Never Hunt for a Photo Again on Your Computer

Over the weekend, I was on a friend's computer. She wanted to show me a...what she says...a hilarious photo of her little doggie, Maxie, when she was a puppy. Well, after sitting there in front of her computer and her repeatedly saying, "nope, that's not it", I told her, why don't we call it a day and go drink a Dr. Pepper.

After having a chance to think about it and mulling it over as I usually do when presented with a problem, I thought...why don't I just show her how I save my jpg and picture files...it works for me...why not for the next person too? Why not just write about it?

So, after our refreshments and a renewed sense of giving it a go, we sat down and organized her photos. It helps that photos have a datestamp, and if you are already familiar with how folders work in Windows, you are that much ahead!

First, you need to see how many YEARS worth of photos you have on your computer. My friend had about three years' worth stored mish mash in a few different folders. Follow the steps below to streamline those photos once and for all:

• Make a habit of ONLY putting files in your "My Documents" Folder on your computer. So, you're not only going to have your photos in here, but every file generated by every computer program on your computer (we'll go over the other types of files at a later date)

• If you have a "My Pictures" folder, create a folder for each year (such as "Photos 2001", "Photos 2002" and so on) within that folder; if you don't have a "My Pictures" folder, create one in "My Documents" right now before you go any further
  

• Within each year, make a a folder for EACH month, whether you think you have photos or not for that timeframe; "Jan 2005", "Feb 2005", "Mar 2005" and so on

• Now you are ready to start putting your photos into each month's folder IN the appropriate year

• As a sidenote, sometimes you might have an event or trip such as "Disneyworld Jun 2005"; just put that into your "Jun 2005" folder and be done with it

Follow these simple tips, and you will NEVER hunt for a photo or set of photos again. Your computer is so nice and helpful, that it will even put the photos into the order you uploaded them onto your computer to begin with!

Photo by walmink on Flickr.com