Have you ever wanted to compare your child’s photos from last Christmas to this Christmas and realized that you had to dig through thousands of photos to find the one photo you are wanting? You see all these people posting their kid’s first-day-of-school last year compared to this year and you know that looking for a photo taken 365 days ago is like finding a needle in a haystack. What if I told you my #1 secret to organizing photos is as simple as renaming your photo? Well, my friend, that is it.

Today I am going to give you the biggest tip for organizing your photos. Seriously, my #1 secret to organizing photos: renaming your photo files and why it is important.

To make it even easier, I created a free cheat sheet for you! Grab it here.

More of a visual learner? Hop over to my YouTube Channel. I have a video for you!

First, I am going to give you my formula for naming my files and go through why each is important.

LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_EVENT_MONTH_YEAR

Last Name

Yes, even for my own children I title them with the last name first. This is very important because if anyone else gets their hands on these files, I want them to know exactly who is in the photo. Can you imagine if photos that are 120 years old only had the first name written on the back? That wouldn’t be helpful in knowing exactly who that person was.

First Name

I recently shared on my social media a photo of Wisdom that looked exactly like his big brother Worth. Like, exactly. Someone DMed and said, “make sure you somehow know who is who in these photos years to come. My sister’s baby picture ended up in MY graduation slideshow!” HA! Siblings can so look similar even the parents can’t tell them apart- especially years later. For this reason, I always put their family in the photo. If they are both in the photo I put Brint_Worth_Wisdom_.

Event

This one right here is the game-changer. This is the biggest secret to organizing photos for moms especially. Put the event in which the photos were taken. Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Back-to-School, etc. This is how I can pull all of Worth’s Christmas photos and compare them from year to year with ease. In the title, I have the word Christmas. So, when I search “Christmas” in my Dropbox, all the photos with the word Christmas in the come up without me having to search.

HUGE TIP: Make sure you choose exactly what you are going to call events and stick with it. If you were to one year title the photos XMAS and the next year title the photo Christmas, It’s going to make them much harder to find. I suggest making a list and stick to it. I have a free guide to naming your photos here- it includes exactly what I name my photos for most common events.

Date

Never ever underestimate the value of adding the date. This makes organizing your photos by year a breeze.

There you have it, my #1 secret to organizing your photos is simply renaming them with intention. By making sure the last name, first name, event, and date is included, you will be able to search and organize your photos much more easily. Now it’s time to get photographing!  Want to learn how to use a fancy camera to take AMAZING photos of your kids? Join me in Mom Photography school for only $35! Click here to read all about how much moms all over the country have gotten amazing results with MPS.