14 DAY TRIAL // Summer is well known as the season when most people take their vacation. And vacation generally means that plenty of photos are taken. There's nothing complicated about this, but the hard part comes when you have to sort them out. You can't just leave them with the default naming the camera gave them and some kind of tags need to be applied for easy finding.
Renaming them manually is out of the question, so the only options are the automatic rename tools on the market, and thank God, there are plenty of freebies more than appropriate for the job. However, there is a much smarter way to organize photos, provided that some conditions are fulfilled. Virtual Image Organizer is an extremely simple-to-use instrument designed specifically to help you sort out the pictures on your computer and classify them according to their EXIF data (this is the basic condition in order to use the app to its fullest), but it can run even if no EXIF data is present.
Virtual Image Organizer has a price tag of $19.95 written all over and for evaluation purposes it can be used with one limitation only: just the first 15 pictures will be processed. Although some may disagree, a 15-picture processing is sufficient to test the software and reach a valid conclusion.
The interface is designed as a wizard, making you feel extremely comfortable with working with it. And the comfort extends, as you won't even have to pass through many steps in order to sort everything. Just three steps are required to instill order and, of course, several settings that need to be made in-between the steps.
The three-staged wizard includes selecting the source folder(s), setting the destination location and making the settings for file masks and EXIF filter options. As you advance towards the end a progress bar shows how far you are from getting the images in the order you want.
When adding the source folders you have the liberty to define as many locations as you want. The application automatically starts scanning them and detects all the images included. If there are subfolders, it can do a recursive scan and search each of them for images. As for the formats supported, it seems that Virtual Image Organizer runs a little short on flexibility because only JPGs can be handled due to their support for EXIF data.
Under the source directory listing you'll have a brief set of details that informs of the total number of supported items found, and the amount of space needed for the destination location.
In the second step of the wizard you get to select the output directory and how the subfolder organization of the photos should be done (daily, weekly or monthly), based on the EXIF information. Moreover, if EXIF data is not available you can organize them by creation date or copy to a different location.
The third step of the guiding wizard is one of the most important as it allows using masks for creating the filename. Unfortunately there is a rather limited bundle to pick from. You have at your disposal only masks for date (year, month, day), time (hour, minute, second), camera model and selecting the old filename. If you are comfortable with the current naming of the files (which generally is the default one given by the camera), there is the options to leave this unchanged. There is also the option to set an action in case the file already exists (use counter instead, overwrite or skip it).
For more picture sorting settings, try EXIF filter options in the lower right hand part of the application screen. It may take a while to load up as it has to read the EXIF data of the images, depending on the number of items it has to process (in our case, for 785 photos it took about 2 seconds, which is not shabby at all).
EXIF filters comprise camera model, ISO speed, flash, light source, focal length, exposure program and time as well as the F-number (aperture). It’s true that all this is more technical and not too many people know what all these are about, but they give you the possibility to group pictures sharing the same values together in an easy, comfortable way. So if you know your camera or the settings used to take certain pictures, this can be of great help. For instance, you can join all the photos you took at night, or those with maximum exposure time in different folders.
After all has been set and you are ready for the automatic sorting, all you need to do is get to executing everything. Virtual Image Organizer's speed to grouping all the pictures into folders depends greatly on the amount of items it has to process.
During our tests Virtual Image Organizer did an awesome job for what it has been programmed to do and no glitches were encountered. However, there are drawbacks, especially for the user unaccustomed to EXIF data because there is no help file explaining what EXIF is for, or the EXIF filters. Thus it is a piece of software for the initiated and not for beginners.
The Good
It makes available masks to change the filename of the item. Also, in lack of EXIF data it can sort the files based on their creation date.
The Bad
Making the forward and back arrows a bit more visible would greatly help when using the software for the first time.
The Truth
The application does a wonderful job at a slightly elevated price, but does not address those who have no clue about EXIF details as these are at the basis of the image filtering and organizing into folders.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
