• About
    • Meet Tara
    • Family Photography
    • PR & Advertising
    • Disclosure
    • Contact
  • Celebrations
    • Anniversary
    • Baby
    • Back to School
    • Birthday
    • Bridal Showers
    • Christmas
    • Easter
    • Father’s Day
    • Graduation
    • Halloween & Fall
    • Mother’s Day
    • Patriotic
    • St Patricks Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine’s Day
    • Wedding & Engagement
  • Crafts
    • Costumes & Wearables
    • Gifts and Toys
    • Home Decor
    • Jewelry
    • Kids’ Crafts & Activities
    • Papercrafts
    • Printables
    • SVG Cut Files
  • Home
    • Nehil Home Tour
    • Basement and Garage
    • Bathroom
    • Bedroom
    • Entryway
    • Kitchen
    • Living Room
    • Office
    • Outdoors
  • Lifestyle
    • Blogger
    • Favorite Products
    • Mom Life
    • Organization
    • Parenting
    • Pregnancy
    • Kids Activities
    • Travel
  • SHOP

Spot of Tea Designs

Crafts & DIY, Parenting, Home Decor and Parties.

TwitterFacebookPinterestInstagramShopContact

How To Organize Your Digital Photos

Lifestyle, Organization

DISCLOSURE: Some links on this post contain affiliate links which come at no cost to you! Know that I only promote items I personally use and stand behind. To see more information about affiliate links, please review my full disclosure policy here.

How to Organize Your Digital Photos Tutorial | spotofteadesigns.com

Anyone who knows me knows I love pictures and organization! Since January is often a time that people kick off the year with good intentions on getting more organized, I thought I’d share some tips on how I organize my digital photos in hopes that it might help others.

Tip #1: Collect ALL your photos. Hook up your phone to your computer and download those images in high resolution. (Don’t attach them to emails and download on the desktop, as the phone sometimes condenses the images to a smaller size!) Save all the images passed over in email onto your computer and out of your inbox.  Download any of those you want too!

Tip #2: Create a schedule to collect all your photos, from all sources, regularly. The above tasks might be an overwhelming list if you try to do it all at once and you never did it before. Instead, create a schedule to do this every 1, 3, 6 or 12 months. Set a reminder on your smart phone so you won’t forget!


Tip #3: Get an external hard drive. Yes, your computer will probably have plenty of room for your digital files.  But what if your computer crashes? External hard drives are not as expensive as they used to be and they can help you save your digital memories. Get one. (UPDATE: This is the one we have but you can also get them in smaller storage amounts for less $: WD My Passport 1TB Portable External Hard Drive Storage USB 3.0 Black)

Tip #4: Create a schedule to backup your photos regularly. Getting an external hard drive isn’t enough, unless you actually use it! I currently back up my photos every month or at least every other month. Do what works best for you, but do it at least twice a year. Perhaps your schedule can coordinate with the schedule from tip #2!

How to Organize Your Digital Photos Tutorial | spotofteadesigns.com

Tip #5: Organize chronologically by making a folder for each year. As you upload new photos put it in the yearly folder accordingly.

How to Organize Your Digital Photos Tutorial | spotofteadesigns.com

Tip #6: Within each yearly folder create a subfolder for each event, naming it by the numeric date first, followed by a short title. Numbers always stay in order on your computer while words are organized alphabetically. Don’t call your November trip folder “Arizona”. Call it “11.01.16 Arizona” so it stays in chronological order!

Tip #7: Include a zero in front of folders representing January – September. Again, since I use a numeric system to organize photos chronologically from each event, a zero is needed in front of months that are a single digit. Otherwise your computer might put October topics (listed as month “10”) directly after January topics (listed as “1”).

How to Organize Your Digital Photos Tutorial | spotofteadesigns.com

Tip #8: Create a separate organized folder section for random single photos. I take A LOT of pictures of Brielle. I send photos to Derek while he’s at work, trying to capture something funny or cute as it happens. I wouldn’t say these “one off” type photos need to be separated out in the dated folder structure I previously showed above. Instead I created a monthly folder and I throw all those random photos in these locations. Within each folder there is a “favorites” folder so I’m able to save the best of images for quick reference in the future.

