Make the name useful outside the store
A downloaded file may be separated from its receipt months later. Include enough context for the buyer to recognise the product without relying on the folder it arrived in. Keep names readable and avoid inserting customer email addresses or other personal information into publicly shared examples.
Choose one naming convention
Our suggested pattern is product-format-language-version, adapted to the actual catalogue. For example, Meadow-homeprint-en-v1-1.pdf is a fictional organisational example. It is not a claim that this file exists. Use the same ordering across a catalogue so a reader does not have to learn a new naming system for each purchase.
Keep internal and public revisions separate
Your working drafts can have additional identifiers, but only intentional buyer versions should be distributed. A file named final does not explain which correction it contains. Record the public revision inside the document as well, because a buyer or operating system can rename a download.
Do not silently change the meaning
If a revised file has a different purpose or entitlement, a new name alone is insufficient. Update the manifest and customer-facing explanation together. Preserve the previous release privately so support can identify what a buyer received. Never include unrelated unpublished designs or customer records in the archive you upload.
An original working example
A naming decision should survive a correction. In a fictional release, Meadow-instructions-en-v1-0.pdf becomes Meadow-instructions-en-v1-1.pdf after a clarification, while an unchanged companion file keeps its own revision. The manifest records the combination. Renaming every file without a reason can make it harder to identify the actual change. Avoid sensitive information, unexplained abbreviations and names that differ only by invisible spacing. Check the names as the buyer sees them after download, because a store label and a saved file name are not necessarily the same. Save your convention in the catalogue brief so later products remain consistent.
Sources used for this page
These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.
- Adding a digital product — Merchant documentation · help.payhip.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-27
- Digital product variants — Merchant documentation · help.payhip.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-27