02WorkflowDrop1 min read

Name files so you can find them in a year

One naming rule, five parts, sortable by default. Download it and keep it next to wherever you save things.

The naming rule, MarkdownMarkdown, 1.4 KB, file-naming-rule.md

# One file naming rule

`YYYY-MM-DD_subject_what-it-is_who-for_state`

Example: `2026-07-24_spark_design-brief_offbrain_final.md`

## The five parts

1. **Date first, ISO order.** It sorts correctly in every file browser without configuring anything.
2. **Subject.** The project or the person. One word if you can.
3. **What it is.** invoice, brief, transcript, contract, notes.
4. **Who it is for.** The client, the team, or yourself.
5. **State.** draft, review, final, signed, archived.

## Rules that keep it alive

- Lower case, hyphens inside a part, underscores between parts.
- Never write `final-final`. Change the state or change the date.
- If a part does not apply, drop it. Do not write `na`.
- Rename on receipt, not later. Later does not arrive.

Show full file

# One file naming rule

`YYYY-MM-DD_subject_what-it-is_who-for_state`

Example: `2026-07-24_spark_design-brief_offbrain_final.md`

## The five parts

1. **Date first, ISO order.** It sorts correctly in every file browser without configuring anything.
2. **Subject.** The project or the person. One word if you can.
3. **What it is.** invoice, brief, transcript, contract, notes.
4. **Who it is for.** The client, the team, or yourself.
5. **State.** draft, review, final, signed, archived.

## Rules that keep it alive

- Lower case, hyphens inside a part, underscores between parts.
- Never write `final-final`. Change the state or change the date.
- If a part does not apply, drop it. Do not write `na`.
- Rename on receipt, not later. Later does not arrive.

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Search is good at content and bad at intent. It will find every document containing the word invoice and none of them will be the one you meant.

A name that starts with a date sorts itself. A name that carries the subject and the state can be scanned in a list without opening anything. Five parts is enough, and the rule is short enough to actually follow at three in the afternoon.

Receipt

Source: First party. Made by Spark.
Cost: Free.
Free route: This is the free version.
Tested: 2026-07-24
Material connection: None.
The catch: It only pays off if you apply it to incoming files as they land. Renaming a backlog of four thousand files is a different project and probably not worth it.