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Photo Organization

Complete guide to organizing your photo library with NeatCLI.

Basic Organization

Uses EXIF metadata for accurate dates:

neatcli organize ~/Photos --by-date-taken --execute

Result: 

Photos/
├── 2024/
│   ├── 01/
│   │   ├── IMG_0001.jpg
│   │   └── IMG_0002.jpg
│   ├── 02/
│   │   └── vacation_001.jpg
│   └── 12/
│       └── christmas.jpg
└── 2023/
    └── ...

By Camera Model

Separate photos by device:

neatcli organize ~/Photos --by-camera --execute

Result: 

Photos/
├── iPhone 15 Pro/
│   ├── IMG_0001.jpg
│   └── IMG_0002.jpg
├── Canon EOS R5/
│   └── _DSC0001.jpg
└── Sony A7 III/
    └── DSC00001.jpg

By File Date

Fallback for photos without EXIF:

neatcli organize ~/Photos --by-date --execute

Uses file modification date instead of EXIF date taken.

Filtering Photos

Only Large Photos

# Photos larger than 5MB (skip thumbnails)
neatcli organize ~/Photos --min-size 5MB --execute

Only JPEGs

neatcli organize ~/Photos --mime "image/jpeg" --execute

iPhone Photos Only

# Filter by filename pattern
neatcli organize ~/Photos --startswith "IMG_" --execute

Photos from 2024

neatcli organize ~/Photos --after 2024-01-01 --before 2025-01-01 --execute

Cleanup

Find Duplicate Photos

# Find exact duplicates
neatcli duplicates ~/Photos

# Delete duplicates (keeps first copy)
neatcli duplicates ~/Photos --delete --trash --execute

Find Similar Photos

Find near-duplicates (different sizes, edits, exports):

# Default threshold
neatcli similar ~/Photos

# Stricter matching
neatcli similar ~/Photos --threshold 3

# Delete similar photos
neatcli similar ~/Photos --delete --trash --execute

Importing from Camera

Copy from SD Card

# Copy (not move) and organize by date taken
neatcli organize /Volumes/SD_CARD/DCIM \
  --by-date-taken \
  --copy \
  --execute

Verify Import

# Check for duplicates after import
neatcli duplicates ~/Photos

# Get statistics
neatcli stats ~/Photos

Full Workflow Example

Complete photo organization workflow:

#!/bin/bash

PHOTOS_DIR=~/Photos

# 1. Import from SD card
if [ -d "/Volumes/SD_CARD/DCIM" ]; then
  neatcli organize /Volumes/SD_CARD/DCIM \
    --by-date-taken \
    --copy \
    --execute
fi

# 2. Remove duplicates
neatcli duplicates $PHOTOS_DIR --delete --trash --execute

# 3. Find similar images for review
neatcli similar $PHOTOS_DIR --threshold 3

# 4. Show statistics
neatcli stats $PHOTOS_DIR

Tips

EXIF Data

--by-date-taken uses EXIF DateTimeOriginal, which is the actual capture time. --by-date uses file modification date, which may change when copying files.

RAW + JPEG

If you shoot RAW+JPEG, both files will have the same name but different extensions. Use --by-extension to separate them, or keep them together with --by-date-taken.

Screenshots

To exclude screenshots, use: 

neatcli organize ~/Photos --regex "^(?!Screenshot)" --execute