How to Effectively Organize Your Digital Photos

Cameras with film have been taken over by digital ones. There is no more paging through photo albums or shuffling through shoeboxes to find the picture you are looking for. These days you'll be clicking through digital photo files on the computer to find that perfect shot. Organize your digital photos effectively and find the one you are looking for in no time.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• CD or DVD
• Computer
• Digital camera

1. Create a new folder in My Pictures for the current year. Right-click the mouse within the open My Pictures folder and select "New." From the dropdown menu, select "Folder." Rename this new folder with the current year.

2. Add folders within your new yearly folder for particular events. Rename these new folders with the title and date of the event. For example, you might have a folder named "Tom's birthday, May 20."

3. Upload pictures from your digital camera onto your computer. Save the pictures you wish to keep into the appropriate event folders.

4. Create new folders each time you take pictures at different events and upload them into the appropriate folders. When a new year begins, be sure to add a new folder for that year into My Pictures and start adding event folders to it.

5. Burn each year's photos onto a CD or DVD as a backup. Be sure to file the CD or DVD in a safe place.

Tips & Warnings

• If you attend regular events throughout the year, such as soccer games or music concerts for your children, create a general soccer or music file without a date for each specific event. This will keep you more organized by reducing the number of event folders.
• Create a folder for each family member or season to hold miscellaneous photos.