Just a day after writing and scheduling this post, I came across this awesome post on the same topic from Click It Up a Notch! Check out her tips too!

Do you have any digital photo organization tips you’d like to share? Leave me a comment and share!

Sharing With:

Peekaboo Pattern Shop, Sewlicious Home Décor, Be Different Act Normal, Your Home Based Mom, Mad Skills Party, Sew Can Do, Two It Yourself, Made to Be A Momma, JAQ Studios, 52 Mantels, Made in a day, Ella Claire Inspired, 1 Dog Woof, Just A Girl And Her Blog,

Spotofteadesigns.com Signature Design showing ways to socially follow this DIY/Parenting blogSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on twitter. Username: spotofteadesignSOTDSignature4BloglovinSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on pinterest. Username: spotofteadesignSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on instagram. Username: spotofteadesignsSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on cafepress. username: spotofteaSpotofteadesigns.com Signature

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Related

  |   9 Comments

Handmade Gifts: Feature #16 | 2013 Christmas Creations Welcome to the new home of Spot Of Tea Designs!
Spotofteadesigns.com Signature Design showing ways to socially follow this DIY/Parenting blogSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on twitter. Username: spotofteadesignSOTD2019SignatureFollow4FacebookSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on pinterest. Username: spotofteadesignSpotofteadesigns.com Signature showing how to follow on instagram. Username: spotofteadesignsSpotofteadesigns.com Signature

Sign up to stay inspired with new posts!

Comments

  1. Marti says

    January 13, 2014 at 6:24 pm

    Good idea! If I don’t keep mine organized they get out of hand then it takes forever to try to organize them all! These are great tips to follow! Thank you for linking up this week at Sewlicious Home Decor!:)

    Marti

    Reply
  2. Abby @ Just a Girl and Her Blog says

    January 21, 2014 at 12:47 pm

    This is so smart! I know my photos could use some organization for sure! Thanks so much for linking up at Hit Me with Your Best Shot! Hope to see you back tonight!

    ~Abby =)

    Reply
  3. Ms. Q says

    January 5, 2015 at 11:48 am

    Thanks for this… I need to buy a external hard drive. Right now I use Shutterfly especially for photos from my phone.

    Reply
    • Spot of Tea Designs says

      January 5, 2015 at 12:57 pm

      Do it! You will not regret the money spent to help save your photos. Just remember to set some sort of schedule to back them up! :) Thanks for visiting!

      Reply
  4. Charlene says

    January 6, 2015 at 5:50 am

    Fantastic post! thanks for sharing! This is one of my goals this year – to organise my digital photos, I am currently working on a blogpost about it! :) Such a huge job if you don’t keep on top of it!

    Reply
    • Spot of Tea Designs says

      January 6, 2015 at 7:08 am

      Good luck with your goal! My biggest piece of advice is no matter what method of organization you choose make sure you BACK THEM UP when you’re done! :)

      Reply
      • Charlene says

        January 6, 2015 at 7:27 pm

        Definitely! I have had to pay to a lot of money to recover all my photos off my laptop once and I never want that to happen again! Thanks :)

        Reply
  5. Louise says

    January 11, 2015 at 9:00 am

    I do mine a similar way but I have yearly (or sometimes longer) folders for ongoing picture topics but where you often only take a few pics at any one time. Eg 2014 Pets, 2012-2014 Cooking , Me etc so that the photos are easier to find. If I want one of my cat or pet lamb it will be under pets. Single events still get filed in their own folder. I still end up with a few totally random ones that I can’t figure out how to file.

