You can give files any name that makes sense to you when naming them for yourself. However, when your files are on a shared network such as Exchange 2010 Hosting, file names need to clearly identify the content inside. By descriptively naming your files, separating words with underscores (the underscore is a universal separator as some operating systems don’t allow spaces) and storing the files in descriptive directories, it helps you get organized, increases efficiency for those looking for the files and avoids confusion for yourself and others in the long run.
Below are the steps for correctly naming files:
Step 1: Come up with a logical filing and naming system and then ask everyone who saves files to the shared network to use it.
Step 2: Organize files into descriptively named directories. A shared network may contain files from people who have different roles in the organization. The first step to organization is to store files in directories in a logical manner. The simplest way to achieve this is to store files by department for a medium to larger organization, by job title for a smaller organization and by author for a personal shared network. For example, store company annual financial reports in the directory, “Accounting” (department) and subdirectory, “Reports” (types of files in the directory).
Step 3: Create a uniform system for naming files. Consider what details will be most important to the person searching for your file. For example, call the company annual financial reports the company annual financial reports. A good name format for a financial report includes what type of report and the timespan covered in the report. Name the file “2011_Annual_Financial_Report.xls”. This file name tells everyone the file contains the annual financial report for 2011.
Step 4: To ensure that you are using a file-naming system that is effective for your organization, ask yourself, “Can a person locate the file by the filename alone?” If the answer is no, consider including more details in the file name. For example, suppose your 2011 Annual Financial Report only contains one type of report, like a balance sheet. Include this in the name. The filename including the balance sheet designation is 2011_Annual_Financial_Report_Balance_Sheet.xls. The designation, “Balance_Sheet” is at the end of the filename so a person looking for this file can begin with the widest designation, “2011_Annual,” the more narrow designation, “Financial_Report” and the specific file, “Balance_Sheet.”
Step 5: Ask everyone who uses the file-sharing system to use the file naming guidelines. If possible, ask individuals to rename and sort older files according to the file naming guidelines so there is a uniform method for naming and finding files across the entire file-sharing system. If it is not possible for individuals to rename all their files according to the system, at least have them rename files that are most likely to be accessed by other individuals on the Exchange 2010 systems.
Files not renamed according to the guidelines can be stored in a folder called “Old_Files.” This will prevent confusion for people searching for files.
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