File Systems: naming, sharing and sync

01

Naming rules for a team

In simple words

One person can remember their own labels. A team cannot. So a team writes the label rules down, like the rules of a game, and everybody plays by the same rules.

Before this course: OneDrive & File Organization (course 13.6). You should already know the YYYY-MM-DD_Subject_Topic pattern, the three top-level folders and the basic icons.

Key facts

Microsoft lists these as not allowed in OneDrive and SharePoint file or folder names: " * : < > ? / \ |
Leading and trailing spaces are not allowed.
Reserved names include .lock, CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM0 to COM9, LPT0 to LPT9, _vti_ and desktop.ini. Any name starting with ~$ is also blocked.
Some organizations do not yet support # and % in names. An administrator can turn them on, so for shared work avoid them.
A team naming rule usually answers four questions: what comes first (date or project), what separates the parts (underscore or hyphen), how versions are written, and what is never used.
Tip for versions: write v01, v02 instead of v1, v2 so files stay in order after version 9.
Keep names short. Every character counts toward the path-length limits in Lesson 2.

Example (a team rule)

YYYY-MM-DD_Project_Topic_v01.ext, for example 2026-11-12_Fundraiser_Poster_v02.pdf. Underscore between parts, hyphen inside a part, no spaces, no symbols.

Step by step

Pick a pretend team project, for example a school fundraiser.
Write the order of the parts: date, project, topic, version.
Choose one separator and say what it is.
Write how versions look (v01, v02) and what word marks the final one.
List what is never allowed: the characters " * : < > ? / \ |, spaces at the start or end, and names like CON or NUL.
Test the rule by naming five files from the project.
Check: all five names follow the rule, and a stranger could guess what each file is.

Watch on YouTube

Document naming conventions: how to name your files properlyAndy Park · YouTube · youtube.com

Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.

LESSON 01Naming rules for a team

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00

Voice

Read the video script

[Host] "Three people, one folder, three ways to name a file. That is how 'final_FINAL_v3' is born."
[Screen: a one-line naming rule on a slide] "Fix it with one written rule: date, project, topic, version."
[Text on screen: " * : < > ? / \ |] "OneDrive will not accept these characters. Leave them out from the start."
[Host] "Write v01, v02, not v1, v2, so the order stays right after nine."

Try it now

Write your team naming rule in two lines. Name five sample files with it and check each one against the banned characters and reserved names.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "File Systems: naming, sharing and sync" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Naming rules for a team".

What the lesson teaches:
- Microsoft lists these as not allowed in OneDrive and SharePoint file or folder names: "  : < > ? / \ |
- Leading and trailing spaces are not allowed.
- Reserved names include .lock, CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM0 to COM9, LPT0 to LPT9, _vti_ and desktop.ini. Any name starting with ~$ is also blocked.
- Some organizations do not yet support # and % in names. An administrator can turn them on, so for shared work avoid them.
- A team naming rule usually answers four questions: what comes first (date or project), what separates the parts (underscore or hyphen), how versions are written, and what is never used.
- Tip for versions: write v01, v02 instead of v1, v2 so files stay in order after version 9.
- Keep names short. Every character counts toward the path-length limits in Lesson 2.

The exercise I'm working on:
Write your team naming rule in two lines. Name five sample files with it and check each one against the banned characters and reserved names.

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Naming rules for a team" from the course "File Systems: naming, sharing and sync".

Here's what the lesson says:
One person can remember their own labels. A team cannot. So a team writes the label rules down, like the rules of a game, and everybody plays by the same rules.

The activity:
Write your team naming rule in two lines. Name five sample files with it and check each one against the banned characters and reserved names.

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.

Open Claude

Sources

Microsoft Support, Restrictions and limitations in OneDrive and SharePoint: support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/restrictions-and-limitations-in-one

My notes

I learned this

02