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How to Name and Upload Your Documents

To keep your documents organized and easy for us to search, please follow this exact naming format when saving and uploading files.

Required File Name Format

YYYY-MM-DD – Sender’s Name, Document Title

  • YYYY-MM-DD = the date printed on the document (example: 2023-05-14)
  • Sender’s Name = who the document is from (examples: ABC Medical Center, Sunrise Insurance, Oakwood Elementary School)
  • Document Title = what the document is (examples: Medical Report, Insurance Letter, School Evaluation)

Examples

  • 2023-05-14 – ABC Medical Center, Medical Report
  • 2024-01-02 – Sunrise Insurance, Claim Letter
  • 2022-11-30 – Oakwood Elementary School, Student Evaluation

Why This Matters

Following this naming system is the most important part of uploading your files. It allows us to:

  • Organize your documents
  • Locate information quickly
  • Prevent lost or mislabeled files
  • Reference the correct materials during your case

Even if the system performs OCR or text recognition, the file name is what controls organization. Please name files exactly as instructed.

Incorrect File Names (Do NOT Use These)

Do not upload files named like:

  • Document.pdf
  • Scan1234.jpg
  • MyFile.png
  • Smith Case.pdf
  • Photo_88.png

These names do not provide any useful information and must be renamed before uploading.

Correct Version of a Bad File Name

If you uploaded something like Smith Case.pdf, it should be renamed to:

2024-04-10 – Horizon Law Group, Letter (Representation Notice)

How to Handle Unknown Dates

If you do not know the full date on a document, use the following rules:

  • If you only know the year: 2025-XX-XX
  • If you know the year and month: 2025-10-XX
  • If you know the full date: 2025-10-25
  • If you do not know the year, month, or day: XXXX-XX-XX

Important:

  • The year is always 4 digits (or 4 X’s)
  • The month is always 2 digits (or 2 X’s)
  • The day is always 2 digits (or 2 X’s)

One File = One Document

Each document must be:

  • Scanned separately
  • Saved separately
  • Named separately

One Date Per Document

When you name your files, each document must have only ONE date — the exact date printed on that document.

If you have documents from different dates, then you must create different files, not one big file.

❌ Wrong Example

“2024-10-16 to 2025-10-25 Manager’s Notes.pdf”
This title is wrong because it includes more than one date. That tells me you combined many documents with different dates into one file — which we cannot use.

✔️ Correct Way

You must separate them by the actual date on each document:

  • 2024-10-16 – Manager Notes.pdf
  • 2024-11-02 – Manager Notes.pdf
  • 2025-01-15 – Manager Notes.pdf
  • 2025-10-25 – Manager Notes.pdf

Each file = one document with one date.

Why?

Because later, when we use these documents as evidence, the court needs to see exactly what happened on each day. One date per file keeps everything clean and organized.

“Like by month?”

No — not by month.
Not by week.
Not by year.

Only by the date on the document itself.

If there are 15 dates, then there should be 15 files.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact our office for help.