Getting and sorting your media

"Knowledge is power." -- Francis Bacon

Ok, so now that we know the basis of how the media is stored and how to back it up, we need to get our media into the program and get it sorted so that we can find them. Isn't that our goal?

I would first think of the types of categories my photos would fall into. You will notice in the sortbox and ratings view of your media library that there are already sortboxes there for you, such as family, events, and holidays. You will want to customize these names to work for you. However, a tip you should know: you cannot add photos into a sortbox, there needs to be a file in the sortbox for the media to be added to. For example, under the Family sortbox, there are default folders for Mom, Dad, Son and Daugther. Photos with mom in them would be put in the mom folder. However, I would suggest editing these names to fit your family. Like my mom folder would be changed to Sharon. To do this, right click on the folder you want to edit and choose edit. From here, you can change the name and location of any folder you edit.

If you need a new folder inside a particular sortbox you can either click create at the top of your sortbox list, or right click on the sortbox to add the folder.


If you need another sortbox (which can stand on it's own or inside another sortbox) click on create, name it and give it a location or parent sortbox. Inside the family sortbox, I have two sub-sortboxes: 1) just for my daugther because she is the subject of most of my photos and I use categories such as eathing, bathtime, playtime, etc. to name my folders and 2) for "other family" where I have our extended family listed in their respective folders, one for each of our siblings and their families as well as the in-laws.

DATED FILES ARE NOT NECESSARY. Memory Manager keeps up with this on it's own based on the information your camera stamped on that image. This is a great time to double check your camera settings to be sure it is correct. You can use the time scale located at the bottom to find pictures in addition to the advanced search features which I will cover at a later date. So only think of categories not dates for your sortboxes.

Are you still with me? Good! Now that you have your organizational structure started, let's get our photos (video and audio work basically the same way, except for scanner, obviously). You can either import them directly from your camera, a scanner for older film printed photos or from an existing file on your computer. You can also do a search of your computer if you are not sure where your photos are on your drive. At the top you will see the 'get media' option and this is where you will choose the location to get your media.

Once brought in, you will have to sort them in the sortboxes and folders. I work on my sorting from the 'not in any folder' mode located in the sortbox window, right under my media library. When working here, it will automatically take the picture out of view once it's been added to a folder, making it easier to know which ones have been sorted. If you do this from your Media Library view, they photos will remain in view because it's all encompassing. Another place that is excellent for sorting is right when you bring your photos in the import date view. There is a box to the left to select to hide photos once place in album. Again, makes things easier to see what photos still need to be sorted.

Where you put them depends on the subject. If you have several that need to go in the same sortboxes, the easiest way to do this is to select the first photo in the series, press and hold shift and then select the last photo in the line. This will select every picture in between the first and last selected photo. Then right click and add to folder. From here you can choose as many folders as necessary. For example, you have a picture of you, your husband and two children; that one picture will be added to your folder, your husband's and BOTH of your children's folders. Now, this said, you have to understand that it does not copy these pictures into these 4 folders. Rather, it creates a pathway to find that picture, almost like a roadmap. This is great because you don't have to have multiple copies of the same picture taking up space on your hard drive and you can actually find your pictures quickly.

Another way to add photos into folders is the traditional drag and drop. You can use the mass selection technique and then drag into a folder. However, this is not recommended if it needs to be added to more than one folder at a time.

If you accidently put a media item in the wrong folder, simply right click and remove from folder. Once a photo is sorted, you can click on it and look over to the right under folders. It will show you every folder that one picture is in and helps you with accuracy.

This is a lot of information at once so I'll stop here. Next lesson will be about rating your photos, using the journaling option and renaming your photos.