Research life cycle: 2.Research phase: File names

Part 1: Why is file naming important?
Duration: 3:19 min.

Part 2: How to change a file name
Duration: 2:37 min.

Part 3: What not to do when naming files
Duration: 3:27 min.

Part 4: Best practices for file naming
Duration: 1:43 min.

Possible components to include in the file name:

• Title of the project
• Name of the experiment
• Name of the researcher
• Date
• Data type

Tip:
Document your choice of naming and meaning in a readme.txt file. Include the folder structure and naming that you have in mind in your data management plan, for example:

This webpage provides more information on how to plan and use an effective file naming system:

Have you collected a lot of data and would you like to rename the files? And are there too many files to do this manually? Then try one of these tools:

• Bulk Rename Utility  (Windows, free)
• Renamer 4  (Mac)
• PSRenamer  (Linux, Mac, Windosw, free)

Make a copy of your data before you try out a tool!

A number of points to consider when creating meaningful file names:

• Give meaningful and traceable names, do not make them too long and complicated.
  (e.g.: Project_Instrument_location_YYYYMMDD.pdf).
  To keep names short, it may be necessary to use abbreviations, write them down in a separate text file.
• If you are consistent and follow an agreed upon system, then files are easy to sort. Possible methods:
  - Chronological
    > start the file name with a date
  - Sequential
    > start or end the file name with a number
  - By respondent or test subject
    > start the file name with the code given to a person
• Choose one way of noting when using a date in the name. Use YYYYMMDD to sort.
• Start numbers with zeros to enable sorting
  (e.g.: 001Image.jpg or Report01.docx).
• Do not use spaces, dots and special characters such as
  ?\!@*%{[<> in the file name. These can cause difficulties when a file is shared over the web. Use the underscore 
  ( _ ) instead of a space.