Naming and folder conventions for Google Drive?
January 10, 2018 4:34 PM   Subscribe

If you have naming and/or file conventions for your team’s Google Drive or similar system at work, I’m curious to know what those are (if they’re effective.)
posted by melodykramer to Work & Money (3 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
General rules of thumb:
• Game the platform's sorting defaults to do some extra organizational work for you. (More on that below.)
• Don't use “Final” in a file name. It rarely is, and “Final-2” is meaningless. Instead, use version numbers or dates.
• Be descriptive, but not overly wordy in file & folder names.
• Establish a file naming convention that always presents the same kinds of information about what the file is, in the same order. Strictly reinforce that naming convention.

Some specific tactics that I use for my freelance design & illustration business...
• I use project codes in file and folder names so that files can easily be searched by code. For example, “EXCO” for client “Example Company” + “003” for the third project I've done for that client = project code “EXCO003”.
• I name files and folders in ways that make alphabetical sorting double as chronological:
– The aforementioned project codes + descriptions for project folders: “EXCO001 Example Co Branding,” “EXCO002 Example Co Fall Promos,” “EXCO003 Example Co Spring Promos,” etc.
– Dates within file names: [YYYY-MM-DD].
– Subfolders under each project are numbered in chronological order of the client engagement / workflow: “0 Admin” “1 Working Flies” “2 Review” “3 Delivery” “4 Promotion”
• In any folder where multiple versions of something will live (“Review”, for example,) I create an “Archive” subfolder for old versions, and leave only the most current version in the root folder.
• In file and folder names, I use underscores to separate parts or discrete ideas in the name, and dashes to connect words within a part. For example: “EXCO003_brochure-cover_2018-01-10” gives me what project it was for, what it is, and when it was done.

Feel free to MeMail me if any of that seems potentially useful but doesn't quite make sense the way I've written it. :)
posted by D.Billy at 5:17 PM on January 10, 2018 [9 favorites]


First: Google Drive specifically, or other systems like it?

Dropbox and Sharepoint both use folders; they can run into Windows' problem with long path names. (I have a manager who doesn't like underscores or abbreviations; it's an endless hassle.) Google doesn't actually put files in folders; folders are part of the external skin. And their strong searchability means it's less important to have accurate folder names.

For documents (not on g'drive), I'm fond of [project code] [type of document] [description] [date].

"Type of document" might be report, map, email, receipt, etc. That comes ahead of the description so they'll stack alphabetically. In an org where date order was more important, I'd put that at the front.

The main issue with file naming and folder structure is: Will people actually follow it? Or will they shove everything in the top folder area, name things like "invoice.pdf," and leave it to someone else to figure out how to find specific files again later? Coming up with a good file naming plan has nothing to do with getting people to follow it.

Standardized abbreviations are about as hard to put into place as a folder structure, and it's also hard to get people to use "Casename Report Mgmt Decisions Spring 2015" instead of "Management decisions for Casename, Spring 2015 report." (And should that first one be "Report" or "Rpt?" Pick one; be consistent.)

With Google, longer doc names are fine, and make it easier to find them later. With almost anything else, abbreviations reduce path length, and that can be very important.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 5:25 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]


A rule of thumb for me is once I've got more than 5 or 6 similar file, it's time for a sub-folder. What these sub-folders are called really depends on the business. As a designer, I have 'proofs', 'to print', 'images', 'text', 'originals', etc., within each project folder. Each project folder lives within the client folder. With dated folder names like D.Billy explains. I find 2018_02-projectname works well enough for most of my stuff.

Stuff that gets used over and over for the client (like their logo file, for example), lives within the client folder.

(A pet peeve of mine though, is having just one or two files within a folder. If there are only two similar files, you probably don't need a folder...yet.)

Make a 'folder layout' folder for quick copy and pasting so that each folder has the same structure within it.

Have a designated 'archive' or 'previous projects' spot. This may be by year, this may be by client.

Separate internal marketing stuff (your own company logos, letterhead, etc.) from your client files.

A million yes's to 'don't use "final" in a filename. It's the death knell for a file, and practically guarantees there will be another version. I use _pr1 _pr2 (for Proof 1; Proof 2) at the end of filenames.
posted by hydra77 at 5:27 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]


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