How can I organize photos by numbers or a certain way?

Question

I took a vacation to Hawaii with some kids from school. We got back two days ago and we're trying to get together and put all our pictures together for one great album. I just got one friend's pictures today and I am adding them to my folder on my computer. The problem is, I want to organize them a certain way. I've been adding numbers next to the file name, but when I want to add new pictures, I would need to rename all the files again with different numbers to match my needs.

For example, if I wanted to add a friend's picture between picture 5 and 6, I would need to rename all the files (expect 1-4), making the new picture number 6 and changing all the numbers (6 to 7, 7 to 8) for X number of files. Is there an easier way to do this or some program that would number files for me or organize them in a certain way for me?

Answer 1

To insert a few shots between pictures 4 and 5, name the new ones 4d, 4h, 4l, 4p and 4t. When you sort them all alphabetically, this will work out nicely. And with the gaps in your lettering system, you can insert even more files as you go.

If you're still in the process of adding files to the end of the list, use the old trick that's taught to kids programming in Basic and jump 10 numbers between shots: 200, 210, 220, and so forth.

If all the camera's internal clocks were synchronized, you could simply sort the pictures by 'date taken' in Windows Explorer or use a batch renaming tool. That's probably not an option though.

Answer 2

when I upload my photos to my computer I make a new file for the photos by the date and location... say... June 2 2008- beach... then number the photos 060208-001 ... the computer will number beyond the date..