How to organize picture folders with Picasa

In my last article about Picasa I have discussed the most efficient way to transfer your pictures from your camera to your computer using Picasa. If Picasa is setup correctly, transferring your pictures with Picasa can really save you a lot of time.

Let’s continue the example I used while talking about transferring pictures with Picasa (Read Transfer your pictures with Picasa in 3 steps ). This time however, let’s see how we can quickly organize these pictures so that they will be easy to remember and find on my computer.

Get your pictures transferred efficiently with Picasa

After transferring a bunch of pictures in Picasa, your folder structure looks like this:

My Pictures
  TRANSFER
    2010-12-01
    2010-12-05
    2010-12-10
  FAMILY
    2008
    2009
    2010
  WORK
    2009
    2010

Let me just recap quickly what this folder structure represents. The TRANSFER folder is the interim holding place of my digital pictures once I transfer them from my camera to my computer. I keep piling them up separated by the date when the pictures were taken.

The FAMILY folder, which includes year folders, represents the final place for these folders of pictures. The difference between the FAMILY folder and TRANSFER folder is that each year folder under the FAMILY folder contains folders that have more details in the folder names. In fact they contain the date, the place and a short description of the event described by the picture in that folder.

Bottom line is that the TRANSFER folder is a temporary, transitional place for my picture folders, while the FAMILY folder represents the final place where my picture folders will go.

Identify the events and rename the folders

Now that your pictures have been transferred to your computer, it’s time to work on them a little bit and move them to their permanent place.

The first thing I do, I open each folder and try to identify the event or events that are described in the pictures. Then I rename the folder using my super secret naming convention (Read Organize your pictures in five easy steps). Actually it’s just the date, the place and a short description.

To rename a folder in Picasa just right-click on the folder and choose Edit Folder Description.

Just enter a new name in the Name field in the Folder Properties window.

My folder structure looks like this:

My Pictures
  TRANSFER
    2010-12-01-park-playing
    2010-12-05-mall-playground-very-cold
    2010-12-10-park-ball-bicycle
  FAMILY
    2008
    2009
    2010

Combine folders containing similar events

Secondly, sometimes I notice that some of my folders with pictures I just transferred have just a few pictures in them. In addition, especially when the event captured in a folder is a “continuous” event it is usually related to another folder. In my case the two folders at the park are related and I normally combine both of them into one folder.

Moving pictures from one folder to the other is very easy in Picasa. Just select the pictures by holding the CTRL key and clicking on the pictures you want to move, and just drag them in the new folder.

So, now my folder structure is as follows:

My Pictures
  TRANSFER
    2010-12-01-10-park-playing-ball-bicycle
    2010-12-05-mall-playground-very-cold
  FAMILY
    2008
    2009
    2010

Next do some picture cleanup

Thirdly I clean up the pictures a little bit. So, I open for example the folder 2010-12-01 and notice a few pictures out of focus and some in really bad light. So I delete those.

In addition I also do some batch processing if there are some effects that can be applied to many pictures. The most common one I use is “Red-Eye Reduction”. I usually apply it in batch when I have a bunch of pictures taken using the flash inside the house.

Apply some picture tags

Now I do some tagging. At this stage I do mainly general tags like place. So I select all the pictures and apply tags, preferably tags that I have already used before.

Tagging pictures with Picasa is as simple as selecting the pictures and typing your tags.

Move the photo folders to their permanent location

This step is very straightforward. Now that the folders have been renamed and cleaned up they are ready to be moved to their final location. So, just move them using Picasa.

Moving a folder with Picasa is very simple. Just right click on the folder and choose Move Folder.

Then choose the target folder where you want this folder to be moved.

Finally, my folder structure will look like this:

My Pictures
  TRANSFER
  FAMILY
    2008
    2009
    2010
      2010-12-01-10-park-playing-ball-bicycle
      2010-12-05-mall-playground-very-cold

Essentials for organizing your digital photos

Here are the essential products and services I have come to rely on for many years to keep my media collection organized and safe. Even though these are affiliate links, I wholeheartedly recommend them.

Excellent Lightroom and Picasa alternative. If you need a cheaper and simpler photo manager then ACDSee Photo Studio for Mac (save 50% until Nov 8th) or ACDSee Photo Studio Professional for Windows (new version) is my preferred solution for organizing all my media. It has a very fast browser, great image editing and it's simple to use.

If you do a lot of image editing like I do, I recommend using Adobe Lightroom Classic CC via the annual Adobe Creative Cloud subscription. Lightroom has best photo editing capabilities even though it comes with a steeper learning curve. If you do image editing, Adobe Lightroom is my favorite.

I recommend Backblaze Personal Cloud Backup for affordable & reliable unlimited cloud backup. I have been using Backblaze for backing up all pictures & videos for more than 5 years now. All my invaluable digital memories are safe and secure. This is the best solution especially if you have a large quantity of media files.

Use a reliable & affordable external hard drive for backing up everything on your computer. It is absolutely essential for keeping all your memories backed up and safe.

Start organizing now using detailed, step-by-step instructions and videos:
Personal Coaching (closed) Independent Course Private Lessons
Reference book Basics book Picasa book

YOURS FREE! 10 crucial steps most people miss when organizing their digital photos

Most people want to just organize their digital pictures and ignore these crucial steps right at the beginning...when they are shooting and transferring their digital pictures. Then they wonder why they can't organize their digital photos! Avoid most people's mistakes and start on the right track!

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