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Document names


Have you noticed that when you receive a document from someone else, that you wonder what the file name has to do with the actual document context? Of course, it might have made sense to the person when they started writing the document but is it still something that relates to the context now.


Something else that does happen is when someone scans a document and then emails it to you. Have you ever got a scanned document with the name similar to “scan201502191045” and just looked at it especially if you weren't expecting a document from the individual. A lot of scanners do have a default method of labelling each scan as completed, but to make it easy to locate and understand it is important that the scan is renamed to the appropriate name. So this tells you the time that the document was scanned but nothing about it.


The other thing that is important about file names is to try and keep them to a minimum but with enough detail. Don't try and write a novel in a document name or folder names. There is still a limit of how long a total file name can be, and it is important to remember this when you are setting up your folders and file names. 256 characters or 28 is the limit for any one object name (file or folder), and it is the total path limit in Windows (including all server names, folders, etc.).


A free tool is available to assist you in finding your long file/folder names that could cause problems, and it is “Too Long Path Detector” or “TLPD” for short. https://sourceforge.net/projects/tlpd/




Last updated 2015-05-29
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