Organize Your Media Files - 3 Tips for Keeping Your Digital Files Organized (Plus Some Bonus Tips 👀)

Introduction

In this video, I share my top three tips for organizing your church's media files. Whether you use Dropbox, Google Drive, a NAS, or just a bunch of hard drives, these best practices have helped us stay organized and avoid the chaos that can come with managing large amounts of media. Stick around until the end for some bonus tips, including one I've started using this year that has been incredibly helpful for quickly accessing folders.

Tip 1: Organize by Year and Event Type

To keep our media files organized, we start by organizing projects by year and then by event type. Initially, we didn't do this, and our older folders (from 2015 to 2018) are quite messy. However, for 2022 and 2023, we've implemented this system, and it has made a significant difference. For example, our 2023 folder is neatly organized into categories like bumper videos, Christmas projects, Easter projects, events, ministries, miscellaneous b-roll, night of worships, sermons, life groups, and Sunday services photos and videos. This structure makes it much easier to find specific projects.

Tip 2: Keep Photos and Videos Together

I've gone back and forth on this, but now I'm a firm believer in keeping photos and videos together instead of separating them into different folders. This approach simplifies my workflow because often, when I'm looking for video from a specific event, I also need photos. Having everything in one place saves time and reduces the hassle of searching through multiple folders.

Tip 3: Have a Specific Place for Ongoing Projects

Some projects aren't tied to a specific year, so we keep these in dedicated folders. For example, we have ongoing projects like sermon videos, podcast episodes, media and checklist updates, headshot photos, and countdown video assets. This way, we don't have to recreate these folders every year. Instead, everything is centralized, making it easy to find and manage.

Bonus Tips

Folder Structure for Individual Projects

When creating a new project, I use a consistent folder structure: audio, footage, photos, project files, and renders. Inside each folder, I further organize by type. For example, in the audio folder, I have subfolders for music and mics. In the footage folder, I sort by camera. In the photos folder, I have subfolders for raw and edited photos. This organization helps keep everything in order and easy to locate.

Quick Access to Current Projects

To save time, I add current projects to the sidebar in Finder. This allows me to access them with one click instead of navigating through multiple folders. Once the project is done, I remove it from the sidebar. This simple tip has significantly improved my workflow.

Conclusion

Organizing your church's media files can be daunting, but with these tips, it becomes much more manageable. Organize by year and event type, keep photos and videos together, and have a specific place for ongoing projects. Additionally, using a consistent folder structure for individual projects and adding current projects to the Finder sidebar can save you a lot of time. I hope you find these tips helpful. If you have any additional tips or questions, leave a comment below. Check out the links in the description for more related videos.