Need file management workflow suggestions

[janb83]

For most of my private family photos, I have an events-based folder structure as well as different snapshot folders. So, not a simple year-month structure or something like that. This means whenever I add new files to IMatch, I need to either

1) move the files to their location first, and then add them to IMatch via a rescan.
2) place the files into a "New" folder that is known to IMatch, rescan that folder and then move the files in IMatch

Usually, a batch of files synched from my phone contains files for several target folders, let's say 5-10 on average.

Both approaches leave a lot to be desire, and I am looking for suggestions on how to improve the sitatuon. Here are the current downsides of each approach

1)
- workflow is more spread across applications
- requires a rescan of my root folder in IMatch, as the files will have been moved to various subfolders -> slow
- requires some intelligent filtering/categories in IMatch to handle the next processing steps (write-back of the automatically added tag data, manual face annotations, rating images)

2)
- adding new subfolders requires disabling friendly folder names (why? no idea, it's just names, not structure, so it would be technically possible to allow adding in friendly view), which needs to be enabled afterward manually
- because there is no way to display two folder trees side by side, this means that you have to manually navigate back to the "New" folder afterward. Luckily there are shortcuts for that I wish they were Alt+Shift+Arrows instead of N/P though (actually, just Alt/Ctrl/Shift+Arrows would be even better)
- during the creation of subfolders, you cannot see the files you want to move anymore, because you first have to right-click on the parent folder in the folder tree which changes focus and thus the folder view. This however means you no longer see anything about the files you move, including the filenames. If you need the date for naming your folder, you have to make a mental note of the date before navigating the tree.

I am mainly looking for ideas on how to create a better workflow, especially for the second approach which is better contained within IMatch. Maybe I'm missing some obvious steps to improve this, or there are IMatch features I haven't yet discovered that might help. How are you guys handling ingestion if it's not simply date-folder-based?

[David_H]

For most of my private family photos, I have an events-based folder structure as well as different snapshot folders. So, not a simple year-month structure or something like that. This means whenever I add new files to IMatch, I need to either

1) move the files to their location first, and then add them to IMatch via a rescan.
2) place the files into a "New" folder that is known to IMatch, rescan that folder and then move the files in IMatch

2)
- adding new subfolders requires disabling friendly folder names (why? no idea, it's just names, not structure, so it would be technically possible to allow adding in friendly view), which needs to be enabled afterward manually
- because there is no way to display two folder trees side by side, this means that you have to manually navigate back to the "New" folder afterward. Luckily there are shortcuts for that I wish they were Alt+Shift+Arrows instead of N/P though (actually, just Alt/Ctrl/Shift+Arrows would be even better)
- during the creation of subfolders, you cannot see the files you want to move anymore, because you first have to right-click on the parent folder in the folder tree which changes focus and thus the folder view. This however means you no longer see anything about the files you move, including the filenames. If you need the date for naming your folder, you have to make a mental note of the date before navigating the tree.

I am mainly looking for ideas on how to create a better workflow, especially for the second approach which is better contained within IMatch. Maybe I'm missing some obvious steps to improve this, or there are IMatch features I haven't yet discovered that might help. How are you guys handling ingestion if it's not simply date-folder-based?

I think many of us use a variant of option 2- new images are added into an Ingest folder of some sort, and then use the renamer in Imatch to move them to their final destination; in my case, they'll be renamed from the import folder to somewhere in the appropriate YYYY/MM/YYYY_MM_DD/ hierarchy based on the image metadata and file extension (in my case, my CR3/CR2 raws are at the top, any ooc jpegs go into a seperate subfolder and get picked up with a versioning rule).

[Jingo]

How are you guys handling ingestion if it's not simply date-folder-based?

I think the majority of users DO indeed use a date-folder based system because it allows for quick file finding in Windows and via the file browser in IMatch.  I personally just create events to encapsulate items I wish to keep together.. but a date folder system seems to be the most flexible which is why it is immensely popular among users.

I am curious why you find an event based structure superior to a date based structure given you use a DAM like IMatch to manage your photos?

