Document Imaging File Naming Conventions: Consistency Is Key

The new versions of Adobe PDF are consciously search-friendly, allowing a real possibility of large-scale document imaging projects that do not entail permanently losing track of all that paper that just went into that little black box.

However, searchable PDF is only, or at least mainly, useful when the object being searched for has been "tagged" in an appropriate way. If a document is called "Jones Letter" and there are 27 letters from 18 different Joneses, searching scanned documents can become a headache.

One of the main things to think about, then, before beginning a paper-intensive document scanning project, is how you are going to name the files. Or, if you are using a third-party docuent imaging service, how they are going to name the files.

Although different projects require different document imaging file naming styles, there are general principles. Well-named files conducive to easy search and retrieval:

-- Contain the "keyword" that would be used by a searcher.
-- Don't ONLY contain the keyword.
-- Contain information about time (month, day, year).

Above all, though, document imaging file naming conventions must be planned and standardized if a truly searchable database of scanned documents is to be created. Everyone should be on the same page as those pages enter that black box, hopefully to return again as needed.

Well-named files can be found again.