Image File Names and Organisation for People Who Take Hundreds of Photos

Simple naming and sorting habits so you can find a photo in seconds, whether you have a hundred or a hundred thousand.

Camera names like IMG_4821.jpg are useless for finding a photo. A little structure changes that.

Why bother?

Finding photos fast.
Sorting correctly by date.
Preventing accidental overwrites.
Sharing clearly with others.

Use the date first

Start file or folder names with the date in YYYY-MM-DD form. It sorts correctly and avoids ambiguity.

2027-03-12-park-picnic-01.jpg
2027-03-12-park-picnic-02.jpg

Add a short description

A few words about the event or subject make searching easier:

2027-05-01-sara-graduation.jpg
2027-07-15-lisbon-tram.jpg

Keep names simple

Use letters, numbers, hyphens and underscores.
Avoid special characters such as slashes, colons and quotes.
Avoid very long names.
Use lowercase for consistency.

Numbering

For a series, add numbers with leading zeros: 01, 02, ... 10 so they sort properly.

Versions

Use suffixes to tell versions apart:

Suffix	Meaning
-original	untouched file
-edit	edited version
-web	small copy for the web
-print	high-resolution for printing

Example: 2027-06-01-wedding-cake-web.jpg.

Folders

A simple structure:

Photos/
  2027/
    2027-03 Family/
    2027-06 Wedding/

Bulk renaming

If you have hundreds of files, use a bulk-rename feature in your file manager or a tool, to add date and description to many files at once.

Search and tags

Some gallery apps let you tag people, places or events. Tags may not travel with a file when you move it, so descriptive file names are a good fallback.

Consistency

Whatever scheme you choose, use it every time. A system used consistently beats a perfect one used rarely.

Resized copies

When you make a smaller copy for sharing, add a suffix like -web, so you don't confuse it with the original.

Tips

Date first.
Short description.
Keep originals and sharing copies separate.

Try Image Compress & Resize Tool →