File Naming, reloaded
Why a file-naming scheme makes your knowledge faster to find, safer and auditable
- You know DIN 5008, SemVer and ISO 8601 and know which scheme suits which domain. ·· Success criterion: You sort 5 made-up files to the right scheme without an error.
- You name a file in under 30 seconds, true to the convention. ·· Success criterion: A stopwatch test with 5 sample files.
- You plan a migration sweep for 100 existing files. ·· Success criterion: You deliver a mini-plan with scheme, pilot team and cut-over date.
Why this topic, now
We have crossed the line where file names stop serving the person and start blocking them. Cloud sync, AI search and compliance audits now treat the file name like an API — not like a sticky note.
The rules
YYYY-MM-DD at the start turns the file explorer into a timeline. ISO 8601 sorts alphabetically just as it sorts chronologically — free of cost.
One word, not a sentence. The scheme decides the order, not the length.
_v01, _v02 — two digits, starting at 01. Saves you sorting bugs from v10 onwards.
Status tags like _DRAFT, _REVIEW, _FINAL only when the workflow forces it. Otherwise it troubles the eye.
Keep the convention in lower case. Cloud storage sometimes does not tell upper and lower case apart — and you should not have to know.
Before / after
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Quote Patel Industries REVISED 2 (Copy)_FINAL_now_really.docx | 2026-05-01_quote_patelindustries_v03.docx |
Which scheme for which use case
- DIN 5008 (S1/S2): office, contracts, quotations, reportings.
- SemVer (S6): APIs, SDKs, software releases — MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.
- ISO 8601 + time (S3): logs, capture streams, telemetry.
- GAMP 5 (S5): regulated systems (pharma, medical devices).
- Logseq convention (S11): personal knowledge vaults with Git.
- SemVer
- Semantic Versioning — MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH. MAJOR = breaking, MINOR = feature, PATCH = bugfix. The standard for APIs, because machines can compute on the order of the numbers.
# Example migration for a directory
for f in *.docx; do
mv "$f" "$(date -I)_${f// /_}"
doneThe human side
The commonest cause of failure is not the wrong scheme, but the missing example from the top. If the leadership team keeps sending “xyzFINAL.docx”, the team learns that the convention is optional.
A file-naming convention is 30% standard and 70% discipline.
Done in three weeks
- Week 1: decide the scheme (1 workshop, 90 min).
- Week 2: pilot in one team — old files live on, new ones follow the rule.
- Week 3: company-wide roll-out with a short cheat-sheet (1 PDF page).
- Take the ten files you saved most recently from your office drive and rename them to scheme S2 — date up front as YYYY-MM-DD, one keyword in a single word, version in two digits from _v01. Move the original into the archive rather than deleting it. At the end, note how long each file took you.⏱ 5 min
💡 Sort the folder by modified date first — then you spot at once which “FINAL_FINAL” duplicates are really the same file in two states, and you name them _v01 and _v02 instead of two riddles.
Model answer: “Quote Patel Industries REVISED 2 (Copy)_FINAL_now_really.docx” becomes “2026-05-01_quote_patelindustries_v03.docx”. The date sits up front as YYYY-MM-DD and sorts chronologically as well as alphabetically, the keyword “quote” is one lower-case word, the modifier “patelindustries” stays short, and the version “_v03” is two digits. The first file may cost thirty seconds; by the fifth you are under ten — the pattern has stuck.
Which of the following is rule #1 under DIN 5008 / S2?
What is SemVer best suited for?
How should file names handle upper and lower case?
Bring your knowledge into shape.
Give your knowledge a name you find again. Your second brain holds the convention so you need not — a companion, not a filing cabinet.
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