How To Organize Your Photos (Without Feeling Overwhelmed)

Photos tell the story of our lives and the stories of our family members and loved ones, and that can make sorting through or organizing photos an emotional ordeal. But making your photos easier to find, share, and enjoy is work worth doing, so we shouldn’t avoid it forever.

I’m confident we all have old photos or videos gathering dust somewhere that we would appreciate a lot more if they were more organized and easily accessible.

In this post, I’ll share some practical tips for sorting, organizing, and digitizing your photos so you and your loved ones can relive those memories more easily.

How To Organize Your Photos In 5 Simple Steps

Step 1 – Clarify Your Intentions

Before you begin, make sure you know why you want to organize your photos. Do you want easier access to specific photos? Do you want to make a photo album for your family or yourself?

There’s no wrong answer, but having a clear purpose will make other decisions easier down the road. In my case, I wanted to digitize my huge, chaotic collection of physical photos and videos to preserve them and make them easier to share.

Step 2 – Gather And Sort

Start by gathering your photos in one place.

Your digital photos may already be in one place, like a photo app on your computer or in your phone’s photo album. If not, search your device for images and upload all your photos into one app or folder.

Jillee’s Take:

When you take photos on your phone, adding keywords or a caption can make it easier to find later. Names and occasions make useful keywords — your phone likely saves the date and location of each photo automatically. Later, you can quickly find the photo by typing the name, event, date, or location into your photo app’s search bar.

Collecting all your physical photos should be more straightforward. Once you have all of your photos in front of you, sort them into broad categories by time, event, or people — whatever makes the most sense to you.

While you sort, use familiar decluttering methods: make piles of photos to keep and toss (like duplicates or photos that are blurry or unidentifiable), and a pile for photos you’re unsure about.

Step 3 – Store And Label Physical Photos

Store your sorted photo prints in photo-safe boxes or albums, then label them so you know what’s inside. A simple index card system can help keep loose photos organized.

In the future, store your photos in a cool, dry place away from sunlight and humidity. Photo organizers and storage products marketed as “acid-free” or “archival quality” will ensure your photos stay organized and protected.

Step 4 – Digitize Prints for Easy Access & Backup

If you have a manageable amount of prints, you can digitize them yourself with a scanner or photo scanning app.

If you have a lot of photo prints (or just want to save some time), consider sending them to a digitization service like LegacyBox and ScanMyPhotos and letting them do the work for you. They can even turn any slides or negatives you have into digital photos!

Step 5 – Share And Enjoy

Once your photos are organized and/or digitized, here are some ideas for sharing and enjoying them:

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• Create shared digital albums after special events and invite others to add their photos.
• Create digital slideshows to use as screensavers on your computer or television. (Some photos apps can do this for you automatically!)
• Upload your photos to a digital photo frame that will display them on a loop.
• If you want to share many photos with one person — say, photos of your grandkids from birth to the present — upload them onto a USB drive or SD card and give it to them.

Conclusion

Successfully sorting and organizing your photos may not happen overnight, but it doesn’t need to! What matters most is making an effort to preserve and enjoy precious memories, and any progress you can make to that end is worth celebrating.

How do you organize and enjoy your photos?