Organize your photos with the Photos app

Organize your photos

Finding that favorite photo from your party five years ago can be a daunting task. Windows can help organize photos so finding them later is a lot easier.

One place for all your photos

You can use the Photos app to browse and search photos in your Pictures library. You can also add your account info for your favorite sites to the Photos app—like Facebook, Flickr, and SkyDrive—so those photos show up too. It’s one place to browse and see all of your photos.

The Photos app

You can also use the Photos app to import photos from your camera or phone. Here's how:

  • Connect your camera, phone, or storage card to your PC, swipe up from the bottom edge, and then tap Import.

    (If you're using a mouse, right-click in the Photos app, and then click Import.)

    Use the Photos app to import photos
  • Tap or click the camera or storage card you want to import from.

  • Swipe down on or right-click each photo or video you want to import to select it.

  • Enter a name for the folder you want to put the files in, and then tap or click Import.

Search and find

When you're looking for something specific on your PC, you can search with the Search charm. This works best if you've renamed your photo files to something meaningful.

Photo Gallery

If you have Windows 8, you can download Photo Gallery and use it to organize, find, edit, and share your photos.

Note

Note

Here are some Photo Gallery tips:

  • Tag it. You can use Photo Gallery to add tags (keywords) as you import your photos to make them easier to find later. The most useful tags are simple and describe the people, subject, or theme of the photo. Then, when you search for those keywords (in Photo Gallery or all the files on your PC), the photos you’ve tagged will show up in the results. Open Photo Gallery, plug in your camera or phone to your PC, and then follow the on-screen instructions (you'll see a place to add tags).

  • A friendly face. Photo Gallery has face recognition so you can compare the people you've tagged with people in other photos that haven't been tagged yet. If Photo Gallery recognizes someone in your photos, it will let you know.

    Photo Gallery can suggest people tags for you
  • Find your photos. You can use the Find tab in Photo Gallery to find pictures by people, place, date, and ratings.

    The Find tab in Photo Gallery
See more

Get answers to the most-asked questions about the Photos app.

Make the most of your photos with Photo Gallery and Windows 8.

Show off photos and slide shows by streaming them to your TV.