Managing Pictures
- March 24: Setting up a hierarchy of folders for organizing your photos.
Libraries: Pictures
Organize your pictures in 5 easy steps…no kidding!
Introduction
This simple method for organizing your pictures is based on Events. The steps are all centered on creating a folder structure organized around the events that occur in your life. The steps are simple: establish one folder as your base, create large categories of events, create a sub-folder for each year, create a precise name for each folder containing pictures from a particular event. Last but not least…be consistent.
This picture organization method is based on events. Why? It’s simple: our lives are filled with events, some more important than others. From getting up in the morning, going to work, getting a hair cut to traveling, getting married and giving birth, the events in our lives vary in their impact to our lives. Those events that are most important to our lives become the subject of our pictures. So the basic criterion of organization must match the main subject of our lives.
STEP 1: Have only ONE folder that has all your pictures folders.
All your pictures folders should be contained in only one folder. Usually it’s My Documents/My Pictures or just My Pictures. You must start here, otherwise you will be lost.
STEP 2: Add a folder for each significant category of events
The next step is to create a folder for each significant category of events. The criterion for this folder structure is events. We’re creating folders for significant categories of Events.
The criterion for this folder structure is events. We’re creating folders for significant categories of events. These folders DO NOT represent the subject of the pictures, but they are groupings of events.
The structure shown below outlines the folder structure created for a fictitious family: CARLY(pictures containing events for their daughter Carly), FAMILY (pictures containing family events), FRIENDS (for all the pictures containing events that involve their friends), CHURCH (for all pictures containing church events) and WORK (for pictures containing work events). Also, they’re adding a folder called MISC to include miscellaneous events and other pictures.
REMEMBER: These folders DO NOT represent the subject of the pictures, but they are groupings of events. We’re just grouping the events into large categories. This way you’re dividing a large quantity of event pictures into more manageable chunks.
STEP 2: Add Category Folders
» My Pictures
» CARLY
» CHURCH
» FAMILY
» FRIENDS
STEP 3: Add a folder for each year.
There is one thing still missing. While adding categories certainly helps, the FAMILY folder will grow very large very quickly as time passes by and events accumulate. So, “divide and conquer” is called for here. For this reason I recommend creating a folder for Each Year in the FAMILY folder. You may add folders for years in the other category folders as well but that may be too much for a folder like WORK where there might be only one or two events per year. However, if you anticipate that any category of events will grow very much, then you should add folders for each year.
If you anticipate that a category of events (i.e. FAMILY, WORK) will grow very much, then add a sub-folder for each year in that category folder. This way you can divide the quantity of pictures even more.
STEP 3: Add Year Folders
» My Pictures
» CARLY
» CHURCH
» FAMILY
» 2009
» 2010
» 2011
» 2012
» FRIENDS
STEP 4: Create and name your folders.
This is the most important step. The folder structure you create here is the backbone of my folder based method. In order for us to remember an event we need two pieces of information, namely an approximate date and an approximate description. You must include both of these in your folder names. You must name your folders as follows:
§ 4 digits for the year (i.e. 2012)
§ 2 digits for the month (i.e. 08 for August)
§ 2 digits for the day – the day is not required, but if you remember it put it in the folder name. If an event spans more than one day, use only the month.
§ description – you need two things: the place and a description of the event. Use one or two words to describe the place and a max of 3 short words to describe the event.
§ Don’t leave blank spaces in the folder names, instead use the hyphen (or underscore) sign between your words. This way your folders will be automatically sorted properly.
§ Examples of good folder names: 06_08_11-tony_restaurant_dads_bday, 05-07-california_family_trip.
§ Examples of good descriptions: “kings_cyn_hiking”, “mandalay_beach_church_picnic”, “grandma_visit”, “our_house_christmas”, “petersens_4th_july”
STEP 4: Create and name your folders
You MUST name your folders as follows:
» Rule: YYYY_MM_DD-[place]_[description]
» 4 digits for the year [YY]
» 2 digits for the month [MM]
» 2 digits for the day (optional) [DD]
» 2 words max description of the place
» 3 words max description of the event
» examples of efficient folder names:
»» 2009_10_23-grandma_family_trip
»» 2010_08_11-tonys_restaurant_dads_bday
Final Example
» My Pictures
» CARLY
» CHURCH
» 2011_05_10-mandalay_park_picnic
» 2012_07_04-beach_july_4th
» FAMILY
» 2009
» 2010
» 2011
» 2011_01_15-grandma_family_trip
» 2011_02_18-tonys_restaurant_dads_bday
» 2011_04-yosemite_park_family_trip
» 2012
» 2012_01_01-smiths_new_years_party
» FRIENDS
