How Agencies Organize Client Content: Photos, B-roll and Shoot Days
Agencies organize client content best with a fixed structure per client: originals filed by source and shoot day, and on top of that categories by subject built from shortcuts. That way everyone on the team finds material without changing what the client delivered. Sorted handles the sorting by subject with Gemini directly in Google Drive.
Agencies organize client content best with a fixed structure per client. The originals sit in folders by source and shoot day, and nobody moves them after upload. On top of that sits an order by subject: categories like team, products or location that contain only shortcuts to the originals. That way everyone on the team knows what came from the client and still finds the right image in seconds.
The typical chaos with client content
Agencies work with material they often didn't create themselves. Day to day it looks like this:
- The client sends a folder. Inside are 600 files named like
IMG_2231.HEIC, photos from three company parties, an old company video and logos in five versions. - Material arrives through many channels. Some via a Drive link, some by email, some through a messaging app that recompressed the photos and stripped their metadata.
- Your own shoot days add to it. Camera files, phone clips from the team, audio.
- Several people need access. Social media managers, video editors, designers and freelancers need the same material, and each of them searches differently.
- Team changes. Whoever takes over a client first has to figure out where everything is.
The result: people ask around, search, and when in doubt reshoot, even though the shot already exists.
A structure to organize client content in Google Drive
A structure that works for most agencies separates these areas per client:
| Folder | Contents | Rule |
|---|---|---|
Client Name/01 From client |
everything the client delivers, with date | never rename or reorganize |
Client Name/02 Shoot days |
your own raw footage, one folder per shoot day | fixed after upload |
Client Name/03 Brand |
logos, fonts, colors, templates | current versions only |
Client Name/04 Published |
approved posts, videos, ads | with date and channel |
The order by subject doesn't come as a fifth folder full of copies, but through Google Drive shortcuts. A photo of the managing director in the workshop then sits under "Leadership" and under "Workshop" at the same time without taking up storage twice. If you work in Google Workspace, a shared drive per client is a good frame, because the files then don't depend on one person's account. Templates for the folders are in the guide on Google Drive folder structure.
How to organize client content with Sorted
Creating shortcuts by hand is hardly doable with hundreds of files per client. Sorted takes over this step in your Google Drive:
- Connect. Open Sorted, sign in with the Google account whose Drive holds the material, and add your own Gemini API key from Google AI Studio. Google bills you directly, about €0.70 per 1,000 files. Sorted shows the estimated cost before every run, which helps if you track costs per client.
- Pick a client's folders, for example
01 From clientand02 Shoot days. Subfolders are included. - Let Gemini recognize the content. Gemini from Google recognizes what is in every photo and video, for videos through the thumbnail Google Drive creates. It writes a short description and keywords and suggests a category with a confidence score.
- Adjust the categories. Gemini suggests categories, and you can add your own that fit the client, such as "North branch" or "Production".
- Sort. A folder named "Sortiert" appears in Drive with one subfolder per category, filled with shortcuts. The originals stay unchanged in their folders. Re-sorting takes one click.
- Search. Through description and keywords, anyone on the team finds "team in front of company van" or "product on wooden table".
- Keep it current. After every new delivery from the client or every shoot day, the next run only sorts what is new.
Sorted Pro adds features that are especially useful for agencies:
- Share folders together with their originals with your team (view access), so shortcuts work for freelancers and colleagues.
- Shot list as CSV for the handover to the edit, see shot list.
- Top material. Gemini rates suitability for social media from 1 to 5. Handy when you need the strongest images from a big client folder fast.
- Duplicate detection by checksum, for when the client sent the same thing several times.
- Shoot days and location. Grouping by capture date and folders by location from GPS data, for example for clients with several sites.
Know the limits. Sorted works with Google Drive, not with Dropbox, iCloud or hard drives, so material you receive through a file transfer service has to go into Drive first. Each view shows up to 5,000 files, so with large clients it pays to work area by area. Very fresh videos sometimes don't have a thumbnail yet. The data, meaning categories, suggestions and your encrypted Gemini key, lives in a hidden app folder in your own Drive, not in a database at Sorted. Plans are on the pricing page.
Categories for agencies
The right categories depend on the client's industry. This list is a starting point you trim or extend per client:
| Category | Examples |
|---|---|
| Team and people | portraits, group photos, staff at work |
| Leadership | face of the brand, interviews, talking head |
| Location | building, reception, office, branches |
| Production and work | hands, machines, tools, processes |
| Products | cutouts, details, product in use |
| Customers and meetings | consultations, handovers, workshops |
| Events | trade fairs, parties, stage |
| B-roll mood | exterior, weather, surroundings |
| Brand | logos, graphics, screenshots |
One rule keeps categories clean: categories describe what is in the picture, never when or from whom it came. Source and date are already in the storage folders.
Handing off to editors and freelancers
Many agencies work with freelance editors. So they don't have to search, share one folder per project with A-roll, audio, the matching categories and a shot list. Important: anyone who can't see the originals can't open a shortcut. The whole handover is described in the guide on how to hand off footage to an editor.
Tips for everyday agency work
- One upload channel per client: a shared folder the client uploads to. No material through messaging apps.
- Don't tidy up inside the client folder. What the client delivered stays the way it arrived. Order comes from shortcuts.
- Remove duplicates early, see how to find duplicate photos in Google Drive.
- Treat the library as a service. A well-kept content library per client speeds up content planning and shows which subjects are still missing.
How AI helps with organizing Drive in general is in the guide on how to organize Google Drive with AI, and a broader look at content workflows is in the guide on how to organize content.
Conclusion
Agencies organize client content best when storage and sorting by subject are kept apart: originals stay the way the client delivered them, and categories made of shortcuts make them usable. With one upload channel and a run after every delivery, this stays manageable even with many clients.
Frequently asked questions
How should an agency organize client content?
Set up a fixed area per client where originals are filed by source and shoot day and never moved again. On top of that, add an order by subject, meaning categories such as team, products or location that contain only shortcuts. That keeps it clear what came from the client, while the team still finds everything by subject.
How do I get footage from clients in original quality?
Ask the client to upload files to a shared Drive folder instead of sending them through a messaging app. Messengers often recompress photos and videos, and quality and metadata such as capture time or location are frequently lost.
How do I share sorted footage with freelancers?
Shortcuts don't grant access to the original. The freelancer needs access to the category folders and to the originals. With Sorted Pro you share folders together with their originals with view access in one click.
Is a content library per client worth it?
Yes, as soon as a client gets content regularly. With a library you reuse existing footage for new posts instead of reshooting every time, and new team members find their way around faster.
Should an agency use a shared drive for each client?
If you work in Google Workspace, one shared drive per client is a clean frame, because the files belong to the organization instead of one person. Decide beforehand whether the material should live in your shared drive or in the client's.
What does it cost to sort client content with Sorted?
Sorted costs €10 a month and Sorted Pro €20 a month, VAT included, and yearly plans are 20% cheaper. On top of that, image recognition runs on your own Gemini API key, billed directly by Google at about €0.70 per 1,000 files, and Sorted shows the estimate before every run.