Like most of us, getting your photos in order represents the big and often daunting task of organizing your life and memories. But when you think about the once-in-a-lifetime photos you've captured, it is well worth the time and effort. So whether you're going to organize traditional, digital or a combination of both types of photos, it's important to create a logical method that will help to preserve as well as make them easier to find later.

Naming Tips:
Keep these basic file naming guidelines in mind when following the recommendations in the following sections:

1. Stick to the letters of the alphabet, numerals 0-9 and the hyphen (“-“) and underscore (“_”) characters.
2. Keep your photo and directory names to 31 characters or less – 11 characters or less if you will be backing up to CDs.

For more on this topic see UPDIG Guidelines, version 2, http://www.updig.org/guidelines/naming.php