Practical guide · Jonathan Malchow Vega
Clean up one collection without losing its history
A small, reversible approach to names, versions, ownership, and retrieval.
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Define the boundary
Start with ten to twenty documents used for one recurring task. A small collection lets you check the effect of each decision. Write down who uses it, which question it should answer, and where the originals live. Make a protected copy or confirm recoverable version history before moving anything.
Worked example: a policy folder
This fictional example is a teaching exercise, not a client case study. A folder contains Policy_final.docx, Policy_final2.docx, and Policy_signed.pdf. The newest modification date belongs to final2, but the signed PDF is linked from the approval email. The team records the PDF as the approved version only after the responsible owner confirms that relationship.
Use a small description set
For each item, record a title, identifier or location, owner, status, version or date, and relationship to the authoritative record. A status of “unknown” is more useful than a guessed “approved.” Keep a decision note explaining why a file was marked superseded. Preserve the old name in the change record so an existing reference can still be understood.
Write a naming rule people can apply
For this exercise, the team uses topic_status_version for working copies and records approval dates separately. The exact pattern matters less than applying it consistently and defining its parts. Avoid putting a claim of approval in a filename until the owner has confirmed it. Do not rely on filenames alone to carry every useful detail.
Test retrieval before expanding
Ask someone who did not organize the folder to find the current approved policy and explain why it is current. Then ask them to locate its predecessor. If either task requires guessing, improve the descriptions or links before reorganizing another collection. Keep deletion candidates separate until the owner has checked retention and other obligations.
Source and scope
W3C SKOS Primer. SKOS distinguishes concepts from their labels and supports preferred and alternative labels. A local naming rule is not automatically a controlled vocabulary or a SKOS model.
Short answers
How do you start cleaning up a shared folder?
Start with ten to twenty documents used for one recurring task, and write down who uses the collection, which question it should answer, and where the originals live. Make a protected copy or confirm recoverable version history before moving anything.
What should you record for each document in a small collection?
For each item, record a title, identifier or location, owner, status, version or date, and relationship to the authoritative record. A status of “unknown” is more useful than a guessed “approved.”
Should a filename say that a document is approved?
Avoid putting a claim of approval in a filename until the owner has confirmed it. The article’s exercise uses topic_status_version for working copies and records approval dates separately. Do not rely on filenames alone to carry every useful detail.
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Related in the DESCRIBED series: Keep a source trail that someone else can follow (Data Exhaust)