    Reply
    • Spot of Tea Designs says

      January 11, 2015 at 9:52 am

      Thanks so much for sharing your system too! I hate all those one offs and your method sounds like a good idea. Right now I have a “misc” for every year which literally are one off items that I can’t even group!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Meet Tara, author of Spot of Tea Designs

STAY INSPIRED

Sign up for the Spot of Tea Designs Email Newsletter and receive an email each time a new post goes live! Privacy Policy
Shop the Spot of Tea Designs Amazon Store front | spotofteadesigns.com

Follow Me on Instagram

Of all the crafts I've tried before, I've never do Of all the crafts I've tried before, I've never done tie dye! #ad
.
Luckily I'm partnering with @joann_stores this Valentine's season to change all that with the Tulip tie dye kits and my girls could not be more excited! They love the tie dye ombre look so we'll see how I do making us some tie dye heart t-shirts! 
.
Check out my stories I recorded yesterday unboxing our goodies and stay tuned to see the final tie dye results! 
.
👇 Feel free to leave me all your tie dying tips below!!
.
#handmadewithjoann
If yesterday proved anything, it's that girls can If yesterday proved anything, it's that girls can do anything including being Vice President or an AWESOME poet and speaker! Girls can also like science too, which is why I designed these "Great Chemistry" tags for Valentine's day in gender neutral colors for anyone to pass out this February.
.
Test tube containers: @orientaltrading 
Tags: Spot of Tea Designs etsy shop
Learn more: (link in bio) https://spotofteadesigns.com/great-chemistry-printable-valentines-tags/
A while back I worked with @custompictureframes to A while back I worked with @custompictureframes to showcase different DIY ways to use their beautiful frames in different ways in your home. Their new website FINALLY launched and I'm happy to share the first post of mine that's on their blog! 
.
Head to their site to check out how to make this cute clothing line style photo display using screw eyes in a frame. 
.
If you're looking for new frames for the home, see their big selection that you can order in practically any size you need! I have several in my house (in fact they are the only frames we have hung up in our house since moving in 2 years ago).
They didn't offer basketball in our town this year They didn't offer basketball in our town this year due to everything going on and restrictions in indoor sports. If its still going on in your neck of the woods, celebrate your all star with these cute cookie topped cupcakes after a big game!
.
See more of my basketball party hacks --> https://spotofteadesigns.com/basketball-party-hacks/
I'm so excited for today's blog post as it's the f I'm so excited for today's blog post as it's the first of a series for 2021! I'm now part of a fun collaboration with other fellow creators offering free cut files! @officialcricut and @silhouette.inc users alike will love these free designs that you can add to t-shirts, canvas bags, pillows or make them out of paper!
.
I designed this Tic Tac Toe Valentine's t-shirt with my oldest in mind, as she loves games and always new need shirts for the themed days at school. Grab it and the 12 others (seen on the second image) on my blog, Spotofteadesigns.com. 
.
Direct link --> https://spotofteadesigns.com/tic-tac-toe-valentines-free-cut-file/
❤️💗 Holiday Hashtag Series 💗❤️ Mark ❤️💗 Holiday Hashtag Series 💗❤️ Mark your calendars the fun three week series #DIYitsValentines starts Monday January 25th. There will be weekly features and lots of inspiration!!! So get your projects ready and say hello 🙋🏻‍♀️ to our fab and fun hostesses:
♥️ Beth @thekingstonhome
💗Christina @sunshinetulip
💌Katie @katieinthedetails
♥️Laura @destrophoto
💗Lexy @lovinglifewithlexy
💌Lydia @lydioutloud
♥️Mariah @giggles_galore
💗Michelle @michellespartyplanit
💌Paula @frogprincepaperie
♥️Tara @spotofteadesigns
.
We can’t wait to see your Valentine inspired DIY decor, parties, treats, and crafts! {📷: @giggles_galore} #crafts #diy
Follow on Instagram

ASSOCIATIONS

Blog Meets Brand

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Tara Nehil is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Spot of Tea Designs

...is a lifestyle blog showcasing crafts, home decor inspiration, party planning and parenting.

TwitterBlogLovinPinterestInstagramShopContact

Things I Blog About

  • ⇧ UP PLEASE
  • About
  • Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • PR & Advertising
  • Contact

© 2021 Spot of Tea Designs · All Rights Reserved · (FC)

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.