Skip to content

Organizing Photos

Yaffo gives you several ways to organize a library without moving your original files: filters, favorites, tags, people, labels, locations, and custom pages. This page explains how those pieces fit together.

Start with Indexing

Organization starts with an indexed library. If new photos do not appear, run Utilities → Index Photos or wait for Yaffo's watcher/hourly sync to pick up changes.

See Indexing & Library Management for the full indexing workflow.

Use Filters for Temporary Views

Filters are best when you want a temporary view of the library:

  • photos from a specific year;
  • videos only;
  • photos containing a person;
  • photos with a label;
  • photos near a location;
  • favorites only.

Filters do not change the media item. They only change what the gallery is showing right now.

See Browsing, Filtering, and Search for filter details.

Use Favorites for Quick Picks

Favorites are a lightweight way to mark important media. Use them for photos you want to revisit, compare, or include in custom pages.

You can toggle favorites from the gallery card or the photo detail page, then use the Favorites filter to find them again.

Use Tags for Your Own Categories

Tags are user-controlled name/value pairs. They are useful for organization that is specific to your workflow.

Examples:

  • Event: Reunion
  • Trip: Italy
  • Album: Holiday card
  • Status: Needs review

Edit tags from the photo detail page. After saving, tags become available in the gallery filter sidebar.

Use People for Who Is in a Photo

People are built from face assignments. Assign faces to people, then use the People filter to find photos containing those people.

Use people when the organizing question is "who is in this photo?"

See Faces & People.

Use Labels for What Is in a Photo

Labels are automatic classification results such as beach, dog, wedding, or custom labels you define. They are useful for broad content discovery.

Use labels when the organizing question is "what kind of photo is this?"

See Labels and Auto-Classification.

Use Locations for Where Photos Were Taken

Yaffo can use GPS metadata to show photos on a map. You can assign location names such as Grant Park or The White House, then use location filters in the gallery.

Use locations when the organizing question is "where was this taken?"

See Locations & Map.

Use Duplicate Review for Cleanup

The duplicate utility helps find photos that look the same or nearly the same. Review duplicate groups before removing anything.

Use duplicate review when the organizing question is "which copies can I clean up?"

See Finding Duplicates.

Use Custom Pages for Saved Views

Custom pages are useful when a view deserves its own place in the app: a favorites wall, a travel page, a family dashboard, or a year-in-review page.

Use custom pages when filters are not enough and you want a reusable presentation of part of your library.

See Custom Pages.

A Practical Workflow

For a new library, a good first pass is:

  1. Index the photo folders.
  2. Review unassigned faces and create people.
  3. Mark favorites while browsing.
  4. Add tags for events or projects that matter to you.
  5. Review GPS-backed photos on the map and assign location names.
  6. Run duplicate review before deleting anything.
  7. Create custom pages for views you want to keep.