[sinus]

2)
- adding new subfolders requires disabling friendly folder names (why? no idea, it's just names, not structure, so it would be technically possible to allow adding in friendly view), which needs to be enabled afterward manually
- because there is no way to display two folder trees side by side, this means that you have to manually navigate back to the "New" folder afterward. Luckily there are shortcuts for that I wish they were Alt+Shift+Arrows instead of N/P though (actually, just Alt/Ctrl/Shift+Arrows would be even better)
- during the creation of subfolders, you cannot see the files you want to move anymore, because you first have to right-click on the parent folder in the folder tree which changes focus and thus the folder view. This however means you no longer see anything about the files you move, including the filenames. If you need the date for naming your folder, you have to make a mental note of the date before navigating the tree.

Like David and Jingo wrote, I do also use option 2.
I have a date-folder-structure.

Then I have a folder, in what I throw all new images.

I do not work with friendly folders, hence I know nothing about this.
But to rename and move them in a (maybe) new subfolder, I bring the wished files in a result windows.
In the result window I use a renamer-template to

-rename the files with a consistent file-naming-system
-move them into a folder in my date-folder-structure

With this, after renaming and moving is done by the renamer, I am still in the result window and see all files.
There I can see either with tooltips, or in the (custom) windows layout, where they have been moved.
If I want check this realy, I check this with Ctrl g, and IMatch jumps to this file in the folder inside the folder view.
But the result window holds still all of these files. Hence I can simply back in the result window and do more stuff.

Checking the files, in what folder they have been moved, is not necessary in my case, because I am sure, they are in the correct folder.
The renamer creates a new folder based on my folder-date-system (when a new month has arrived, it creates a new one) or the file will be added to an existing folder.

If I now want move the files or rename them (still in the result window) I can simply do this, because the remain in the result window, not dependend, in what folder they are.

So all files are in this date-folder-structure.
For all other stuff I use categories (and events seems also to be very cool).

You can create categories and throw files into them, say with

-holidays
-x-mas
-parties
-birthdays
-persons (there you have also the mighty people-stuff in IMatch)
-and so on

Inside the cats you can also take advantage from the date-folder-system and say in a cat-formula

-only holidays from files, what are in folder e.g. 2011

and so on.

From my point of view, categories are very, very mighty and we can do a lot.

I guess, I have written here stuff, what you know anyway, but finally you have a user-opinion more.

[Tveloso]

I also used a date-based folder structure, with the same general approach of a local Ingest Folder, and Renamer Presets (called "Store Photos" and "Store Videos") to handle renaming the files, and placing them into the correct target folders (with the Ranamer creating the folders when needed).

But the renamer is very powerful, so if you wanted to keep your event-based structure, you may be able to still use the same general approach) of an ingest folder where the files are worked on first), and if you add "event keywords" to your files, the Renamer may be able to distribute the files to the correct target folders (and create those folders when needed) based upon those keywords.
__PRESENT

[ubacher]

I suspect JANB83, you use snapshot folders  to "categorize" photos. This is a common approach when
not using Imatch or another DAM system.

Generally you can store photos anywhere, but at least all under one (preferably) directory tree.
The most common way, because of Windows, is to name them and store them in some historic order.

This way, having the name of a file, it will allow you to find it manually using windows alone.

Then you assign Imatch categories or keywords to categorize photos according to your likes.
And Imatch events let you group photos by (usually time based) events.
Such events, being time based, will usually be in their own directory - this is what I gather you
do.
 Sample directory structure:
PHOTOS
2020
 2020-01-01 Winter
 ....
 2020-03-12 NEW YORK TRIP
   .....

 2020-05-01 SUMMER
 .....
2021
...
and for Photos which don't really fall into any specific time I generally have a yearly
2022-01-00 Odds and Ends
directory

I use the built-in photo transfer in WIN10 and it stores the photos in directories either by
date-taken or by date-ingested. It can also do some basic renaming of the individual files.
Best of all I find it is very reliable.
Unfortunately it does not work well ( at least the way I work) when transferring photos from an Android phone.
For that case I transfer the files manually from the phone to an "ingest" folder and split the photos using Imatch.

The windos photo transfer is now quite hidden ( since WIn wants you to use their Photo App).
Here the command:

Code Select Expand

"%SystemRoot%\system32\rundll32.exe" "%SystemDrive%\Program Files\Windows Photo Viewer\photoAcq.dll",PhotoAndVideoAcquire
Hope this helps.

For categories see:
https://www.photools.com/community/index.php?msg=81936