Genealogy Organization - Better File Naming For Your Photos

[@bethchaplin2023]

So helpful! Thanks for making this video. Knowing that pathnames “count” in the character limit for a file is very useful.

[@roadtoyourfamilyhistory9987]

Thank you for the encouraging words, Beth! Thanks for watching and for your support!

[@shellylowery7623]

Greg, thank you so much for finding and sharing this naming method. It will be so very helpful as I progress on my journey through time and place.

[@GregKleist]

Thank you for your wonderful comments, and for watching the channel!

[@lindaj5492]

Thank you! Sometimes it’s spooky how KZbin throws me a video that is exactly what I need at a certain time 😮. I’m just getting started on sorting & trying to organise a mass of family history materials; and because I’ve not yet got a good or consistent system, I’m constantly distracted by some interesting detail (“squirrel!”). Just a quick look at the first couple of pages of the article, and the “who, what, when, where” idea jumped out at me!

[@roadtoyourfamilyhistory9987]

You are so welcome!

[@maureentaphouse5206]

What an interesting but logical approach. I shall certainly be downloading the gentleman's article . I'm a big fan of including birth dates and I worked this out myself when faced with 2 men of identical names born 20 years apart. Now when I look at the name I know instantly which it is and their relationship to me. Thank you for posting this video

[@GregKleist]

You're very welcome. When I found this I just had to contact the author and ask him if I could share it with my viewers. Thank you for watching!

[@rtrail9293]

Thank you for this episode. The hand out is very thorough and easy to understand. This methodology could be applied to all your files, not just your image files.

[@roadtoyourfamilyhistory9987]

You're very welcome!

[@anarchisttutor7423]

There are ways to use code to batch-change filenames. In the Windows Explorer window, Alt+D or highlight address bar, type CMD or Shift+right click in window, select Powershell Look up code to cut and paste into what appears next. You can make substitutions, add to or delete from the beginning or end of filenames, etc.

[@cristiebettilyon9086]

This is great! I have been looking for an file naming solution because traditionally I've used a Mac, which allows for commas in file names/folders. Now that I'm using a NAS for my image storage, I've realized this was a giant mistake. I'll have to go and rename all my genealogical files, but going forward - this naming convention will simplify my multiple levels of subfolders. Thanks for sharing!

[@GregKleist]

Thank you so much for your comments. I'm very glad that this was helpful for you! I appreciate you watching my channel!

[@TimRoot-dotcom]

Good ideas! I also like to label my family photo scans this way. This is essentially 'tagging' the file names directly ... allowing ANY search tool or cloud storage to work properly. An example of my image naming convention looks like this: ArcScan_10331 [John T. Smith] [child] [school portrait] [1940s] [water damage] [keeper] [askmomfordetails].tiff I built myself an autohotkey script to append my most common tags to the end of the filename with keyboard shortcuts. My favorite search program is the free software "Everything" by Voidtools. It creates an index of your computer files so that searching by file name is instantaneous. I also like having a scan number associated with the image - this number is written with archival pen on the plastic sleeve protecting the original photograph. The number also helps me find duplicate files.

[@roadtoyourfamilyhistory9987]

That's a bit more involved than the system in the video. But if you are technically capable (obviously "yes") and the system works well for you (and it looks like it does), then that's best one for you. Thanks for watching!

[@raymondthomas7241]

Thank you! I have also struggled with trying different systems and naming conventions.

[@roadtoyourfamilyhistory9987]

You're so welcome! Thanks for watching!

[@susaneasterly]

So I really love this convention! And I read Zimmerman's paper (because I was curious about naming groups). It's a great method overall. I'm going to throw in some monkey wrenches (food for thought?) - I doubt they are a big deal or will apply to most of us, but if we are going with "best practices," and all of that... These would apply should you cross operating systems, upload online, etc. If you are keeping all your files soley on your computer only, these would not be a thing. (1) We should not have spaces in our file names (ever notice the %20 symbol in some file names online? That is filler for a space mark). Instead, use a hyphen. (2) Use lowercase. (3) Avoid forbidden characters, such as the &, which Zimmerman recommends. I'm providing a link here that I found rather quickly - this link is NOT the "be all; end all," there are many other examples online, but this might help you tweak this process if uploading, posting, transfering files is an area of concern. Hope this is helpful... P.S. I think it is rather funny that the link I provided has the %20 - meaning that whoever named this file had the FORBIDDEN SPACES they disavowed in this very article - haha! www.mtu.edu/umc/services/websites/writing/characters-avoid/#:~:text=Keep%20your%20filenames%20to%20a,improve%20your%20search%20engine%20rankings.

[@roadtoyourfamilyhistory9987]

I like using an underscore for a space rather than a hyphen, but that's just a personal preference. Thanks for watching and joining in on the conversation!

[@TheJoyfulEye]

Thank you! I am pretty much at the beginning of my journey and this is a really big help!

[@GregKleist]

So glad it was helpful for you. It's great that you are being organized early in your journey! Thank you for watching!

[@susaneasterly]

So, I have a question for clarity! To be clear, we will only have FOUR folders with no sub-folders? For example, we would just dump all photos of individuals under INDIV because, if we follow the wonderful naming convention, and then view, say, alphabetically, they are essentially organized in a filed group. Is this correct? And then, let's say we have several individuals out of, say, hundreds in this INDIV file, who we have photos of their headstones. If we wanted to see their headstones, we could just search "headstones," and they would group up that way. And that is the beauty of just one big file, right?

[@roadtoyourfamilyhistory9987]

I think you have the right idea. But can also search on "Headstone" plus the surname you're looking for which will cut down on the number of files you get. You obviously have a curious mind, which will surely come in handy while doing your family history!

[@feltonite]

This looks like a great idea. One question, though: Will people opening the files on another computer be able to use the long file names if they don't have long file names enabled?

[@roadtoyourfamilyhistory9987]

You really gave me a stumper there! From what I can find, Windows versions since 1994 allow long file names. Apparently, macOS can use file names up to 255 characters. If anybody else here can give a more educated answer, please speak up! Thanks for watching!

[@kevinjwigner3038]

Neat, very intelligent and well thought out! Thanks! :-)