Photo organizing basics
Two key strategies will help you keep your photos organized: naming your images consistently and sorting them into folders. As the years go by and your collection grows, it will be easier to retrieve photos if you've named and sorted them.

Simplify your photo-sorting process by eliminating pictures you don’t need. As soon as you download images, delete the shots that are unusable—whether they’re overexposed, underexposed, duplicates, or pictures where your thumb got in the way. But be sure to keep the ones that image-editing tools can improve.

There are pros and cons to various organizational methods. These guidelines will help get your files under control. You’ll want to experiment to refine your own system.

Naming images for easy retrieval
One way to get organized quickly is by renaming your photos when you download them from digital camera to computer. Digital cameras assign pictures alphanumeric names. But who remembers that JX1000054 was that wonderful sunset shot from your honeymoon? Giving pictures descriptive names as soon as you download them will help you remember what they are.

What makes a good name? Think about how you might search for a picture later: Are you more likely to want to retrieve all of your sunset shots at once, or all your honeymoon pictures? And when you’re naming your files, use an underscore (_) instead of a space between words to prevent problems later if you post your pictures online.

Be consistent about how you name files, too. If you name some photos of your pooch “beach_dog” and others “Pismo_pup,” they won’t all show up when you search for them, even though they’re the same subject.

Photo folder organization strategies
Because adding dates to each individual picture can make for unwieldy file names, you may want to use the month and year to label each folder and subfolder. Once again, consistency is key: Use either the name or the number of the month throughout, and either two or four digits for the year.

Create a master folder for each year, and subfolders for categories and individual events within that year. For example, within the folder “2005,” create a subfolder for “Vacations,” with folders for “Paris” and “Yellowstone” inside.

Another key to organizing photos is to give batches of photos a similar name. “Batching” allows you to perform the same function (like naming) on multiple files at once. This saves time and ensures the changes you make to your files are consistent.

For example, give your Paris pictures a similar name at the beginning plus an additional descriptor to identify the specific photo, such as “Paris_eiffel_tower” and “Paris_cafe_night.” Just open the folder, select all, and rename the photos so that all files for an event are grouped together. Once you've moved the files into the appropriate subfolders, you can rearrange them however you like.

Create a photo library
Photo-organizing software will automatically track information about each picture you add, including the date, file size, and image dimensions. That means you’ll be able to search for photos taken at a particular time, or images taken at high resolution that you want to print. Follow these steps to get started.

• Select a central location for your digital photo library on your PC, such as the “My Pictures” folder.
• Check to see if you have HP Image Zone. (It comes pre-loaded on HP Pavilion PCs). If not, y ou can download a free copy of HP Photosmart Essential. This easy-to-use software also lets you edit, print, and share images.
• Upon loading the program, you’ll have the option to add the pictures on your PC.

HP Photosmart Essential also makes it easy to create an archive of your photos on disc: it has a plug-in that lets you automatically create CDs and DVDs of your photos.

Storage and more
Saving a large number of digital photos on your computer can quickly use up hard drive space and memory. Consider archiving them on CD or DVD, or on an external hard drive like the HP 160GB personal media drive. Learn more about storing your digital pictures.

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