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If I see one more file named “Marketing_Plan_Final_FINAL_v3.xlsx”, I might scream
Posted by on January 19, 2026 at 11:52 amWe need to have a serious talk about file naming conventions because my desktop looks like a graveyard of abandoned drafts.
After losing an important version of a project last year, I forced myself (and my team) to adopt a boring but life-saving naming system:
YYYY-MM-DD_ProjectName_Description_Version
Bad: Budget Proposal new edit.xlsx
Good: 2024-05-20_BudgetProp_Draft_v02.xlsx
Why it works:
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Chronological Sorting: When you sort by name, your computer automatically puts them in date order (because of YYYY-MM-DD). No more searching for "which one is the latest??".
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Context: You know exactly what it is without opening it.
It takes 5 extra seconds to type, but it saves hours of "Wait, did you send the one with the blue chart or the red chart?".
Does anyone else have a strict system, or do you all just live in chaos?
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1 Reply
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Agree 10000% – SAME WITH EMAIL SUBJECTS. I get dozens of emails a year with the subject “payroll” all related to different employees – WHY. Subjects should be clear and make it easy to reference back to. It is also helpful to put “Action Required” or “Approval Requested” followed by “Due [Date or time]” at the beginning of the subject for time sensitive tasks especially if the person you are emailing gets a high volume of emails a day. Example: “Action Required – December Mileage Log – Due by Jan 9”
Also for account recs, bank statements or other monthly documents put: MM – Month 20YY – Description (Ex 01 – January 2025 – Accrued Vacation Account Reconciliation) that way it sorts in chronological order as well.
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