The Poser library has ten different sections. Figures, Poses, Expressions, Hair, Hands, Props, Light, Camera, Materials, and Scene. See image 1 #1

It seems straightforward until you look in some of these and find hair under Figures, or materials under Poses. This is due to limitations in older versions. of Poser. Many of these limitations are gone in newer versions of Poser. Poser content can be moved to other areas in the library to help users find things easier. 

Everything Poser needs to use content is located in a runtime including your library. Most things you'll find in a runtime such as geometries, textures, and morph folders that are not in the ten folders listed below shouldn't be moved. 

However, the content in Camera, Character (figures), Face (expressions), Hair, Hand, Light, Material, Pose, Props, and scene can be moved interchangeably. (the highlighted ones)

The easiest way to do this is in Explorer or Finder. Drag and drop any content along with the thumbnail .png into any of the other library folders. You can create subfolders to help with organization. When you finish rearranging your library, hit the refresh button. There are two ways 

to do this. You can use the circle arrow to refresh individual folders. This is good for small changes. See image 1 # 2.

Or you can use the double circle arrows at the bottom right to refresh the entire library, best for larger changes.  See image 1 # 3

Some people prefer to have multiple runtimes to organize their content in a way that makes sense to them, often by figure, kind, or project. You can see a few examples in image 1 #4.

You can use the buttons in image 1 # 5 to add any folder containing the runtime structure seen in image 3. The sample is for the runtime Pauline but the top folder can be anything you want.

You can then add or move content to those folders rather than having it all in your main runtime. Textures and Geometries can be moved to new runtimes to follow their corresponding content but should stay within those folders in the new runtime.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

This is a great help, Red, thanks!

don

Let me add a detail: I keep my runtimes organized by subject, too, plus: when I bought new textures/materials/pose, most of the time I don't use the vendor's organization but I drop the pose at the same place where it's setup for the object itself, this is especially true for the clothes

I've learned this the hard way with Poser 7 - lol. The corresponding runtime's structure is a real nightmare... 

May I add a caution that you should consider keeping Poser library *mostly* as 'External', just link in 'Usual Suspects', plus what you need for current project...

IMHO, Poser does not appreciate having its data-base(s) congested, be it by a zillion library items or several dozen FBX sub-rigs...
( 'Parent' latter to their 'master' sub-rig ASAP !!!)

Having a sprawling archive of '3D Stuff' that began before P_3 and is now several Terabytes of file-formats ranging from 3DS via SFM to XPS, I've learned that Windows, for all its faults and petty exasperations, does have a fair search-engine...

"Some people prefer to have multiple runtimes to organize

red: this is my sketch of what I'd like my poser files to be.  Is this possible? what are multiple runtimes? different organizations of poser files? so I could change to another organ. if necessary? and does doing that add to the memory problem?

drawn

here:

can you read this, or do I need to make it sharper, more defined?

You can organize it how you want. I can't say this makes sense to me, but my runtimes probably wouldn't work for others either.

Multiple runtimes would be basically multiple library structures. Poser 13 has 4 to start with, Poser 13 content, Downloads, Included, and Purchases. You can create others as needed

each one of these is a different runtime in my library.

To make a new runtime, Create this file structure in Veiwer

Then follow the instructions in the first post to add it as a new runtime.

Of course, you don't have to use Magic and Effects as the runtime name. I just have an abundance of that so I gave it its own runtime.

I created this file structure in the props folder to further help me find things

As far as reorganizing later, it can be done but would be tedious.

Red, I'm playing with different ways to org. Poser stuff, here are a main example and another. I appreciate what you've done but really don't fully understand all the implications of moving stuff around.

thaORGAN

thanks for your advice.  Does this look practical? If so, can you tell me how to do the first three things?

drawn

Red, and others who commented, I'm stuck on how to begin and a bit worried that I might screw up and lose something vital. Can one of you spare the time to coach me gently through doing this and assure me no harm will result? sorry to be wimpy about this but I've tried things before that didn't conclude happily...

drawn

Let's begin with: How many runtime folders do you have now?  

I don’t know how do I find out?

drawnbbbb

The illustration below highlights the area to access the dropdown menu, which displays all the runtime folders in your Library. 

You may have observed that my Poser Library contains numerous runtime folders, each with distinct contents and figures. These runtime folders are organized within uniquely named folders, as illustrated above. Conversely, you've been saving files indiscriminately in a default Poser folder. Such disorganization can result in the loss of content in your Library.  Attempting to reorganize the library at this stage will likely lead to the textures becoming disassociated from the models.

I've recreated a runtime folder for LaFemme, which I've named 'LaFemme Test' to differentiate it from the existing LaFemme folder in my library. Below is a depiction of the subfolders, with each one nested within the libraries folder corresponding to a specific category of the Poser Library.

I am using Windows 11, so the image may appear different than on your Mac, but you can still recreate it.

Runtime folders can be added and deleted using the icons below:

Using a separate folder for content is beneficial as it centralizes downloaded material, making it more accessible and easier to locate.

It should be noted that the downloading manager for Poser 13 does not allow the selection of runtime for your content. Currently, you must use the default locations provided.

To prevent the need to recreate all the runtime subfolders, you can create a primary folder with a unique name and place a runtime subfolder inside it. When this folder is imported into the Poser Library, Poser will automatically create the additional subfolders for you.