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.

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.

The naming rule, Markdown

# 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.

Download file-naming-rule.md (Markdown, 1.4 KB)

Receipt

Source: first party

Cost: Free.

Free alternative: 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.