Managing images: filenames and folders
Filenames
Using meaningful filenames that describe your images is the simplest method of organising your files, and may be good enough if you don't anticipate your collection growing very large. For example, if you have a collection of photographs of buildings, you could ensure that each filename includes the name of the building and its location. When you want to find pictures of the Colosseum in Rome, for instance, you can use the Windows search facility (or the Mac Spotlight feature) to look for files that have the word 'colosseum' in the filename – all the relevant images will then be found.
Most computer systems will now allow the use of long filenames rather than the original 8 character maximum, so it is possible to create some very descriptive filenames (up to 260 characters, although this includes the file path as well as the filename). However, too many characters can get a bit unwieldy, particularly when viewing a list of your files onscreen, so it is good practice to limit their length to something manageable. There are also problems with long filenames when they are transferred to CD-ROMs, so it is good practice to restrict the length of filenames to a maximum of 64 characters, especially if you think you will be likely to burn images to a CD.
Apart from filename length, there are several other conventions that should be followed when naming files in order to avoid compatibility issues:
- limit characters used in filenames to a-z, 0-9, underscore and hyphen – other characters may cause problems when switching between programs
- don't include spaces within the filename - either leave out the spaces or use an underscore or hyphen instead (eg "map_of_spain.jpg)
- don't use a full stop in a file or folder name except before the file extension (eg map.jpg).
Folders
A further level of organisation can be introduced by using a hierarchy of folders to organise your images. These could be based on any set of categories that is relevant to you but it should be logical and consistent. For example, some students have a folder for each module they are taking, and within this they have folders for each assignment. Alternatively, your folder structure may reflect the contents of your images, such as date of creation of an artwork, or a geographical location: for example, images of architecture could be organised into country folders, and further subdivided by cities and then by particular buildings.
Browsing files and folders
Apart from searching for images by filename, it is possible to browse through thumbnails of your images to find the one you need. The simplest way of doing this is just to use the thumbnail view in Windows Explorer to view the contents of a folder: select View from the menu bar and click on Thumbnails or Filmstrip. If you use a Mac, click on View on the menu bar and select As Icons from the list to see thumbnails of images within a folder.
Alternatively, on a Windows PC, you can use Microsoft Office Picture Manager* to collect shortcuts to all your image folders in one place so that you can quickly move between them to browse your image collection. This program also makes easy to move files between folders, perform some basic editing operations, and copy selected images directly into Microsoft applications such as Word and PowerPoint. Further details on using Picture Manager can be found on the Microsoft web site: Using Picture Manager.
* Microsoft Office Picture Manager is available on all Windows PCs with Office 2003 onwards installed. It can be found by clicking on the Start menu, pointing your cursor at All Programs, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office Tools, and then selecting Microsoft Office Picture Manager.
Limitations of using filenames and folders
There are a few limitations in using this method of file organisation:
- Each image must have a unique filename, which may be difficult to manage if the number of files gets too large: even if files are in two different folders, it is still good practice not to duplicate filenames, to prevent compatibility issues if you move files around within your folder structure.
- It can be difficult to think of a good folder structure that suits all of your images.
- You may end up needing to put an image in two folders if it relates to two different themes in your structure, which can waste space on your hard drive.
However, if your image collection is never going to be very large, this method of organising image files may be all that you need.
If your collection grows, or you want a bit more flexibility in managing your image files, take a look at the following sections:
- Free image organisation software
- Online photo management services
- Commercial image management systems