by Patricia Schenck

Created on: August 14, 2010   Last Updated: August 15, 2010

How to organize your Digital Family Photographs

These days almost everyone owns a digital camera of some type.    Whether it is a professional DSLR, a point and shoot, or a camera phone, in the end you are left with one common factor – the digital file.

With the ease and inexpense of owning and using a digital camera, people are snapping off pictures by the hundreds. Camera cards are continually increasing in size, which is encouraging people to snap even more.  While it may be fun to take the pictures at the time, organizing those digital files later on can be a nightmare.  Some people snap until they fill their camera card, only to dump them all on the computer when it’s full and start over.  Others attempt to print some of their photos at a store kiosk, but quickly grow frustrated at staring at the tiny thumbnails that all look the same.  This scenario usually ends with the “print all” option being pressed, which negates the purpose of the digital camera, costing much more than the ‘old fashioned’ film would have.

But with the proper organization of your files, you can snap all of the pictures you want and still be able to find and print only the ones you want.

The first step is to set up a filing system for your photos on your computer.  For most people on a Windows based system (XP and earlier) the easiest way to do this is as follows: 

1.  Left click the ‘Start’ button in the lower left hand corner and scan the options in the pop up window for a folder called ‘My Pictures’.  Left click on this folder to open a new window.  

2.  Move your mouse to the empty white area in the window and right click.  When the pop up opens move your mouse down to the word ‘new’ which will then open another pop up.  From this list select ‘Folder’ by left clicking.  A small yellow folder icon will appear and the words ‘New Folder’ will be highlighted in blue.  Re-name this file by typing in the year.  

3.  Double left click on the folder you just made and it will open a new window.  Make another new folder by following step two again, only this time name your file January.  In the same window as the January file you just made, continue to make folders in this manner until you have all of the months listed.

This is the basic set-up for your digital filing system. 

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