Hiding Causes Hoarding(a few thoughts on basic file management)

Heidi Quicksilverhquicksilver@gmail.comhquicksilver@thejm.org

My Top 7 Asset Management Quick Tips

1. Use the date format YYYYMMDD for ordering

2. Standardise your terminology – don’t have 3 things that mean the same thing

3. ALWAYS put in a strong description when creating libraries and lists so your server remains

user friendly.

4. If you insist on using subfolders, never number them, never label JPEG, and never go more

than one level deep. (It becomes too personal, subjective, confusing)

5. Use metadata! At least use keywords. Make your metadata reusable where possible.

6. Use versioning on important, dynamic assets.

7. Don’t manage by exception, manage by the rule.

Learn to Share

Learn to Share

★ Centralize access to popular files

Learn to Share

★ Centralize access to popular files★ Educate your staff / co workers

○ Where to find files / How to find files■ What to do with files once they are found

○ What they can use / How they can use it○ Who to ask for permission or access if they are unsure

Learn to Share

★ Centralize access to popular files★ Educate your staff / co workers

○ Where to find files / How to find files■ What to do with files once they are found

○ What they can use / How they can use it○ Who to ask for permission or access if they are unsure

★ Utilize simple permissions for file access - Use your IT Staff○ Read Only vs. Read / Write vs. Hide○ Power users vs. Most staff need different levels of access

Learn to Share

★ Centralize access to popular files★ Educate your staff / co workers

○ Where to find files / How to find files■ What to do with files once they are found

○ What they can use / How they can use it○ Who to ask for permission or access if they are unsure

★ Utilize simple permissions for file access - Use your IT Staff○ Read Only vs. Read / Write vs. Hide○ Power users vs. Most staff need different levels of access

★ Eliminate Duplication

Utilize embedded metadata

met·a·da·ta(ˈmetəˌdatə,-ˌdātə/)● noun● a set of data that

describes and gives information about other data.

Utilize embedded metadata★ Don’t cram everything into the file name

○ Use the date format YYYYMMDD for perfect ordering★ Educate your staff

○ What is metadata○ Where to find it○ What it is telling you

★ Metadata is SEARCHABLE○ Basic search (command F)○ Adobe bridge search○ Other image programs

★ Make your metadata reusable where possible

○ Create templates

○ Controlled terminology (everyone calling something the same name)

My Top 7 File Organization Quick Tips

1. Use the date format YYYYMMDD for ordering

2. Standardise your terminology – don’t have 3 things that mean the same thing

3. ALWAYS put in a strong description when creating libraries and lists so your server remains

user friendly.

4. If you insist on using subfolders, never number them, never label JPEG, and never go more

than one level deep. (It becomes too personal and subjective)

5. Use metadata! At least use keywords. Make your metadata reusable where possible.

6. Use versioning on important, dynamic assets.

7. Don’t manage by exception, manage by the rule.

**Reminder** Basic File naming Rules1. DO NOT use spaces. Spaces can cause search problems in most software, especially

for files used on the Internet. Use an underscore or a hyphen instead, or capitalize the first letter in each word.

2. Use only an Underscore (_) or a hyphen (-) as a delimiter. The underscore (_) is a universal standard for field delimiting.

3. DO NOT use any special characters in filenames. (NEVER use &, #, %, (, ), @, $, etc.)

4. The element of version control needs to have at least the same number of digits as the total in the set.

a. If there are between 100-999 images always use at least 3 characters for the sequential number. 001. 002, 003… never 1, 2, 3.