organize by drag and click

How to sort photos on your PC – into folders, by date, colour and topic

Thousands of photos and graphics spread across folders, drives and old hard disks? With Album 42 you sort photos and pictures on your PC quickly and easily: drag pictures onto a folder and they are moved there. The catalogue shows everything the way you need it right now – by date, name, size or resolution, by colour, by what the pictures show and by your favourites. On Windows 11 and on the Mac.

Try it free for 28 days How it works

How to sort pictures and photos on your PC

Scan

Select a folder or a drive on the left and click “Scan”. Album 42 reads all subfolders too.

Drag into folders

Select pictures – several with Ctrl+click – and drag them onto a folder in the folder tree on the left. Done.

Sort and filter

In the “View” menu, sort by name, date, file size or resolution. Colour, tags and file type at the top right narrow things down.

Sort into folders by drag and drop

Drag the pictures from the grid onto a folder or a drive in the folder tree. The row lights up and shows where they will go. Hover for about a second over a collapsed folder and it opens – so you reach deep subfolders too. Without a mouse, right-click → “Move to folder …” or press Ctrl+Shift+M (Mac: ⌘⇧M).

Made a mistake? “Undo” or Ctrl+Z (Mac: ⌘Z) brings the pictures back – several steps in a row, too.

Move pictures to an external hard drive

On the same drive, Album 42 simply moves the file. To another drive it copies the file, checks the copy carefully and only then puts the original in the Recycle Bin. The file’s modified date is kept. Nothing is ever overwritten: if the target already has a file with the same name, the new one is called “Name (2)”. Sidecar files such as .xmp next to RAW photos move along, and star, tags, colours and thumbnail are kept.

Sort by colour

Click the colour wheel, pick a colour or type a HEX value such as #3366CC: Album 42 shows the pictures in which this colour clearly appears. Combined with the tag “Landscape”, orange leaves you with the sunsets, for example.

By topic and content

The image recognition assigns every picture to topics such as People, Landscape, Logo or Texture. A click on a tag shows all matching pictures, whichever folder they are in. More under AI photo tagging and search photos on your PC.

Favourites and weeding out

Mark your favourite pictures with the star or the F key; on the left under “Favourites” they are all together. Whatever you no longer want to see, you remove from the catalogue – the file stays on the disk. Duplicates are covered under find duplicate photos.

By location and date taken

Phone photos know where and when they were taken. In the “Places” view they sit on the world map, and zooming in shows only the photos from that area: sort photos by location. With “Date range” you narrow down by the month and year they were taken: find photos by date taken.

Frequently asked questions

Can I move pictures to another folder?

Yes. Drag pictures onto a folder in the folder tree – several at once and onto other drives too. Without a mouse, use right-click → “Move to folder …”.

Can I undo a move?

Yes. “Undo” or Ctrl+Z (Mac: ⌘Z) brings the pictures back, several steps in a row, as long as Album 42 is open.

Does Album 42 rename my pictures?

No. Sorting and filtering only change what the catalogue shows; file names stay as they are. Only if the target folder already contains a file with the same name does the moved one get a “(2)” – nothing is ever overwritten.

Can I sort by date?

Yes, in the “View” menu by date (the file’s modified date), name, file size or resolution, ascending or descending. To narrow down by the date taken from the camera, use “Date range” with month and year.

Can I sort photos automatically with AI?

Yes. The image recognition assigns topics such as People, Landscape, Food or Logo to every picture, on your computer and without the cloud. A click on a topic shows all matching photos, whichever folder they are in.

Does this work across several drives?

Yes. The “All” view shows the whole catalogue – including pictures on drives that are not connected right now.

Does it run on Windows 11 and on the Mac?

Yes – on Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit) and on macOS 12 or later, on Macs with Apple silicon and with Intel processors.

don’t panic – just try it:

Try it free for 28 days

No sign-up, no subscription. If you like Album 42, you pay €29 once – including all updates of version 1.

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