when helping people create their folder and document names.

How to name your folders, files and documents

These are the rules and conventions for naming folders and files, documents and records in the Electronic Records Management (ERM) system.

It is important to think carefully about how you name your documents, records, folders and files because you must be able to search for, and find them, quickly and easily. If you follow these simple rules you will find it easier to name your work and find it when you need it.

General

• always make the name of a folder or record descriptive of its content or purpose
• always ensure the title contains enough information for anyone else to identify it
• always use natural language and spell out words in full – do not use obscure abbreviations, or ‘MSDOS’ style compacted eight letter titles
• always make the name of a file or record descriptive of the whole content. A title should act as a summary of the file or record’s contents.
• do not use abbreviations or acronyms. They often become obsolete over a period of time and can often have more than one meaning. Always write the names of organisations in full and only use an abbreviation when absolutely necessary
• do not put the name of person in the title of a folder, file, document or record. If you must refer to someone always use their job title rather than their name
• never use initials in the title of a folder, file, document or record – always use the role or job title, for example, Chief Executive not CE
• if you want to use a date in a title you must put it at the beginning, using the YYMMDD convention to ensure that documents are stored in date order. For example, a document saved on 24 November 2006 should be saved as 061124 followed by the document name.

Folders and files

• folders and files bring together a set of records about the same activity, topic or transaction. The title must clearly identify this single activity, topic or transaction
• when naming folders, do not duplicate titles from elsewhere in the file plan – search first to see if the title you want to use already exists. If it does exist, this may be the right home for your work otherwise you should think of an alternative name for the file you wish to create

Documents and records

• always ensure the record title is
- specific
- consistent and sensible
- understandable and helpful to others
• always balance helpful description with being concise and formal
• always use formal structured language, rather than informal or ‘funny’ names
• do not include the format of a document in the title (for example, don’t use Word document, or Excel spreadsheet)
• do not include status or version information in the title (the metadata will tell you which version it is.)
• do not include terms that may become obscure or will not help you find it later (for example don’t use terms such as ‘letter1’ or ‘doc1’)
• do not include symbols e.g. %, £, /,\,@ in the title of the document

Naming email

All the comments that apply to documents apply equally to naming email, but there are other things that should be considered. Email titles must accurately describe their content.

• you must change the title of the email if it does not accurately reflect the content
• all instances of ‘FW’ and ‘RE’ should be removed from the title of an email