Naming Your Files So You Can Find Them Again

The best filing system is one you can search in seconds. Good file names do much of that work.

Principles

1. Be descriptive. "meeting-notes.txt" is vague; "team-meeting-2027-03-05.txt" is clear.
2. Be consistent. Use the same pattern every time.
3. Keep it short but meaningful.
4. Put the most important word first.
5. Avoid spaces and odd characters where you can.

Dates in file names

The clearest date format is year-month-day, for example 2027-03-05. It has two advantages:

• It sorts correctly. Files list in chronological order.
• It's unambiguous. Nobody wonders whether 03/05 means March or May.

Examples:

2027-03-05-team-meeting.txt
2027-03-12-ideas.txt

Keywords and categories

Include words you'd search for:

recipe-banana-bread.txt
travel-lisbon-packing.txt
work-project-alpha-notes.txt

Starting with a category word (recipe, travel, work) groups related files together in the list.

Characters to avoid

Different systems dislike certain characters. Avoid these in file names:

Character	Problem
slashes, colons, asterisks, question marks, quotes, angle brackets and pipes	reserved on many systems
spaces	can cause trouble in some tools
accents and emoji	may not display or sort well on every system

Use hyphens or underscores between words: project-notes or project_notes.

File extensions

The extension, such as .txt or .md, tells apps what kind of file it is. Keep it, and use a sensible one:

• .txt for plain notes
• .md for Markdown
• .csv for simple tables
• .json, .html, .xml for code and data

Folders

Use a few clear folders, such as notes, recipes, work and archive. Don't nest too deeply: two or three levels is plenty.

Versions

If you keep versions, add -v1, -v2, or a date: essay-2027-04-01.txt. Delete old versions you no longer need, or move them to an archive folder.

Consistency wins

The exact scheme matters less than sticking to it. Pick a pattern and use it every time.

Quick check

Could you find this file in ten seconds, a year from now? If not, rename it.

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