Fixing messed up digi photo organization

[jitterbugjenn]

HELP! I don't want to hear about 'structures' - I've finally got all of THAT figured out!!!!

My issue is trying to FIX the screwed up mess I already have going. 10,000 pictures PLUS that somehow some of them ended up as duplicates with two different file names.

I think I need to put all photos in ONE file folder and somehow alphabetize? - Then open another window along side (same view) and delete from there?

I'm so confused. I'm sure I'm not the only poor soul that's had to do this - so I'm wondering if there's a shortcut that I've not figured out!

Thanks much in advance!!!

[ratsrcute]

I'm not sure what you mean by "structures".

What software are you using? What's your current folder structure? (sorry to use the word "structure")

You certainly don't want to put 10,000 pictures in one folder. Why do you want to delete some of the photos?

Tell us more about your goal.

Mike

EDIT: to explain what I mean by folder structure, I mean that you probably have a folder at the "top", like My Pictures, and within that are folders, and perhaps within those folders are folders, and so on.

I prefer to have many levels, rather than a few levels. For example, at the very top I have folders like "pets", "family", etc. Within "pets" I have "bunnies", "rats", "cats", etc. Within "family" I have "2005", "2006", "2007", "2008". Within "2008" I have "01_January", "02_February", "03_March," ... (the reason for putting the numbers in front is so that the folders show up in order.. otherwise the computer would sort them by the name of the months alphabetically, which does not put the months in the right order). One reason for having all these levels is that each folder has fewer pictures, which makes it easier to scan and sort the contents of a folder.

[Vallie]

I was wondering why you have all these duplicates. Did you copy and paste them into a different folder instead of cut and paste maybe? I have a big folder called photos. In that folder are many folders with different names eg. january 08, february 08, christmas 07, Dan's 21st, Lisa and Sean's wedding, etc... you get the picture. That is all I do with the photos. They just arrange themselves alphabetically. I burn them onto cds or dvds for a backup copy too.
I dont know what "structures" means either! I am not that great with computers.

[BethyNixon]

I don't think there is a short cut to organizing. No matter how you want them it just takes lots of time and work!!

I had most of mine done by date but then some were by event. I started putting them into ACDSee and WOW, what a life saver!! Then I can tag them by date, event, people, etc and just get what I want right away.

But as much as I love how I organized them, it took A LOT of time and I'm no where near done. It's just work.

I wish you luck!! You sound like you have a HUGE project on your hands! That is a heck a lot of photos!

[Fujimom]

I sympathize! I ended up with a mess when I had a problem with my laptop, I put all the photos into a folder and moved it to my desktop computer. Some of these were duplicates. Then eventually that computer was upgraded too, and I ended up creating a bigger mess when transferring my photos to that computer because of all the duplicates. I also had several programs where I would sometimes keep the file in a different directory or file then my Photoshop Organizer, so I was kind of in the mess you are in.

First: you might try downloading Picasa, which will show you where your files are located on the computer. You can then either start deleting those duplicates or move them into files that make more sense. You probably will want to make a backup if you haven't.

Second: I read quite a few reviews on "clone" and "duplicate files" software and ended up choosing a free download program recommended by Randy Savage. You might want to try one of the programs. It was simple and fast and helped me decide if it was a true double version. I was able to clean up a lot of my files in one evening.

Good Luck!

[faerywings]

if you choose to go with ACDSee Photo Manager, there is a way to easily delete Duplicate files.
Duplicate Files: How to find and delete duplicate files with ACDSee Photo Manager? (http://www.digiscrapinfo.com/phpmyfaq/index.php?action=artikel&cat=8&id=26&artlang=en)

To download PM, and lots more info on organizing in general. www.digiscrapinfo.com Forum Index (http://www.digiscrapinfo.com/forum/index.php)

good luck!

[purkey]

I've just about finished a similar project but I'm only dealing with a few thousand pics. In Elements under View you can select Arrangement and then it will give you the Explorer ladder format and the pictures will be listed alphabetically instead of by date. I found that very helpful to find duplicates. I only use 2 master folders: family and travel because I don't often remember when I took a picture so the date folders don't help me. I use the tag system in Elements (just like most sorting programs have) to serve as folders and I can quickly locate any picture I'm thinking of. Like most of the others have said - it's just tedious work, but the longer you put it off, the more daunting it becomes.

Good luck!