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PICTURES, DOCUMENTS, AND DOWNLOADS in THIS PC in Windows 10

Anonymous
2023-06-22T01:23:07+00:00

Dear Community,

Within the Pictures, Documents, and Downloads folders in This PC, I have hundreds-if not thousands-of all types of images, documents on all subject matters, and

various downloaded programs of programs, apps, other documents and pictures, etc. For example in the Pictures folder I have images like scientific charts, sci-fi

images, entertainment images of movies and performances, celebrities, historical reconstructions, flow charts, actual photos, astronomy, etc. My Documents section

contains journal articles, news articles, essays and point-of-views from various pundits, critics, and scholars, political cartoons, etc.

What I want to do is to set up separate category files WITHIN EACH of these Pictures, Documents and Download folders in This PC in Windows, in order to

properly organize the multitude of written and image materials. That way I can more readily access the ones I want to see with less of a need to plow through

the lot of them. Right now they are all pretty much haphazardly arranged, although the images in the Picture section has some chronological order, but

not all. I want to arrange everything according to general subject matter. So, how do I do that? Windows 10 offers additional ways of organization, but I do not

know how to do it or the sequence of steps that are necessary for file specification by category. Thank You. Steve

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Les Ferch 10,326 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-06-23T19:39:31+00:00

    This is pretty much the same problem as having a huge pile of papers on your desk and wanting them to be magically organized according to your requirements. The computer does offer some advantages in being able to differentiate different file types and properties, but it has no way of knowing, for example, that a particular picture file should be grouped together with a related Word document or PDF file. If you want to start by gathering together files that have certain matching properties, be it file Type, Date modified, Author (if exists in the document's meta-data), etc. you can search on those properties to find all matches and then move the found items to a new folder. There's going to be a lot of manual work for what you've described. It mainly involves making folders and moving items into folders.

    Here's a good tutorial on Windows search:

    https://www.elevenforum.com/t/using-windows-11-search.2177/

    That tutorial if for Windows 11, but it's very similar in Windows 10. The same group has a Windows 10 search tutorial, but it's dated (shows options that are not available by default) and lacks the details of the other tutorial, but here it is anyhow: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/94452-search-file-explorer-windows-10-a.html

    There are many other tutorials online as well and you can always ask an AI interface, such as ChatGPT, how to do any type of search so you can organize your files effectively.

    Many people find that they can get their files organized more easily using a third-party file manager. There are many goods ones out there, such as Directory Opus.

    And there are tools that are designed to automatically organize your files (to the extent that is possible based on file type and file meta-data and possibly contents in some cases). Do an Internet search for something like: windows app that helps me organize my files

    You may want to go to another forum, such as tenforums.com, to ask for recommendations of that kind of software.

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  1. Les Ferch 10,326 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2023-06-24T04:20:44+00:00

    You're very welcome and I highly recommend joining tenforums.com to continue the discussion. I'm sure you'll find users there that have gone through the same process and will provide valuable insight and software recommendations.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-06-24T04:03:35+00:00

    LesFerch, Thank You for your response and your very helpful suggestions. You've provided me with a lot of resources to consider. I don't mind doing

    the heavy manual lifting needed to organize my stuff. For one thing, it serves me right for not taking a more systematic approach to computer use.

    When computers really began to dominate communication, I just surfed to my heart's content, downloading anything that looked remotely interesting.

    Going through my stuff also helps me decide what I want to keep that has some value, and what should be pruned. Not like in the past where I treated

    the pc like a glorified toy. I downloaded "it," so "it" should be immortal. Right. This is a great site by the way. 5 stars. Steve

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-06-23T05:16:57+00:00

    Thank You, Manson. I'm not too familiar with 3rd party software that might address this issue. However, since I'd like to really organize my "stuff," I might

    be willing to invest in a reliable one, even if there is an associated cost.

    Are you permitted-as a Community Support Specialist-to suggest various 3rd party software that I could utilize to get my various pieces of downloaded

    information organized in a good recognizable fashion? I mean really decent software programs. Would appreciate it if it's OK and consistent with

    Community policy. Steve

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-06-22T07:46:27+00:00

    Hi Stephenrusty，

    Welcome to Microsoft Community.

    I know you want a more segmented folder classification and filing. But Windows 10 in addition to the default folder, there is no more detailed category folder, which needs to be created according to your own needs.

    I searched online for what you requested, but they all seem to point to third party software. I thought you might want to search online to see if there is one that fits your needs.

    Send feedback to Microsoft with the Feedback Hub app - Microsoft Support

    At the same time, we also recommend that you send your requests to the developers through the feedback hub so that they can understand what users want. If you post feedback, please post the link in the reply and I'll click to vote for you.

    If you have any further questions, please feel free to leave us a message.

    Thank you for your understanding and patience!

    Best regards

    Manson | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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