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Organising and naming your photos

A few minutes of sorting before you send your photos makes them far easier to enjoy afterwards. Here's how to do it, what we do for you free of charge, and how to keep things tidy once your scans are home.

Before you sendWhat we doA simple systemRenaming filesIn Google & Apple PhotosWho's whoGetting them onto your phone
Step 1

Sorting before you send

You don't need to sort everything perfectly. Rough groups are enough, and any group you make becomes its own named folder.

  1. Make a few piles by event, person, place or decade. For example "Our wedding 1976", "Kenya holidays", "Dad's army photos" or simply "1980s".
  2. Put each pile in its own envelope or bag and write the name on the outside. Add a year if you know it, even a rough one such as "about 1975".
  3. Keep albums as they are. We scan them page by page in order, so don't take photos out.
  4. Slides and negatives: leave slides in their trays or boxes, and negatives in their wallets. Write any names or dates on the box or wallet, not on the film. Uncut rolls of negatives are fine, we cut them into strips of 6 free of charge.
  5. Don't write on the backs of photos with a ballpoint pen. It presses through and can smudge onto the next photo. Use a soft pencil, lightly, on the edge of the back, or a sticky note on the envelope.
  6. Anything you're not sure about, put in a bag marked "Not sure". We'll scan it all together.
Included free

What we do for you

Naming and organising your scans is included with every order.

  1. Every group gets its own folder, named the way you labelled it.
  2. Every file gets a clear name with the date and place, if you gave us them, and a number, for example ‘1974 - Kew Gardens - 012’. The numbers keep your photos in their original order.
  3. The back of a photo is scanned too if it has writing on it, and saved next to the front, for example ‘1974 - Kew Gardens - 012 back’.
TipTell us on the order form, or write it on the envelopes. If something isn't labelled, we'll use a plain name such as ‘Box 1 - 001’ and you can rename it later.
Step 2

A simple system that lasts

If you keep your scans as folders on a computer or USB stick, this simple pattern keeps everything in order, now and for whoever looks after them next.

  1. One folder per decade, such as ‘1960s’, ‘1970s’ and ‘1980s’.
  2. Inside, one folder per event or year, starting with the year, such as ‘1976 - Wedding’ or ‘1983 - Kenya holiday’. Starting with the year means they sort into the right order by themselves.
  3. Not sure of the year? Use ‘c1975’ (the c means "about"), or a decade like ‘1970s - Garden parties’.
  4. Keep the numbers we gave each photo, so you can always tell us exactly which photo you mean, for example when you ask for a restoration.
  5. Keep the same pattern for new photos, and the whole family history stays in one place.
If you want to

Renaming lots of files at once

You can give a whole group of photos the same name in one go. The computer adds the numbers for you.

  1. On Windows: open the folder, select the photos (Ctrl+A for all of them), press F2, type a name such as ‘1983 - Kenya holiday’ and press Enter. Windows names them ‘1983 - Kenya holiday (1)’, ‘(2)’ and so on.
  2. On a Mac: open the folder in Finder, select the photos, right-click and choose "Rename". Choose "Format", then "Name and Index", type the name and click Rename.
  3. Not confident? Leave our names as they are. They already include the dates and places you gave us, and you can add captions in Google Photos or Apple Photos instead.
On your phone

Organising in Google Photos and Apple Photos

If your scans are in Google Photos or Apple Photos, you organise them with albums, names and dates rather than folders.

  1. Albums: make one for each event or person, such as "Mum & Dad's wedding" or "Grandad". A photo can be in more than one album.
  2. Names: name each face once and the app finds that person in your other photos.
  3. Dates: correct the year so old photos sit in the right place on your timeline. See Putting the right dates on.
  4. Captions: add a line such as "Auntie Pushpa's engagement, Nairobi 1968". You can search captions later.
Don't leave it too long

Writing down who's who

The people who can name everyone in an old photo won't always be here to ask. The scans are the perfect time to capture what they know.

  1. Sit with an older relative and go through the photos on a tablet or the TV. Write down names, places and stories as you go, or record them on your phone.
  2. Use the photo numbers. A note like "No. 45: Uncle Ravi, Mombasa, about 1962" is all you need.
  3. Keep the notes with the photos, as a document in the same folder or as captions in the app, so they stay together for the next generation.
  4. Share them with the rest of the family, so everyone has the names as well as the pictures.