Organising research data

Meaningful file names

Good file names provide useful guidance on the content, status and version of a file, uniquely identify a file, and help classify and sort it. Here you will find a few tips for storing filenames meaningfully and consistently (UK Data Service, 2017):

• Make sure that files are consistently named. For example, if you use the date in the filename, choose how to write the date (e.g. YYYYMMDD or yymmdd);
• Don't put strange characters such as ?\!@*%{[<> in the filename;
• Provide traceable file names, such as Project_Instrument_location_YYYMMDD.ext.;
• Make sure that each file name appears only once in the folder structure. If you save a file name in multiple places and you are going to edit one of them, there may be unintentional multiple versions of the same file;
• Make sure that the version of the file is in the file name;
• Use hyphens (-) or underscores (_) to separate elements in a file name;
• Avoid very long file names;
• Reserve the 3-letter file extension for application-specific codes of the file format (e.g. .doc, .xls, .mov, .tif).

It is good practice to explain the choice of file names and its meaning in a README.txt.

Even when a researcher is already well underway in his/her project, he/she can still switch to a consistent naming for filenames by using a so-called bulk file rename utility (n.d.)(Windows only). Of course, it's important to check if the bulk renamer delivers what it promises.

Example of a folder structure

Below you can see the proposed folder structure and file names for the research of Beatriz Ramirez that she made for her research at Wageningen University & Research.