Do you have a lot of photos? If you're like most people, the answer is yes!
A lot of anything is hard to keep track of, don't you think?
I think physical things are a little easier (it's on the top shelf, or it's in the kitchen), but digital files all look the same, so to speak, from the outside. So how can you find a photo quickly?
The Prep Work
Before we get to my secret of finding photos fast, let me first show you the easiest, most convenient way I know of to organize your photos.
Organizing is the first step to finding photos, and this fantastic method can be accessed on a computer, tablet, and especially your phone with a convenient app.
This organizational method is great, yes, but it also provides you with premier, unparalleled cloud photo/video storage as well! It's actually a big deal.
NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too. If you're new to Forever and open your free account here to give it a try, you'll get a $20 welcome coupon towards anything mentioned in this post.
The Secret Weapon(s) for Finding a Photo Fast
OK. Now it's time to tell you my secret! Once you have your photos all in one place and organized, you can use a quick trick to help you find a photo fast: tags and descriptions. Here's how it works.
Although my examples are very simple in this short tutorial video, I definitely suggest being specific with your tags. "Christmas" will show you all the photos you've tagged "Christmas," but "Christmas93" will help you find only photos from Christmas 1993. "Bob" will show you all his photos but "BobGraduation" will show you only those.
Think through the tag system that will work best for you.
Or, simply write descriptions next to your photos in your Forever Cloud Storage.
If you don't want to set up a whole tagging system, you can simply add descriptions to each photo like "Bob and Sue went to Windandsea Beach after dinner at La Valencia in La Jolla"because descriptions are searchable, too!
This 15-minute video shows how to actually do the search, both in your Gallery (Library) and in your Albums, and what the difference is.
One of the many reasons I recommend Forever to backup, save, and share photos and videos is that the metadata you add (the description, tags, dates, etc.) stays with the photo even if you move it to another platform, such as downloading it to a flash drive or computer.
Get Started
And that's it! These tools will help you get your photos organized and tagged so you can find a photo fast. Get started here. When you can access your photos quickly and easily, you can enjoy them, share them, love them, and use them. And that's the whole purpose of a photo!
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Here's what I'm excited to share with you this month. 😁 One of my favorite things--and there are many--about scrapbooking is the whole "roses in December" idea. When I'm waiting for spring to come, it's lovely to remember some beautiful things in the world!
I saw a layout similar to this next one online, and it was a little hard for me to overcome my innate desire for symmetry to actually do it, but I think it turned out pretty cute. And aside from the creativity which I find so relaxing and enjoyable, the whole purpose of scrapbooking is to remember moments, so: mission accomplished.
And speaking of remembering good times, I just loved putting pages together for this trip! I'm a Washington girl at heart. I grew up going to the Pacific Northwest to visit my grandparents, and then I lived in WA for 11 years as a newlywed and young mom, so we always enjoy going back and soaking in the beauty.
I've used this state shape/name digital art collection (credited below) several times now for different trips, and I think it makes a fun title page where I can showcase a favorite photo.
I just have to show you what some of my Washington pages look like printed. I am--yet again!--blown away at the quality I get with Forever Print. The pages feel like velvet, and looking at them made me truly feel like I could reach out and touch the water and the leaves.
Digital book printed here (in gorgeous, high-quality pages I fall in love with every time), with the digital version PDF also kept forever there in my private account.
NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too. If you're new to Forever and open your free account here to give it a try, you'll get a $20 welcome coupon towards anything mentioned in this post.
FAQ
Why digital?
First, there's no "right way" to scrapbook, except for two things: 1- quality so your book will last for many, many years to come, and 2- something you will love and therefore do.
I personally choose digital because it's faster and easier, taking up less space in my house than the papers and scissors and stickers (and table space) I needed when I was a paper scrapbooker. I like that instead of having to crop (cut) a photo to make it fit, I can easily resize, zoom in, etc.
I also love the ability to print multiple copies with just the click of a button, and for safety reasons I like that my scrapbooks exist both digitally and in print. (I have scanned my old paper scrapbooks for the same reason.)
Why digital just to print it?
Aside from what I mentioned above: Accessibility! Yes, I print my digitally-created scrapbooks because print is an easily-accessible form of seeing and also sharing (and gifting!) photos and memories. Print doesn't need a full battery in an expensive gadget. Plus, photo experts still recommend print as an important way to store photos and memories, in addition to digital forms.
Thanks for stopping in. See you at next month's Scrapbook Look! (Or, first click the Scrapbook Look tag at the bottom of this post to see more scrapbook pages.)
