Deef's Net

Here’s the main reason why my file naming scheme can never be to just use the names that my customers use:

• June08prayerltr.pub
• Response Sheet.docx
• May Letter - year in review.doc
• June 2008 prayer letter postcard.pub
• june 08.pub
• June 08 PL.pub
• June, 2008.doc
• June 2008a.doc
• May_June Prayer Letter.pdf
• Update June.pdf

These are all files that I have open right now.

This is pretty common throughout a given month. If I stuck all of those in the same directory, and tried pulling up the one I needed, it would be a disaster waiting to happen, besides the fact that I’d be constantly overwriting files.

Since I’ve started, I’ve been using lastname-YYYY-MM-DD.pdf (or .doc, or .pub, or whatever), and for the past few years, I’ve been creating a new directory for each month (named YYYY-MM), which is somewhat redundant with the filename, but it works, and I could combine the directories if I needed to, without running into problems.

It has a couple of drawbacks. It breaks down at the end of each month, when some files get submitted for a mailing on the last day of the month, and more files on the first of the next. Not a big deal, but it means going back and forth between directories, or just having files in the wrong directory.

Also, last year, I started running into the problem where two people with the last name (Smith, which should be no surprise to anyone) would send letters on the same day. So, in those cases, I appended the first letter of the first name to the list (so, smithj for a fictitious John Smith).

Then, there was the family where the parents are missionaries and so is at least one of the kids, and they both submitted letters on the same day, and they have the same first initial. So much for that solution.

When I got three Smiths on the same day, it was clearly time to think up a new naming scheme.

I haven’t implemented it yet, but my current plan is to have the software create and populate one directory per customer, with a “Common Files” directory (for signature images, frequently-used response cards, etc.) and one additional directory per mailing. Then, since the computer’s doing all the work and not me, I’m also planning on having it create file system links for all of the active (and maybe recently finished) mailings in another directory, so I’ll be able to work out of the one directory, and still have an easily-accessible archive.

That should help address the fairly rare case when I’m accidentally working in the wrong month’s directory, and open last month’s letter, or something like that. It’ll also mean fewer files to sort through on a daily basis, since the server will be archiving all of the finished files out of sight.