But if you have 3500 assorted files with names like “Woork xcFgvB1.pDf”, “iphone User manual.PDF”,”address Book.Icon.Drawer.dld free bts_128.png” or god-forbid “Gmail Contsfor-Kbefore SYNC with Iphoneon5Jan.csv”, partitioning would only get you so far. Apart from frustrating the hell out of productivity enthusiasts it would require you to necessarily do a “Search” for your files. Do I need to remind you of the problems of searching in XP? Let’s not forget how a general search can eat into your system resources if you don’t have your drives indexed.

You can reduce these issues to a large extent with adherence to a little diligence in file-naming. These are some of the tips I personally recommend.

word of advice: most of the reasoning should have been pushed to my tech blog, but these file-naming practices have helped me so greatly in terms of productivity in general, I thought this would be a better place :read if you just want the best practices read these rules and move on

• Avoid using “.” (fullstop/period) other than or file extension
• Avoid spaces like the plague
• Case Sensitivity : Use init-caps to separate logical words
• Underscore for change in context, hyphen only for versions/dates
• Use the YYYY-MM-DD format for dates in file names

• Avoid using “.” (fullstop/period) The full stop should be used only for file extensions. Although modern day OSes do allow us to use multiple fullstops(bear with me my american comrades), the intended primary use of periods in certain OSes like windows is to differentiate between file-name and extension. The last full stop is treated as the file extension. Unix like OSes hold no such rule (but it is recommended to have the file extension for compatibility between OSes). Java seems to have issues with it though. Also adhering to this rule ensures full backwards compatibility for ISO-9660 level 1 and other legacy systems like OpenVMS, Windows 95-98, etc. Most alarmingly though is the fact that certain mail filtering programs consider a file with two periods to be a “virus” or “worm” that the sender is trying to disguise and will generally result in your attachment not making it to your recipient. Given the availability of better alternatives, you should resort to using one “.” and that too only to denote file extensions.
• Avoid spaces like the plague Apart from appearing elusively convenient, spaces in file-names can wreak havoc while being referenced online. When you refer to a file with a space in it’s name, it gets converted to the “%20″ special charecter, what’s more is that you necessarily have to enclose it with inverted commas to ensure the name is read properly. I suppose it’s ok while maintaining files locally on a hard disk, but the title of this post is BEST practices.
• Case Sensitivity : Use init-caps to separate logical words Windows and IIS servers are oblivious to case sensitivity meaning “wtf.doc” is treated the same as “wTf.doC”. Many recommend using only lower case charecters uniformly. I beg to differ. I prefer separating logical words and initcapping them. These immediately stand out neatly and in the end productivity is of primary importance. A word of caution though, if you plan to use a unix like OS, “this-is-not-the-same-file-in-unix.doc” and “this-is-not-the-same-file-in-Unix.doc” would be treated as different files. And oh yes lower-case for file extensions please(no .PdF .PDf .pDF etc… only .pdf)
• Underscore for change in context, hyphen only for versions/dates This is by far one of the most widely debated rules among us productivity freaks. I’ve found this rule both convenient and logically convincing. If it’s a complete change in context, meaning the first part of the file name tells you what kind of file it is while the next part tells you the name of the file, separate them out with an underscore. The reason I use underscore here is because, again visually this is the most productive. I could also use a hyphen, but I’ve noticed this to look slightly more cluttered at first glance on a 1024X768 resolution monitor. If you’re still reading the reasoning and intend to read the rest of the post, give me a call sometime, you’re probably my soul-mate.
• Use the YYYY-MM-DD format for dates While using dates remember to name them in the format YYYY-MM-DD. Doing so automatically sorts them out neatly according to the date.
• Naming your MP3s Yes I have a life and I enjoy music too dammit. You have to use what’s convenient to you here. I listen to ALL kinds of music from hard-rock to carnatic classical. So the artist’s name appearing first is more important for me. Hence I name my mp3s as “Artist_Title_Album.ext”. So that would be DeepPurple_SmokeOnTheWater_BestOfDeepPurple.mp3 and BombayJayashri_TungaTarangeGange_AtmaSoul.mp3 . Another more common use is “Title_Artist_Album.ext”.

But in the end it boils down to what you feel is convenient wow all that drivel and poof! ship sank..

When you have a full folder named neatly like so, the untold joy……

If, after reading this guide you feel i have issues, how right you are ;) !

Good Stuff

• Vox Populi : 43 folders’Jurassic post :P
• What Do i know
• The awesomest File Renaming Software

Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all sentences short or avoid all detail and treat subjects only in outline, but that every word tell.

Which book did I pick this from? check my post-slug for clues.