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One of the things I love about talking to people about how Forever Cloud Storage can help them is that other people have more ideas than I do! Nina asked me:
"Can you store documents in Forever Storage, too? Like a will?"
Yes! Yes, you can. And, come to think about it--we SHOULD. *I* should.
Yes, FOREVER is an incredible, secure, private place for your photos and videos, but did you know you can also store documents there?
Where is your:
will/living will
birth certificate
passport
driver's license
health records
certification/degree/transcript
other legal documents
phone numbers--anywhere else besides your phone?
FOREVER for Emergencies: A Digital Vault
If you're like most people, all those items are in a file cabinet. So, if something happens to that file cabinet... 😬 Or if your computer crashes?
What we really need is a digital vault!
Based on Nina's questions and our resulting conversation, I created this demo of a digital vault for important documents. Head over there to see the possibilities, and read the description I've included there to find out how you can even download the Album Covers like the ones you see just above and just below here.
I combined Nina's idea with another one I heard after the latest fires in California: take videos of your home and belongings for insurance purposes and store them in your FOREVER Permanent Cloud Storage, too!
Yes, these are actual photos from the person who lost her home in the fires but had taken videos of the contents and saved in her private FOREVER Storage prior to the destruction.
I've shared an example for you here under Home & Property to give you an idea of what this would look like.
Why FOREVER? Couldn't I Just Do This in Google Photos or Dropbox or iCloud?
Actually, no. None of them are intended to be forever, and (important!) privacy rights aside, none are even guaranteed to be there tomorrow, let alone in 100 years.
This is actually one of the things Nina brought up with me. Sadly, her brother passed away last year, and she confirmed from experience what I had learned about Apple Photos.
Apple Photos dies with you. You can't have access to another person's Apple Photos with a death certificate, or even a court order! It's just GONE.
This is why it REALLY matters how and where we do this!
It's not a secret that Google mines your data and whatever you put in Google isn't private. So, it's obviously not the place to put a scanned passport or drivers license.
I'd already preserved several things--passport scans, immunization records, etc.--in my personal FOREVER Permanent Cloud Storage account, but I loved taking Nina's idea to expand it to the fullest and flesh out the real possibilities of a Digital Vault. Now I also have titles and deeds to our home and cars in my personal Digital Vault, and the videos for insurance purposes, too!
Similar to other cloud services, you access FOREVER Cloud Storage through wifi or an internet connection. The app adds an extra convenience, too, so check out information about the (free) FOREVER app here.
Here's How to Create a Private Digital Vault of Your Own
So to make sure all your important documents are backed up, just create an Album in your Forever Storage and set it to a Private visibility. You can even use the cute album covers I've designed, if you want! Click around here and read the descriptions for more information--and to copy my album covers to use for yourself. 🤩
And I've outlined it step by step for all of us:
I never know how Blogger does with the quality of the images I'm including here, so for a crisp look at the flyer above, read it here if you prefer.
From there, you can access your private Forever Cloud Storage from any computer with internet access or through the app:
on WiFi
with an internet connection
through cellular service if WiFi isn't available
I'm so excited to share this idea! A huge thanks to Nina for asking this question and inspiring me to outline the possibilities of what we can really do here.
After you see my outline at this demo of a digital vault, tell me in the comments if you think we're missing anything. What else would you add?
Love this idea? Share it! Pin this image to Pinterest, or share this post using the social media share buttons at the left.
NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too. If you're new to Forever and open your free account here to give it a try, you'll get a $20 welcome coupon towards anything mentioned in this post.
Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:
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"Scrapbooking isn't just re-living memories. It's re-loving them." ~Janna W.
Here's a look at my scrapbook. 😁
The layout for these pages came from some searching online. I seem to only have about 3 ideas for scrapbook layouts on my own, but I really enjoy mixing it up for each "topic" (event, page, whatever it happens to be), so love getting ideas from other people.
One of the things I really love about the particular digital scrapbooking program I use (see Credits below) is that I can use any font that I've installed on my computer, which is so fun. I like to switch up the fonts a lot! (It's easy to install new fonts on your computer--I love the free ones.)
my digital scrapbook printed
And you may have noticed in both the Colorado and the Austria pages here, I've included QR codes. That's one of my other favorite things to do in a digital scrap page so that I can also see the videos that go with the photos.
I store my photo files digitally in a cloud space that's private and permanent (unlike Google, or anything else out there, for that matter), and I love that I can store my videos there, too! I've added on a streaming service in that cloud space so that when I scan those QR codes, I can play the video right from there!!
