Using IrfanView to Manage Photographs
for Historic Property Surveys

Batch Renaming of Photographs and Creating Proof Sheets for Survey Files

IrfanView is digital photo editing and management software that you may download off the web and install on your Windows computer (All Windows versions from Windows 95 to Vista are supported). It is a small program and will take very little space on your computer.  It actually two programs -- IrfanView (an image editor) and IrfanView Thumbnails (an image manager). The latter is the subject of this website.

It is "Freeware," meaning it is free for non-commercial use. If you use it in your occupation as a historic preservation consultant, that may be commercial use. The license fee you are requested to send to the creator on the honor system is $12 (PayPal, credit card, or cash only -- no checks). For details, see "What is IrfanView" on the IrfanView website. The program is named for its creator, Irfan Skiljan, formerly of Bosnia and Herzegovina and now living in Austria.

IrfanView Thumbnails is a good option for for managing digital photographs for historic property surveys because:

- It does not limit the size of filenames in batch renaming of large numbers of images, as do others tested by the author of this page.
- It enables creation of optimal proof sheets with nine images per page with no wasted space, and will label each image with the filename. Long filenames will drop to a second line under the image if necessary. It also enables creation of a title line for information about the property, the survey, and the photographer in the header or footer of each proof sheet.

You also may elect to use IrfanView as an image editor in lieu of other freeware or commercial software options. There is no information about IrfanView's image editing capabilities on this site.

This website offers three demonstrations:

1.  Downloading and installing IrfanView and IrfanView Thumbnails. If you have experience downloading and installing programs off the web, you may simply go directly to to the IrfanView website at http://www.irfanview.com and begin the download and installation.  The demonstration here shows what you will see as you go through the process, and suggest how to respond to the options given.

2.  Using IrfanView Thumbnails to batch rename digital photographs.  Screen captures show you what you will see when you navigate through batch renaming (renaming many photos in one quick operation).

3.  Using IrfanView Thumbnails for creating labeled proof sheets for survey files. Screen captures show the step-by-step process of creating labeled proof sheets with nine images per page.