workflow suggestions for 20 years of files

[ron_hiner]

I have hundreds of thousands of images in thousands of folders organized by date across a 20 year span.   Some of them have ratings and keywords and ITPC data -- but most do not.  Realistically, it feels like a post-retirement project to clean all that up.  Does it make sense to scan all these into a catalog before I add some identifying data to the individual images?  Suggestions to make PM+ useful before and during the cleanup process?

[Kirk Baker]

Ron,

I have hundreds of thousands of images in thousands of folders organized by date across a 20 year span.   Some of them have ratings and keywords and ITPC data -- but most do not.  Realistically, it feels like a post-retirement project to clean all that up.  Does it make sense to scan all these into a catalog before I add some identifying data to the individual images?  Suggestions to make PM+ useful before and during the cleanup process?

While you could add all of your metadata first, it's not necessary.  Also, the search and filter capabilities may help you group images together better than browsing folders does and that may make it more efficient for you to add common metadata to large groups of images via the Metadata Template dialog.  The catalog(s) will be updated with your metadata changes.  Note: you can only make metadata changes to images while they're online and available.

HTH,

-Kirk