Describing your digital records

Archive Index and Naming Conventions

Now that you have selected which files you would like to keep, organise your archive in a manner that not only makes sense to you, but will be understandable to anyone else who looks through it.

Step 1: create an Archive Index

Create an Archive Index of all the material you will put into your archive. This is a simple list of all your records with basic information such as title, date created and location. This makes it easier to check if you have a file, rather than searching through all your folders. 

Step 2: create your folder structure

Create folders and subfolders that organise your records into relevant categories.

Try not to use more than 4 levels of folders. Any more than that makes it harder to search. Overlong record locations can also cause technical problems. 

Folder names should make it easy to identify what is held in each folder. Use short, consistent, and meaningful naming conventions. This makes it is easy to classify folders at a glance, and to sort them in numerical, chronological or alphabetical order if necessary. 

Do not use spaces or special characters (for example, !@&%). Use an underscore _ to separate words.

Here is an example of some of the naming types you might use:

  • 2015-19_Emails
  • 2020_Emails
  • 2023-2024_Documents
  • Business_Documents_2025
  • Photos_2019_Summer_Holiday

After you have organised your folders in a way that makes sense, update your Digital Archive Index file to reflect the structure and names used for the folders.

Step 3: Give files meaningful names

Make sure individual files have meaningful names. Be consistent in naming files, to make them easier to search.

Images downloaded from cameras will have automated file names, for example: DSC15648945. These will need to be changed to be meaningful.

Don't use spaces or special characters, for example: !@&%. You can use an underscore _ to separate words.

Do not change the file extension at the end of the title, for example: .jpeg or .pdf.

If you are going to specify a date, use the dating method of year, month and date, YYYYMMDD. For example: 7 June 1990 would be 19900607.

Do not to make titles too long. You want to be able to read them quickly.

DSC6548813564654 or picture45 are bad file names. A good file name may look something like: 20120327_JennyandBradsWedding_35.jpg.

Step 4: use metadata

Metadata is information about a file. It is data about data. In some cases, this might be created when the file is created, such as the date of creation or the file type. Use embedded metadata on your most valuable content. It gives important information about the file's origin and context. You can add or edit metadata to provide extra detail. In some of the files in your collection you may add contextual metadata to the file itself, as well as in the Archival index. More information about metadata.