Organizing Files

An organized file directory saves time, minimizes confusion, and prevents data loss. File organization is especially essential for research teams because if everyone organizes things their own way, no one will be able to find anything. This page summarizes the basic principles of file organization. There’s no perfect system that works for everyone, but we can help you find the system that’s best for you.

Set up directories intentionally

There’s no need to have a directory (also known as a folder) for everything because good file names will also help keep things organized.

Use directories for the major categories that help you organize your work. Popular options include:

• Courses
• Projects or experiments
• Major sites or locations
• Years or other important timeframes
• Whatever works best for you

There’s no single option that works for everyone, so choose categories that match how you conceptualize your work. However, we usually discourage naming directories after researchers. Navigating folders named for researchers requires knowledge about everyone who has ever worked on the project, and that is especially difficult for new team members.

It’s also helpful to keep directory names short. You want most of the necessary information in your file names. That way, if those files are moved to a new location, you’ll still be able to identify them.

Name files consistently

Consistent file names allow you to sort files into meaningful groups. Choose a few short, meaningful name elements and order them from broadest category to narrowest category.

For example, imagine your research records include a text file for each paragraph in Jane Austen’s books. Your file name elements, ordered from broadest to narrowest, could include book title, chapter number, and paragraph number. You would have files with names like PridePrejudice_ch1_p12.txt, and you could easily group files by book and sort them in the correct order.

Like directory names, file name elements should fit your research agenda. Some ideas for elements include:

• Project name
• Experiment/instrument type
• Site location
• Researcher initials
• Date (the YYYY-MM-DD format sorts correctly)

Some other helpful tips for file names:

• Use abbreviations or acronyms. Long file names don’t work in some systems.
• Avoid special characters (such as ~!@#$%^&*()`;<>?,[]{}'”).
• Instead of spaces, use underscores, hyphens, or CamelCase.
• For sequential numbers, use leading zeros (e.g., 01 or 001). If all numbers in a sequence have the same number of digits, your computer will sort them correctly.

Be sure to document your file naming convention and keep it somewhere everyone can find it. For a handy starting place, see our File Naming Convention Template.

Track versions

The automatic versioning technology provided by Microsoft, Box, Google Drive, etc. is helpful, but can only save a limited number of versions. For important versions, consider saving a separate file and appending a version number (e.g., v01) to the end of your file name. This is especially important for initial/raw data. Whenever possible, save an untouched version of your initial data and only make changes to a copy.

Plan time for housekeeping

Just like your home, your file directories need cleaning sometimes. Plan to check your directories on a regular schedule to reorganize files and clean up file names before they get out of hand.