Editing 1459: Documents

{{comic
| number    = 1459
| date      = December 12, 2014
| title     = Documents
| image     = documents.png
| titletext = Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Copy of Untitled.doc
}}

==Explanation==
When saving documents, the user is typically prompted to choose a filename, which may seem like a trivial choice. However, the filename is often the primary way of identifying the document you are looking for, and a descriptive title is of huge benefit when trying to find a certain document. Those who are too rushed or too lazy to create a useful filename, or those who don't understand what constitutes a useful filename are setting themselves up for future frustration.

When a user creates a new copy of a file in the same directory, the operating system may automatically append "copy" or "Copy of" to the filename. Subsequent copies of the file have "copy 2", "copy 3", etc. appended. When searching documents later, the user may struggle to remember which copy is the correct one to use.

This comic portrays a person, in this case [[White Hat]], who has taken such a naming convention to an extreme, giving hundreds of documents essentially the same confusing or useless filename. [[Cueball]] appears to have a severe distaste for this convention (or may just be in shock at how one could be so lazy or incompetent in the short term to suffer through or ignore the consequences in the long term) and hence provides a [http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/protip protip] to never look in someone else's documents folder for the fear of finding these irritating details.

The .doc and .docx extensions are given to documents created in Microsoft Word, with .docx being the default option from Microsoft Office 2007 onwards. When first saving a document, many programs will default to "Untitled", adding numbers to the end as more are created. However, in Microsoft Word the default filename is the first sentence of the document; if the document is still empty, the default filename is "Doc1" with the number increasing each time. In order to get such a file directory, White Hat would have to manually title all of his documents "Untitled". He appears to frequently make copies, and occasionally made copies of the copies, only very rarely adding a keyword to the file name like "important".

In some cases he has added a minimal amount of detail to the filename, though hasn't removed the redundant "untitled copy" portion, which probably only adds to Cueball's frustration, as it demonstrates that White Hat does have at least a basic understanding of the importance of meaningful filenames, but still hasn't made any attempt to address the systemic problem.

The ''Untitled 40 MOM ADDRESS.jpg'' is an image file (jpg), not something that would normally be used to store someone's address, though it could a map or a picture of an envelope. It is the first jpg file on the list, but that last full filename is also a jpg with number 41, and below in the "speech" line down to the PC the next three files have number 42, 43 and something beginning with 4. So here the numbering of jpg files continue.

The .doc numbering goes from 241 to 243, and then 243 IMPORTANT. The .docx only increases from 138 to 139, but there are two extra copies of the 138 document.

The filenames are not in alphabetical order as 241 and 40 falls out of place. This likely means that there is no automatic sorting all (i.e., they are sorted by hand), or that they are sorted by time stamp. Sorting by timestamp can be very useful, especially if you use White Hat's naming scheme. But this also means that he still uses .doc (copies old files) after he has obtained the new Microsoft Office 2007 that used .docx.

The title text can refer to one of two common quirks in Windows/Office. One is of copying and pasting within the same folder on a Windows PC.  The copy of the file will default to the name "Copy of <original title>", a second copy becomes "Copy of Copy of <original title>" and so forth. The other common quirk that can produce file names like this relates to how Microsoft Office handles downloaded file(s) that are not saved (i.e. "Open" instead of "Save"), the file is actually saved in a temporary folder allowing you to look at and/or edit the file - usually with restrictions on doing so until you actually save a copy in an actual folder somewhere. Oftentimes, especially within an office network where files are passed around via email, the other person may just open a file, editing it, then proceeding to save it as required. Upon attempting to save, the program will prompt one to "Save a copy of the original file", as the original file was never actually saved on the hard drive but just opened from a temporary folder, adding the phrase "copy of" to the filename, regardless of its final location. Forwarding this file will continue this trend adding the phrase "copy of" every time someone opens, edits then saves the file (rather than save the file then edit it), thus creating repetitive use of "copy of" within the same name. In a file that is heavily edited and passed around via email like this, if care is not taken to edit the file name, the name may get up to 5 or 6 repeats of the phrase "copy of".

It is rather extreme to get to a 33rd copy of the original untitled.doc file as shown here, however, as a result the file name is 276 characters long (including the four from the .doc extension), an impossible file name in most operating environments because it is too long. 255 characters is the limit for any file or folder name in Linux, and is the limit for a fully defined file name (file name, extension and the full folder path in which the file is stored in) in Windows. So the file name is 22 characters too long for Linux and at least 25 characters too long for Windows since being in the root of drive takes 3 characters, each folder adds at least 2 characters (one chosen and the backslash). Whereas such long names for a file may be uncommon, it is not uncommon in Windows that users run out of characters for the full name and path, if they have several sub folders.
Note that when performing this type of copying on Windows 7, the new file is named "<original name>_2", not "Copy of <original name>".

==Transcript==
:[White Hat is sitting at his PC. Cueball stands behind him looking over his shoulder at the screen.]
:PC: Untitled 138.docx
::&nbsp;Untitled 241.doc
::&nbsp;Untitled 138 copy.docx
::&nbsp;Untitled 138 copy2.docx
::&nbsp;Untitled 139.docx
::&nbsp;Untitled 40 MOM ADDRESS.jpg
::&nbsp;Untitled 242.doc
::&nbsp;Untitled 243.doc
::&nbsp;Untitled 243 IMPORTANT.doc
::&nbsp;Untitled 41.jpg
:[The remaining file names are only partially visible through the tail of the PC's "speech" bubble.]
::::&nbsp;&nbsp;42
::::&nbsp;&nbsp;43
::::&nbsp;&nbsp;4

:Cueball: ''Oh my god.''

:Protip: Never look in someone else's documents folder.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Protip]]
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]