Organizing Printed Photos: Tools of the Trade

Do you have boxes full of printed photos? Maybe you have old magnetic albums that are quickly turning your photos yellow? What about all those heritage photos you’ve inherited from your parents? Now is a great time to consider organizing the printed photos in your family’s collection to preserve them for generations to come, and to enjoy them again.

As with any job, having the proper tools is an important part of the process. But if you aren’t sure what tools and supplies would be useful to organize your print pictures, let me the guesswork out of that question for you. These are tools and supplies that I use in my personal photo organizing as well as with my client’s photos.

Print Photo Organizing & Sorting Tools

The first step of a print photo organizing project is to gather your photos together and sort them.  These supplies will help you with those first steps

• Gloves – for handling photos and protecting them from the oils on your hands. I prefer nitrile over cotton for better handling.
• Photo cleaning cloth – for removing dust and fingerprints
• Dust mask – to protect you from the dust old photos tend to have, especially if you have allergies
• Canned air or an electric dust blower – for removing dust
• Sticky notes – for making notes and marking piles of photos when sorting
• A notebook, notepad, or note-taking app (like Evernote) – for keeping notes, to-do lists, and progress reports
• Stabilo pencils & pencil sharpener – for photo safe for writing on the back of photos
• Photo safe pens – for writing on the back of photos
• Document repair tape – for repairing torn photos
• Magnifying Glass – for reading small or hard-to-see handwriting
• Index cards or card stock – for separating your groups of photos when you sort. I like colored ones because they stand out more.
• Garbage bags – for throwing away all those duplicates and bad photos.

 

Photo Removal Tools

When you want to remove your photos from old (non-safe) albums, sometimes the photos are stuck to the page. These tools will help you release them from the pages.

• Waxed dental floss or Teflon floss – for lifting stuck photos
• Vinyl craft spatula – for gently lifting the edges of pictures
• Rubber cement eraser – for removing the residual adhesive from the back of photos
• Un-Du Adhesive Remover – for sticker, tape, and label removal
• Hairdryer – for gently loosening stuck pictures

For more detailed tips on dealing with those pesky “magnetic” albums, check out this post and video.

Photo Boxes & Storage

Once you have your photos organized, you need to store them safely. High-quality photo boxes are a great choice as are archival-quality file folders and sleeves. Be sure you look for products that are acid- and lignin-free archival quality, not just “photo safe”.  Here are a few to consider.

• Archival Methods Boxes
• Kolo Boxes
• Archival File Folders
• Archival Photo Sleeves
• Slide Storage Box  (one of my favorite storage systems)

Want to organize and preserve your print photos? It helps to have the proper tools. Here are my top candidates! #photoorganizingClick To Tweet

Photo Albums

If you decide to put your photos back into albums, these are some excellent, quality choices.

• Kolo Albums
• Pioneer Albums
• Archival Methods Binders
• Creative Memories Albums

Scanners

Once you organize your printed photos, I strongly suggest you scan them. You can have someone like a photo organizer do it for you or you can do it yourself. If you are a DIYer, these are scanners that I use and recommend.

• Epson Perfection V600 Scanner – flatbed scanner for prints, documents, negatives, and slides
• Epson FastFoto FF-680W – high-speed photo scanner

What tools do you like to use when working with your printed photos?

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Email us. I’d love your feedback and questions! [email protected]

Want to Know More?

If you want to work with a photo organizer near you to help you organize and preserve your photos, contact us or visit The Photo Managers to find one in your area.

*This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you purchase from a link, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business. See my disclosure policy for full details.

Connect with Good Life Photo Solutions

Instagram • Good Life Photo Solutions

Facebook • Good Life Photo Solutions

Pinterest • Good Life Photo Solutions

Sign up for our newsletter

Email us. I’d love your feedback and questions! [email protected]

Want to Know More?

If you want to work with a photo organizer near you to help you organize and preserve your photos, contact us or visit The Photo Managers to find one in your area.

*This post may contain affiliate links. This means if you purchase from a link, I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business. See my disclosure policy for full details.

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