Guide to Organizing Digital Files

Give each file a descriptive file name. When possible, add dates to the filename and ensure that the filename begins with the date. If your objects are arranged chronologically, filenames with a date formatted as YYYY-MM-DD will be sorted in chronological order.

Avoid all spaces, symbols, and punctuation in filenames. This includes apostrophes, periods, commas, at symbols, etc. 

When describing an item, use proper names, (eg. JohnSmith) as much as possible and avoid personal relationship terms like “Grandpa” or “My dad." This provides clearer information to researchers unfamiliar with your personal and professional relationships. 

Instead of:

home_movies-2011.mov

Choose:

20110625_HomeMovies.mov

20110625_MoabTrip.mov

Instead of:

dad-birthday_2009invitation.pdf

Choose:

2009_JohnSmith_bday-invite.pdf

Instead of:

Jody&Beth's Beach Trip.tiff

Choose:

2009_JodyBeth_beachtrip.tiff

2009_Jody-Beth_trip.tiff

See the box on right for tips on providing contextual information on names and relationships. 

If the length of the filenames exceeds the limit that we require, please create an external text document that explains acronyms, names, or relationships. For example:

• Filename = 20020611_Moab_JodyWedding
  • External documentation would include Jody's full first name and last name and relationship to donor (eg. sister, daughter, etc). 
• Filename= 200205_YWCA_luncheon_JBphotos
  • External documentation would spell out the acronym (eg. Young Women's Christian Association) as well as the initials of the photographer (eg. James Booth).