Establish a conventional file naming method at the beginning of your project.

File names should be:

• Consistent
• Meaningful to you and your colleagues
• Allow you to easily find the file

It is helpful if your workgroup/project agrees on the following elements that make up the file name:

• Nomenclature: Choose a shared nomenclature for file names so that everyone uses a common language.
• Punctuation: Decide on conventions for the use of punctuation symbols, capital letters, hyphens, and spaces—if and when to use them.
• Dates: Agree on a logical use of dates so that they appear chronologically, e.g., YYYY-MM-DD.
• Order: Establish which element should come first, so files on the same topic are listed together and can be easily found.
• Numbers: Specify the number of digits to be used in numbering, so files are listed numerically, e.g., 01, 002, etc.