Knowing you and others are working with and circulating the right version of a file is a challenge for all. A policy document, training manual, procedure, template, elearning course, facilitator notes, a video; these are just some of the things we’re constantly on the battle to make sure we’re on top of the different versions and variations. Incorrect versions haunt us in many ways.
One technique I’ve used for years works really well and has stuck with me. I thought I’d share it with you.
Basically I include the date written backwards at the beginning of a file name. It looks something like these:
- 2016_09_06 Absence Policy for Managers
- 2016_08_02 Training Manual for New Chefs
- 2015_12_23a Christmas Video
The date in the filename helps you to see instantly the date of the version you are referring to. Written backwards, it means that when you sort files in order of filename, they also appear in date order. If I create a new version of the same in the same day, I revert to adding letters after the date. A for the next version, b for the next, c for the next and so on. It’s much more meaningful than version 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and so on.
I know some people will think that when working in this way, you might miss the fact that there was a document six months ago with the same name if they’re stored in a big folder with other files and sorted in this date order. So there’s a couple of additional things that come into play. Firstly, organising folder structures is important to make sure files and their various versions all live together. But also, the search function within a folder brings about great results in finding files that contain similar words.
This way of working has worked really well for me and others. I’ve applied this to version controlling pretty much everything from written text through to alternatives of video production mixes.
Version controlling stuff is important. How do you do yours?
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