How do you find an image on your computer/device?

There are a good few ways to do that, often with quite a struggle.

Some folks store them with meaningful file-names and/or in specifically-named folders then use their OS's search function to find them. A popular and easy-to-do method.

You?

I use XnView MP to insert IPTC key-words into the image-file. Then XnView can search for them, and present them on my screen in contact-sheet format (catalog?). XnView's Search Engine is the best on the planet, IMHO. You can even set it to search through all the sub-folders of your target - although searching the computer root e.g. C:\ could take a while ...

I do this because, over the years, my files have become randomly scattered all over my drive and my memory of where stuff resides and what the file-name was when saved is pretty poor these days (I'm 86).

Comments/questions welcome ...

The more modern method is to use Adobe's XMP format to post meta-data into the image file which XnView can do too and even insert both when you edit/add IPTC stuff. Being old, I just do the time-honored IPTC.

I’ve always stored my images by year/month/day — it’s a system I’ve used forever, and it still helps me find things fairly quickly in LrC. I also mark my images with stars (1–5), which narrows down the selection for any given moment and serves as a reference to the files that aren’t marked.

And yes… I’m not entirely sure whether I’ll still remember specific image‑moments as clearly after 2048 — by then I’ll be close to 80 — but for now the system works well enough.

May I ask: Image file-name or folder-name or somehow else?

its like:
directory structure: 2026/06-juni/08-maandag
and file naming is: 5D4_2239, IMG_5559

Note: IMG comes from canon 90D de diff is also .CR2 for 5D IV and 90D is .CR3

all images on NAS

export to jpg then prefix will be yyyymmddhh24miss (Date/Time of capture) en thats de back refence to the RAW

Here almost the same but without the maandag (weekday name) 😋and I do add a very short description just like Alan.
Cameras and their jpg, raw and edited images in separate maps

In my case an example:

DS1522plus://2026/13-06-2026 - Groene Wissel Odoorn - Exloo/C_Eos_R62a/JPG/
DS1522plus://2026/13-06-2026 - Groene Wissel Odoorn - Exloo/C_Eos_R62a/RAW/
DS1522plus://2026/13-06-2026 - Groene Wissel Odoorn - Exloo/C_Eos_R62a/EDIT/
DS1522plus://2026/13-06-2026 - Groene Wissel Odoorn - Exloo/C_Eos_R8/JPG/
DS1522plus://2026/13-06-2026 - Groene Wissel Odoorn - Exloo/C_Eos_R8/RAW/
DS1522plus://2026/13-06-2026 - Groene Wissel Odoorn - Exloo/C_Eos_R8/EDIT/
etc
etc

Have this done since 2003, looking at the directory structure 😆

Thanks all, so far!