Formats and names and organizing, oh my!

2. File names that work

When they're figuring out what to name a new model of automobile, automakers come up with something evocative and memorable: Mustang, Corvette, Challenger, Sonata, Cruze, Focus. Imagine a world where every car was named "blue 4-door" or "gray pickup truck". It'd be boring, of course, but more importantly, it'd be hugely confusing.

Point is, when saving files you should name them in a way that makes sense and makes them easy to find again later. Now, your professor might give you very specific instructions for naming your assignment submissions -- follow those instructions to the letter. If not, here are some tips for naming your files in a way that works. 

• Develop and maintain habitual naming schemes. For example, you might follow the model "lastname firstinitial claassnumber assignmentnameornumber adjectives.doc" so the final version of the first of several assigned essays for Writing 101 becomes "Smith J WRI101 Essay 01 Final". Long and a bit of a pain to type? Sure, but also super-easy to find at 2 am the night before the paper is due when you realize you need something that you removed in a previous draft.
• Use version control. Maybe you want to save a new version of your file each time you sit down to work on it, or every half hour while writing, but no matter the interval, do a Save As and change the filename in a regular and consistent way, like "Smith J WRI101 Essay 01 Draft 01" increments to Draft 02, Draft 03, and so on. If you're a Google Docs user, take advantage of the document history tracking to manage this for you.
• Resist the temptation to do things like re-editing "Smith J WRI101 Essay 01 Final" and naming the result something clever like "Smith J WRI101 Essay 01 Final FINAL" or "Smith J WRI101 Essay 01 Final For Real This Time". Rename the former Final file with a new version number and save the edited version as Final.
• At a bare minimum, make sure the names of files you're submitting for assignment reference your name, the class, and the assignment name.

Your filenames should make it easy for your professor to identify your assignment at a glance, especially when dealing with a large class and multiple submissions. Don't force them to waste time struggling to decipher cryptic filenames rather than focusing on providing you with valuable feedback on your work. Clear naming is a small step with a big payoff for both you and your professor. 

tl;dr Don’t submit files called "doc1.doc" or "paperfinal.pdf". Turn assignments in with logical names.