Organize Photos with One Simple Trick
Keep reading below for a chance to win one very cool photo prize package worth well over $150.
I’m doing a series of three posts this week, just in time to help you with holiday photos and gift giving. With digital photography, excellent photos are so easy for even the novices among us, but it also creates a new problem…photo overwhelm.
Believe it or not, there are three simple tips to managing this new problem of the digital age. The first of these tips is:
Batch Download to Organize Photos
If you get names like “img_0128” when you download your photos, you need this tip.
Heck, if you never download your photos off your camera or phone, you need this tip.
Even if you store your photos on the iCloud (or some other cloud), you need this tip. Maybe especially then!
Despite all of the advice from my Mac-friends, I am still a PC. Windows Live (or Windows Live Essentials) is what I use to organize my photos on the computer, but the advice is basically the same whether you are a Mac or a PC, whether you use a camera or a smartphone.
How to Download in Batches
Whenever I’m ready to process some of my pictures, I connect my camera to my PC with the cord that came with the camera, and Windows Live Photo opens up.
Instead of just hitting download immediately, I take a moment to select the folder to send the photos to, then click the file naming settings.
On the next page, name the batch with something that makes sense and that means something to you. I like this type of naming convention: Year-Month-Event. I mentioned how to do this in my How to Make Photo Book article. Once you’ve set up the name for the batch, click the pictures you want in the batch, and hit download.
Only the pictures in your batch come down, and they all have the file name you applied, followed by a sequential number.(2012-12-Christmas1, 2012-12-Christmas2, etc.)
Avoid Downloading Duplicates When Organizing Photos
Be sure that “delete files from device after importing” is clicked so the photos leave your camera or phone, and you won’t be saddled with multiple copies of the same photo. You’ll get this when downloading.
Now, if you need to find your little munchkin’s kindergarten picture in the future you’ll have a much better shot by looking in the file you set up for that event, by searching on keywords from the file name that you’ve used, by looking at the date, or all of the above.
Does this sound better than leaving your photos on your camera, trapped and vulnerable to losing your camera or a corrupted card? Download a batch of photos today and let me know how it goes.
Win a Photo Organizing Prize Package worth over $150
You can enter to win this great photo prize package including three things:
1. 
2. A Linea hard-bound photo storage book for apx. 100 photos.
3. A one-hour phone consultation to format your Linea book or help you with any other photo storage questions.
I am glad you have found something that works so well for you! I have been uploading literally hundreds of pictures each week during this busy holiday season for my clients. It can be overwhelming. Thanks for sharing about this great product.
Yes, you and I both know there are a million ways to do this, but this approach is free and reliable and already installed on most newer Windows-based machines. Do you have another easy favorite tool to do this same thing?
I would love a new kitchen!
I definitely need help organizing all of my photos!
Stay tuned for more tips. I also provide hands on and virtual services. Let me know if you need personal help.
I need to remodel my bathroom!
Me too! Thanks to your answer, I just realized that the survey question was wrong. It was supposed to be, “Who or what is in your favorite photo from this year?” Makes more sense, right? But don’t worry, you and Susan are still entered in the drawing. Thanks for entering!
My golden retriever Dakota on a cliff overlooking the ocean in Maine this summer!
My kids at the beach.
People are loving their summer pictures.
My favorite picture is from our family photo shoot in the spring.
My favorite pic is our family pictures at the Duck Pond at Haverford College
My daughter! Every picture I capture is fun!
My favorite pic is my sister asleep on the sofa with her dog snuggled up against her. The dog is about to fall off because there really isn’t enough room. It’s so cute!
Looking forward to my daughter’s wedding in Feb. and know the sheer volume of photos is going to be a bear to organize, no matter how much I love them all!
My favorite picture from this year was the first picture taken of my daughter and I when she was born!
Of course! Congratulations.
President Obama is one of my fave pics.
My favorite photo this year is one I found, a slide I do not remember ever seeing, as I went through my Dad’s slides for him. I’m a young girl, curled up on the wet beach, drawing in the sand with a feather. I can’t wait for the digitized version to come in!
That sounds amazing. Good luck with the digitizing.
My husband and his great granddaughter
Wow, that’s special.