Version Tracking Naming Protocols to not go crazy

When I started on my first editing project in 1970 (yeah, I'm an old guy), the man training me showed me how to organize the project was a Pulitzer Prize-winning documentary film producer with about 20 years in the business. He used the same basic project/shot/scene and version filing and naming system developed by the motion picture business when they started making movies.  We had 16mm film, 1/4" audio tape from a Nagra recorder, a 100-page script, clip bins with small reels of edited film, and 16mm Fullcoat Mag for sound, and everything was numbered the same way. Date code/Project code/Scene code/take number, and if needed, revision number.  Nothing was lost. If I trimmed 10 frames from the workprint, those 10 frames were marked with tape, with the complete project code, and hung in the bin until they could be wrapped on a film core and stacked in the clip bin. Nothing was intentionally thrown away until the project was done.

I suggest you set up your own system and keep the file structure, script, and/or production notes consistent. Here's a typical Folder for footage/Project Files/and paperwork structure that I am using for a feature film my partner and I started on March 22, 2018

2018-0322_Destiny-Footage

   Dsty_0330

        Dsty_4 - (file name generated by the camera)

       Dstry_4- (next file name generated by the camera)

and so on for the footage.  The first folder is the start date for filming, project name, and content, the next folder inside that is the shortened production name bellowed by the shoot date (March 30). Under that is the footage that I rename using an automated system that adds the shortened production name and scene number.

I use the same kind of structure for Script, Project files (AE, Premiere, PSD, AI) even though they may be on different drives. Inside Premiere Pro and Inside AE I also use the same format for scene numbering and revisions. If I want to find all assets on my system for Scene 4 in the Destiny project all I have to do is search for Dsty_4, and everything shows up in the search, including scripts and revisions. My revisions are always numbered in reverse. The most recent revision for the third effects shot in scene 4 would be named Dsty_4.3-1. When I start a revision on that scene I duplicate it in the Project panel and the duplicate is now named Dsty_4.3-2, I don't open that version, it is now the original, and I modify 1, Dash 1 is always the most recent revision, Anything with a version higher than dash 1 is a previous version, and they are in order from earliest one to most recent one. 

I hope this helps. I encourage you to pen out a file naming rule book and follow it for all your projects. Take as much advantage as you can of the automatic renaming routines that file folders and apps use to keep track of duplicates. Keep notes on your computer and in a notebook you keep on your desk, and can carry in the field, and you will never again lose track of an asset or delete something you shouldn't. 

AE uses an internal magic numbers/ index system to identify layers, comps etc. uniquely, but it's nowhere exposed and thus cannot be used - not visually by the user, not by scripts or expressions not even with the public API. It's all a closed box. So tracking your assets will depend on your own wits and what little functions are there like the versioning in Team projects.

Mylenium