A client's comment about my old drawings made me rethink my file naming

I was pulling up a 2019 site plan for a repeat client, and he said 'oh, the one with the weird name like ProjectX_Final_v3_revised_reallyfinal.pdf'. It took me a minute to find it. I realized my old naming was a mess, just adding words when I saved new versions. Now I use a date code and a short note, like '240415_SitePlan_ClientReview'. It's way faster to sort and find. How do you guys keep your revision files straight?

3 comments

3 Comments

alicecooper4d ago

What took you so long to figure that out? I had the same disaster with my old files, total nightmare trying to find anything. Your new system is the only way to go, date first always. I even add a letter after the date if I have multiple saves in one day, like 240415a. Makes searching a breeze.

fox.derek4d ago

My old system was basically just naming things "final" and "finalfinal". I had a project folder with like seven versions of "final_revised_new". Sorting by date was useless because I'd open old ones by mistake. The letter trick is smart, I'm stealing that for sure. It took me a solid year of chaos to finally give in and do it right. I guess I just really loved the thrill of the hunt through my own mess.

nancybailey3d ago

Remember my friend who lost a whole project because he opened final_final_new, @fox.derek?