Organizing Your Digital Photos

When to create folders, how to name files, and how to structure your photo library so you can find and protect your digitized memories.

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How to Organize: By Date, Event, Person, or Location

Choose one main approach and stick with it so your library stays predictable. You can mix (e.g., year first, then events).

By Date (recommended for most)

Use YYYY-MM-DD (e.g., 2024-03-15). Chronological order happens automatically.

Photos/2024/03/2024-03-15-Family-Reunion/

By Event

Group by occasion. Use clear names: Wedding-2024, Birthday-Party-John-2023.

Photos/2024/Events/Wedding-2024-06-15/

By Person

Good for family history. Combine with date if you like.

Photos/Family/John/2024/

By Location

Useful for travel. e.g. Travel/Paris-2023 or Home/Backyard.

Photos/Travel/Paris-2023/

File Naming Conventions

Consistent names make search and sorting reliable. Avoid spaces and special characters that cause problems in some systems.

Recommended format

YYYY-MM-DD-Description-Number.ext

Example: 2024-03-15-Family-Reunion-001.jpg

Benefits: sorts by date, still readable, and sequence numbers keep names unique.

Alternatives

• YYYYMMDD_HHMMSS_Description.ext (include time)
• Event-YYYY-MM-DD-001.ext (event first)
• Person-YYYY-MM-DD-Description.ext (person first)

Rules of thumb

✓Use one format everywhere
✓Avoid / \ : * ? " < > |
✓Use hyphens or underscores instead of spaces
✓Add sequence numbers (001, 002…) for same-day shots
✓Keep the description part short (about 20–30 characters)

When to Create Folders and Subfolders

Create a new folder when you have a distinct group (a year, a month, an event, or a person). Use subfolders when one level would get too crowded (e.g. many events in one year).

Hierarchical (good for larger libraries)

Photos/
  ├── 2024/
  │   ├── 01-January/
  │   ├── 02-February/
  │   └── Events/
  │       ├── Wedding-2024-06-15/
  │       └── Birthday-Party-2024-08-20/
  ├── 2023/
  └── Archive/   (for older or uncategorized)

Flat (good for smaller collections)

Photos/
  ├── 2024-03-15-Family-Reunion/
  ├── 2024-06-15-Wedding/
  └── 2024-08-20-Birthday-Party/

Hybrid (by year, person, and event)

Photos/
  ├── By-Year/
  │   ├── 2024/
  │   └── 2023/
  ├── By-Person/
  │   ├── Grandma/
  │   └── Grandpa/
  └── By-Event/
      ├── Weddings/
      └── Holidays/

Backup Strategies

3-2-1 Rule

3 copies (original + 2 backups)
2 different media (e.g. hard drive + cloud)
1 off-site (cloud or another place)

Where to back up: Cloud (Google Photos, iCloud, Dropbox, OneDrive), external drive, or NAS. Two different types reduces risk.

When: After big imports (e.g. weekly), full backup monthly, and check that restores work at least once a quarter.

Cloud Storage and Metadata

Sync vs. archive

Keep actively used photos in synced folders; put older or bulk archives in non-synced or archive folders to save space and cost.

Tags and EXIF

Use tags (e.g. family, vacation, birthday) and stick to a small, consistent set. EXIF gives you date and sometimes location for free—keep it when copying files.

Face recognition and geotagging in apps can help find people and places; turn off or strip location when you need privacy.

Keeping It Organized

•Weekly: Sort new photos into the right folders and name them.
•Monthly: Deduplicate and confirm backups ran.
•Quarterly: Tidy folder structure and move old batches to Archive if needed.
•Yearly: Quick review of naming and structure; adjust only if it’s clearly broken.

Good backups matter more than a perfect folder tree. Stay consistent, and use search (dates, tags, people) when you can.