Folder organization guide

Organize photos into Year/Month folders

Turn one crowded media folder into a predictable YYYY/MM/ archive. Foldnize uses each file’s original metadata date to choose its destination.

The resulting folder structure

Media/
├── 2021/
│   └── 06/
├── 2022/
│   ├── 01/
│   └── 12/
└── 2023/
    ├── 07/
    └── 08/

Foldnize reuses existing year and month folders. Missing folders are created only when required.

Build the archive safely

  1. Select the highest-level folder you want Foldnize to scan.
  2. Choose whether to rename files, or leave the renaming mode unchanged for your workflow.
  3. Enable Sort into Year/Month folders.
  4. Leave recursive scanning enabled if media is spread across nested folders.
  5. Run a Dry run and inspect both the destination folder and filename.
  6. Apply the operation after confirming the preview.

Year/Month sorting from the CLI

npx foldnize --root=./media --mode=prefix --year-month --dry-run

This keeps each original filename, adds the date prefix, and previews a move into the matching year and month. Remove --dry-run to apply.

Organize mixed photos and videos together

The same archive can contain JPG, PNG, MOV, MP4, and MP3 files. Images use EXIF-style original dates; supported videos can use QuickTime metadata or FFprobe output. A single trip’s photos and videos therefore land in the same chronological month.

What happens to existing folders?

  • Files already in the correct folder can remain there.
  • Already formatted filenames are not repeatedly renamed.
  • Empty folders left after moves are preserved.
  • Filename collisions receive numbered suffixes.
  • Files without readable dates are skipped.

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