Naming in Plain Words (Taxes 2025, Car Stuff, Angela's Photos)
Okay so. We've got two folders beat twenty under our belts now, which means you've got a small handful of broad, sane categories instead of forty little ones nobody remembers. Good. Now we've got to talk about what to actually call them.
This is the lesson people think they can skip. They can't. I've watched a good folder structure get ruined by bad names more times than I can count, including my own.
Here's the thing though. Your folders don't need to be clever. They don't need to be systems-y, they don't need some naming convention you read about online with dashes and codes and dates in a special format. They need to use the words YOU would type into a search bar at 11 p.m., half asleep, trying to find something before bed.
That's it. That's the whole test.
The 11 p.m. test
When I'm not sure what to call a folder, I imagine myself tired, a little annoyed, typing into the search box. What would I actually type?
I wouldn't type "Financial Documents 2025 - Personal." I'd type "taxes." So the folder's called Taxes 2025.
I wouldn't type "Vehicle Maintenance and Records." I'd type "car." So it's Car stuff.
I wouldn't type "Family Media Archive - Photographic." I'd type "Angela's photos." So... that's the name. Angela's photos. Plain as that.
Does that make sense so far? The folder name is not for showing off. It's not for impressing future employers who might peek at your file structure, which, nobody does that, that's not a real fear, I don't know why my brain goes there sometimes. The name is a landmine for your own memory. You want it to go off the second you see it or search it.
Why plain words beat clever ones
I built my first real folder system in a weekend, years back, and I was proud of it. I had categories, sub-categories, a little numbering thing going on. Felt very official.
Four days later I needed a receipt for a return at Costco and I could not find it to save my life. I knew it was in there somewhere. I just could not remember what younger-me, at 11 p.m., high on organizational energy, had decided to call the folder. Something like "Purchases - Retail - Receipts." Who searches for that? Nobody. Not even the guy who named it, apparently.
Version two used plain words and it's the version I still use today. That's basically the whole lesson, if I'm honest. Plain words win. Every time.
A quick word on the sticky-note guy
I did this with a neighbor early on, actually — not with folders, with passwords, but the lesson's the same. He had 23 sticky notes ringing his monitor. A third of them were crossed out and rewritten because the password had changed and he never took the old note down. I didn't lecture him about it. I just said "okay, let's give these a home," and we sat down and moved them into a password manager together.
But here's what stuck with me from that afternoon — a bunch of those sticky notes had names on them that made no sense anymore. "Bank 2." "New email." "The other one." He couldn't remember what any of it meant, and neither could I, and it was his stuff. If the guy who wrote the label can't read his own label two years later, the label failed. Same exact thing happens with folders. Name it for the tired version of yourself, not the version who's feeling clever today.
Doing this at home
Open up your two or three broad folders from last lesson. For each one, ask: what would I actually type to search for this?
- Don't say "Documents." Say what's IN there. Taxes 2025. Car stuff. Insurance.
- Don't get precious about grammar or capitalization. It doesn't matter. "car stuff" and "Car Stuff" both work fine.
- If you've got a folder with a person's name in it — like Angela's photos — that's completely fine. Names are plain words too, if that's how you'd search for it.
- Rename as you go. Right-click, rename, type the plain version, done. Takes ten seconds per folder.
One caution: if you're renaming folders that other apps point to — like a folder your accounting software or a backup tool is watching — check that the software can still find it afterward. Usually it's fine, folder renames don't usually break links, but backup programs occasionally get confused for one cycle. If you're not sure, ask, don't guess.
Before next time
Go rename your handful of folders using the 11 p.m. test — what would tired-you actually type to find it. If a name makes you pause and think "wait, what did I mean by that," that's the one to fix first. 👍