Have you got all your photos crammed across Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and dozens of other folders? Do you often lose track of your important images because your computer is a mess? Read on to find some easy ways to organize your image library on your new Windows 11 computer.
Having your photos organized means nice file names, and a directory structure. Sounds nice. But what if there are duplicates and visually similar photos here and there? What good they will be? The answer lies in using PictureEcho to delete duplicate & similar photos with a powerful scan. PictureEcho can help delete tons of duplicate photos with minimum input from the user.
Use PictureEcho to delete Duplicate & Similar images
PictureEcho is a digitally signed, verified software
Add Metadata to your Images
Image metadata is a crucial part of file management, yet often neglected. Image metadata consists of various types of information that gives a glimpse of the content of your image. For example, author, location, the date is taken, image tags, copyright, camera used rating, comments, etc. This can be especially helpful when you’re trying to search for a specific image without knowing the actual original file name. Metadata will help you quickly discover your images, regardless of whether you have a small or large image library.
To add metadata to your images, right-click an image and select Properties. Click on the Details tab and enter your metadata. Click on OK to save.
Note: You can remove metadata from your images before uploading them onto the Web should you have any privacy concerns. To remove metadata, just use the “Remove Properties and Personal Information” option.
Find & Remove Duplicate Photos
Duplicate photos are inevitable. Your daily PC activities could contribute to duplication and take up precious storage. In order to find and remove duplicate photos, specialized software is required.
Using PictureEcho:
- Download PictureEcho from its official website and run the downloaded setup.
- Click on Add Path.
- Browse and locate the folder that you want to scan for duplicate images.
- Select Exact match option to find exactly-matching images, or Similar Match for visually-similar images.
- Click on Start Search.
- Once the duplicate files are found, click on the Select Duplicates button and choose your desired criteria. For example: To newest/ oldest, high resolution/ low resolution, large/ small files in each group You can also check or uncheck photos by entering a path to your folder.
- Once you’re done, click on Select Action > Permanent Delete.
- Confirm your action.
Create a Proper Folder Structure
Instead of storing all of your photos in a single location, you can store them into separate sub-folders in a structured manner and with logical names.
For example-
- Vacations \ 2021 \ Oct \ Glacier National Park
- Scanned Images \ 2021 \ 10 \ 01
Short & Simple File Names
When you capture photos with your digital camera, the file names are often difficult to read and less friendly (for example, IMG_0281920290.PNG, IMG_0281920291.PNG, etc). Finding the right photo can become a difficult and challenging task. Giving short, simple, and logical names to your files will help you effectively manage them. This helps find your photos faster and locate them when you need them the most.
Use OneDrive
Microsoft OneDrive is automatically installed with your Windows 11 installation. You can also download it separately from here.
Log in to OneDrive using your Microsoft account credentials and you’ll find a OneDrive icon on the left-side panel of the File Explorer. Storing files on OneDrive will help you free up storage locally and get access to your files regardless of the device you use.
Map your Cloud Drive in File Explorer
Do you own a Website or an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) service? If you do, you can simply map your FTP drive into File Explorer to easily drag & drop and upload your files online, as if they’re stored locally.
- Click on the File Explorer icon on your Taskbar.
- Click the See More icon on the toolbar.
- Select Add a Network Location.
- Click on Next.
- Select the option: Choose a custom network location
- Click on Next.
- Type your Web FTP location. Or click Browse and select it. For example: \\Server\Share
- Click on Next, and follow the on-screen instructions.