Use a year and a short event name, then keep originals and edited copies easy to tell apart. A system you recognise later is more useful than a complicated filing scheme.
This explains a naming method for ordinary computer folders. It does not ask you to rearrange files inside an Apple Photos library or another app’s private storage.
Start with one group
Try the system on copies of a small event folder. Keep the working originals where they are until you know the new arrangement makes sense.
Your main folder might be called Family photos. Inside it, use 2024, then 2024-09 Perth visit. For everyday pictures, 2024-09 Everyday photos can be enough.
You do not need a folder for every meal or walk. Add another level only when it helps you find something.
Leave uncertain dates uncertain
Use Date unknown when you genuinely do not know. For an estimated year, include about, such as About 1965 Beach holiday.
A file’s date may describe when it was scanned, copied or edited. Do not turn that into a confident claim about when the original scene happened.
Use the same pattern for the next group. Consistency is what makes the collection familiar.
Keep originals and edits distinct
If you edit an event’s photos, use separate Originals and Edited copies folders inside that event. Keep the untouched files in Originals.
An edited filename can include a helpful word, such as edited or AI-restored. Preserve meaningful original filenames, especially when they connect to a catalogue or another file.
For scans, use matching names for the front and back: 001-front and 001-back. Keep the file extension supplied by the app; that ending helps software recognise the file type.
Give incoming photos their own space
When a relative supplies pictures, put their copied batch in its own To review folder before combining it with an established event. Include the sender’s name in your private notes.
Two cameras can produce unrelated pictures with the same filename. If copying asks to replace an existing file, cancel that item and compare the versions in separate folders.
Do not assume a matching name proves a duplicate. One might be an original and another an edited favourite.
Keep the story beside the pictures
Add a simple note for the event using a document app you already know. Call it Family notes and record people, place, source and uncertainty.
For example: “Probably Nan’s house. Ask Sue about the year.” Keep this note with the folder when making spare copies.
Before sharing the folder outside the family, read the note for private details that should stay with you.
Check the system before expanding
Close the folder and find it again. Its name should tell you what is inside. Open an original and an edited version and check that you can distinguish them.
If there are many empty folders, simplify. If one folder covers unrelated years, divide that group when you next work on it.
A working folder is not automatically a backup. Protect it separately before a larger reorganisation.
Next step
Understand what a separate photo backup needs to do.
Sources and date checked
This is an editorial naming method, checked against preservation guidance on 9 September 2026. It is not an app-specific file-moving tutorial. Examples are fictional.