• blackbirdbiryani@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I have colleagues who have 20 copies of the same document with slight variations named like this in a folder. I honestly don’t understand how they function at work.

    • droans@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I work in Finance at my company and we always save revised copies for Excel files instead of saving over.

      But we also have strict rules on it. File name is always “xxxx_Workbook Template Name_MMDDYY.xlsx” or “_YYYY_MM.xlsx”, depending on how often it gets updated.

      Older versions get moved to a subfolder. It helps us go back and find out what something was if there was a mistake or revert back if Excel done fucks up.

        • lars@lemmy.sdf.org
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          11 months ago

          using git on a bunch of XML files saved into a binary ZIP file with a .xlsx filename extension is a hell whose circle we have not yet discovered

      • gazter@aussie.zone
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        11 months ago

        Almost 24 hours and no one has commented on MMDDYY? I don’t know whether to be proud or disappointed.

      • blackbirdbiryani@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Honestly this is one I the reasons why I love Google sheets (controversial I know) as it has a built in version control system.

        • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          It never works when you need it. Like “that file was too big”, that file was on a network share, that file is outside the window of how many old changes are saved. It’s like using an undelete utility. Sometimes you get lucky.

          It’s better to save every change as a dated/numbered file or use a real source control system.

        • CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml
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          11 months ago

          If there’s “Windows” or “Microsoft” in its name, you’re risking your business by relying on it

    • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      Every tech noob user I see. Worse if it’s mac because 1) I cannot use it for the life of me and 2) almost every Mac user stores it in the same default downloads folder and won’t know what path it’s in unless they use the Finder tool.

    • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I just sort by date modified on my work folder and purge stuff older than a year. Anything of value was moved to its permanent home and properly document controlled.

      It’s a river of trash yes but anything of value floats to the surface.

      • blackbirdbiryani@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        My files are all perfectly stored but it’s impossible to enforce proper naming on your colleagues… No matter how clearly you spell it out they will always mess it up.

        • banneryear1868@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          We have a document repository managed by corporate governance and to file documents in it they need to go through a workflow which enforces naming convention/category and establishes approval chain, version control, and review intervals. Anything that is actively used for things should be captured in this system, there’s some that aren’t of course but it’s the standard and you’re laughed at if you reference documentation outside of this system basically. We do this to comply with audit requirements but it’s also just good practice and everyone basically sees the value in it, despite the mild annoyance of dragging your document in to a webpage and filling out some fields.

          That’s why I don’t care about my personal document organization too much, because anything of value is getting liberated into a controlled doc template meant for it’s specific purpose and put into the system where it lives it’s life.

    • gazter@aussie.zone
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      11 months ago

      It probably makes sense to them. I’m sure they’re looking at your git workflow wondering how you function!

      • blackbirdbiryani@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Nah, because when I ask them for info they stare at their directory and have to randomly open files for 20 minutes until they land on the item of interest…