Research Data Management (RDM)

File naming components

Making your file names descriptive and standardized will make them easy to understand and retrieve later.

Consider including:

• Date or date range
• Project name or acronym
• Type of data 
• Researcher name or initials
• Version number

Keep in mind that files likely will be moved from their original location when they are copied, emailed or re-located. Therefore, it is important that the file name include information independent of the folder or other file storage location information.

File naming conventions

A file naming convention is a framework for naming your files in a way that describes what they contain and how they relate to other files. Choose a file naming convention, detail it in a readme.txt file with your dataset, and stick with it.

It is essential to establish a convention before you begin collecting files or data in order to prevent a backlog of unorganized content that will lead to misplaced or lost data!

 A good file naming convention has the following advantages: 

• Makes it easier to identify and find your files
• Can group similar filed together
• In a shared or collaborative group file-sharing setting, it will help others more easily navigate your work. 

Examples

Files with no naming convention:

• Test data 2022.xlsx

• Meeting notes Jan 17.doc

• Notes Eric.txt

• Final FINAL last version.docx

Files with a naming convention:

• 20220104_ProjectSemiconductors_Ex1Test1_SmithE_v1.xlsx

• 20220406_ProjectMedicinalPlantCompounds_MeetingNotes_SmithE_v2.docx

You should be aware of the versioning of your research data when you save new copies of your file. Applying proper data versioning policies to your dataset will save a lot of time when you need to retrieve specific versions of your files in the future.

Here are some suggestions:

• Include a version number, e.g "v1," "v2," or "v2.1. For e.g., DataFileName_1.0 = original document; DataFileName_1.1 = original document with minor revisions; DataFileName_2.0 = document with substantial revisions
• Include information about what changes were made, e.g. "cropped" or "normalized"
• At the end of the project, or after the appropriate retention time, delete the versions you no longer need.

• Keep file names as short as possible, since long file names do not work well with all software and can cause backup problems
• Do not use spaces
  • To separate the elements in your file name use underscores and dashes 
    • project_experiment-1_health-feature_sharon-sadvari
  • You can also use Camel Case to separate the elements in your file name
    • ProjectExperiment1HealthFeatureSharonSadvari
  • Or a combination of the two
    • Project_Experiment1_HealthFeature_SharonSadvari
• If you have sequential numbers in your file name use leading zeroes so that they will sort appropriately
  •  001, 002, 003, …010, 011, 013, …100, 101, 102
• For dates, use the international standard YYYYMMDD
  • 20171208 or 2017-12-08
• For time, use military time HHMMSS with the time zone indicated by the appropriate abbreviation
  • 142317EST or 14-23-17-EST
• Do NOT include special characters such as ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) ` ; ? , [ ] { } ‘ “