Clio document naming conventions

Date first, then type, then a short description, then a version marker if needed: 'YYYY-MM-DD — [Type] — Description — vN'. For example, '2026-03-14 — Motion — Compel Discovery — v2'. The ISO date prefix (year-month-day) makes files sort chronologically by default, which is almost always what you want within a folder. The type token lets you scan by kind. The description is human context. The version marker only appears when a document genuinely has versions. It reads left-to-right from most-stable (date) to most-variable (version), which is exactly how you scan.

Putting the date first makes a folder sort chronologically without any extra effort, because filenames sort as text and 'YYYY-MM-DD' sorts the same as the actual dates do. ISO format (2026-03-14, not 03/14/26 or March 14 2026) is the only date format that sorts correctly as text — month-first and day-first formats scramble the order, and slashes aren't allowed in filenames anyway. ISO is also unambiguous internationally, which matters the moment you work with anyone outside your own date-format habit. It looks slightly clinical and is worth every bit of that for the sorting alone.

Keep the Bates range in the filename but don't let it replace the descriptive name — you want both. A workable pattern is 'BatesStart–BatesEnd — Description', for example 'ABC-PROD-000123–000145 — Smith Deposition Exhibits'. Use your firm's or the producing party's actual prefix (here a placeholder 'ABC'). The descriptive tail keeps the file human-readable; the Bates range keeps it tied to the production record. For privilege logs and load-file-driven productions, the Bates numbering usually comes from your e-discovery or review tool and you mirror it in Clio, rather than inventing a separate scheme. Discovery production naming is covered in more depth in the discovery guide.

A simple 'vN' suffix — v1, v2, v3 — incremented each round, with 'FINAL' reserved for the genuinely final version and used sparingly. The anti-pattern everyone has seen is 'final', 'final-v2', 'final-FINAL', 'final-FINAL-actually': version markers that lie because the document kept changing after 'final'. The cleaner answer is to lean on Clio's built-in version history for documents under active revision — upload the new version onto the existing record instead of creating a new file — and reserve filename version markers for cases where you genuinely need distinct files. When in doubt, vN that you actually increment beats 'FINAL' that you don't.

Usually no — the matter is already the container in Clio, so repeating the client name in every filename is redundant and eats space you'd rather spend on a useful description. The exception is documents that routinely leave the matter — things you email out, export, or hand to a client — where the filename travels without the Clio matter context. For those, a short matter or client identifier at the front (after or instead of the date) helps the recipient. Inside Clio, let the matter carry the identity; for documents going out into the world, give them enough name to stand alone.

Make the easy path the convention, write it on one page, and accept imperfection. Provide a copy-pasteable template ('YYYY-MM-DD — Type — Description') and a few worked examples on a single reference page people can keep open. Build the date-prefix habit first, since it delivers the most value (chronological sorting) for the least effort, and add the type and version pieces once that sticks. Don't audit or police — a convention enforced by nagging dies. A convention that's genuinely easier than the alternative, with a one-page cheat sheet, mostly enforces itself. Partial adoption that improves every month beats a perfect standard nobody follows.

In Clio Manage, go to the Documents tab, find the file, click the more icon (vertical ellipsis) in the Actions column and choose Edit details. Change the file name and click Save changes. The same dialog edits the document's status, type, author, received date and tags. It changes the record only. To change the content, edit the file and add it as a new version. If you're uploading, you can change the file name on the upload form before clicking Upload, which saves a rename later.

Yes, firm-wide. An administrator sets the matter numbering scheme under Settings > Firm Preferences > Matter Numbering. New accounts default to [matter number]-[client summary name], where the summary name is the client's last name or the company name. You can switch to a preset or add fields such as the matter description and year, with period, hyphen or slash separators. Applying the new scheme to existing matters updates all of them and can't be undone, so agree on the format before you click Update Settings. The Manual option is also available, but it means renaming every matter by hand.

Because Clio Drive inherits contact and matter folders from Clio Manage, and those can't be moved, renamed or sent to trash from Drive. The folder's name comes from the matter record in Clio Manage, not from anything you set in Drive. Subfolders you create inside a matter folder can be renamed freely, and the change syncs both ways. If long matter folder names are the problem on Windows, Clio Drive's preferences can shorten them to keep paths under Windows' path-length limit.