Keeping Videos & Photos Organized

Whether you are taking videos with your camcorder, your phone, or even your point and shoot camera...you most likely would like to put these on a dvd someday.  When it comes time for you to burn your dvd, it will make your life SO much easier if you have them organized on your computer! Same thing with photos.  I'm sure you don't mean for them to just sit on your computer.  You are going to want to DO something with them eventually.  Usually when you upload your video or photo files to your computer, it will look something like this:

These files can quickly add up and be all over your computer.  Don't let them pile up.  Keep them organized so you can find what you need easiest.  Here's what you need to do: ( I apologize for those using a Mac...I use a PC, so I'm not sure if the same filing system can work on a Mac)

Step #1 : Start by making sure the videos that you are putting on your computer, go into a file labeled for that YEAR.  Here you see that on my hard drive, I have labeled them Family Movies 2013, etc  I would suggest keeping photos and videos SEPARATE.  So you can make a separate file for Photos 2013, etc.

Step #2 : Create New Folders to hold your files in sections.  The number of folders you create will depend on how much video and photos you take, but I like to start labeling my folders by EVENT.  Like "Landon's Birthday", "4th of July", etc.  To create a new folder, you simply right click in an open space, and choose NEW and then FOLDER and then you can give that folder a name.

 Then you can highlight the group of videos/photos that belong in that folder and drag them in.

Step #3 : Now create more folders by MONTH.  They stay in order better if you label them 01, 02, 03, etc...instead of by month name.  And then drag which folders belong in their certain month.  For example, I dragged "Landon's Birthday" into 05-2013 because that is when it occurred. 

 Now they are organized and ready for you to burn to a dvd, or print a book, make a slideshow, etc. which I will talk about more in another post. 

 

FOR THOSE OF YOU FEELING OVERWHELMED:

 

I suggest starting with the most RECENT and work your way backwards.

START by creating folders for "Family Movies 2014" and "Family Photos 2014".  As it is the first week of January, you will probably not have any videos to put in there yet, but if you get your folders created, then you won't have to do it later.  Then inside "Family Movies 2014" create 12 folders for each month.  THEN throughout this year, when you go to put your videos on your computer...put them in the month they belong in. 

NEXT, work backwards by starting with "Family Movies 2013" and try to get them organized as I've shown you above.  Once you've finished 2013, continue working backwards by year. 

Depending how much you have to organize, it can take some time.  Don't get overwhelmed.  Just take ONE STEP AT A TIME and don't stress if your whole computer isn't organized by the end of the week.  Good luck to you!

Hopefully this gets you ready for the next step of actually DOING something with your photos!