I used to use YouTube for that, but they removed one of my videos once (without my permission--I was so mad, and there was nothing I could do about it), so I stopped counting on them (and using them). Anyway, you're welcome to scan the QR codes here to see my fun videos, too, if you like (if the quality here on Blogger is good enough for you to do that). It's SUCH a cool thing to be able to do. 😎
NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too. If you're new to Forever and open your free account here to give it a try, you'll get a $20 welcome coupon towards anything mentioned in this post.
Digital book printed here (in gorgeous, high-quality pages I fall in love with every time), with the digital version PDF also kept forever there in my private account.
FAQ
Why digital?
First, there's no "right way" to scrapbook, except for two things: 1- quality so your book will last for many, many years to come, and 2- something you will love and therefore do.
I personally choose digital because it's faster and easier, taking up less space in my house than the papers and scissors and stickers (and table space) I needed when I was a paper scrapbooker. I like that instead of having to crop (cut) a photo to make it fit, I can easily resize, zoom in, etc.
I also love the ability to print multiple copies with just the click of a button, and for safety reasons I like that my scrapbooks exist both digitally and in print. (I have scanned my old paper scrapbooks for the same reason.)
Why digital just to print it?
Aside from what I mentioned above: Accessibility! Yes, I print my digitally-created scrapbooks because print is an easily-accessible form of seeing and also sharing (and gifting!) photos and memories. Print doesn't need a full battery in an expensive gadget. Plus, photo experts still recommend print as an important way to store photos and memories, in addition to digital forms.
Thanks for stopping in. See you at next month's Scrapbook Look! (Or, first click the Scrapbook Look tag at the bottom of this post to see more scrapbook pages.)
To save and share this post, Pin this image.
Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:
I was recently at lunch with a friend and we were talking about our businesses when she asked me: "What is the number one thing you want to accomplish in your business?"
Of course, I immediately wanted to say: "I want to help more people fireproof their photos and family videos and digital memories. I want to help more people preserve the stories and memories that go with their photos by saving them in print."
But I thought, "That's so obvious!"
And so I told her:
"I want to educate people. There are so many things about photos and preserving them that people just don't know, even though they are things that really matter!"
They are things I didn't even know, either, until I dove deeper in 2021.
And since that lovely conversation, I organized the seven things I wish everyone knew about photos. I'll give you the short version here, so you'll probably want to watch the video version at the end of this post for more details.
And these are in no particular order because they're ALL so important!
#1: iCloud is Not a Backup. It's a Direct Sync.
A backup is a second copy of something. A direct sync means if you delete it from your iPhone or your iPad, it's also deleted from the cloud. Don't think you can "clean up" your device because it's all "saved in the cloud." Almost nobody I talk to knows this!
Check out the video to see the actual terms of service where Apple tells you they aren't responsible for anything in iCloud, so make sure you have a backup. Yeah, they really have the nerve to say that even though you're paying for iCloud.
#2: Today's phones are a great place to take photos, but they're a terrible place to store them.
Phones are not permanent! They are easily stolen, lost, or dropped. More importantly, Apple states (and you should check the terms of service if you have an Android) that your Apple accounts are terminated upon your death. Phones are not a safe place to keep photos. At all.
Check out the video for 2 sad, real life stories about this.
#3: Google Photos is Not Private or Permanent
This is not a newsflash, I know. It's pretty common knowledge that Google data mines (gathers data from our personal information to use or sell). They reserve rights to your photos and anything you put in Google (Gmail, Google Photos, etc.). But I think most people have never actually read Google's Terms of Service, and I think we should know what's in there.
In the video, I go over the Google Terms of Service, which include rights to "host, distribute, publicly communicate, use, publish, publicly perform, and display your content." I also talk about a CBS News article about a family whose photo had been sold and used without their knowledge on a political flyer.
So, yeah, another thing I definitely want people to know.
#4: Your Social Media is Not Yours
It can disappear in an instant. PLEASE DO NOT think it's a safe place to store your photos and videos! It's tricky because you feel like you have control over it, but it can be shut down without ANY warning. It happened to me, and I told that story here. It also happened to Cindy from the County Road 407 blog, and you can see a brief description of it at the beginning of her post here.
In the video, I also mention a couple more reasons social media is NOT for storing photos and videos. Please check it out if you count on Facebook or Instagram or even a blog for your photos, videos, and stories to be preserved.
#5: Photos are SO Good for You!
You may already know this if you've been here at the blog a time or two. Sometimes people treat photos like a chore, and I really wish everyone knew how incredibly good they are for the heart and soul. Sometimes we know this from experience, but there have actually been studies done that prove it! Spending time with photos decreases stress, increases happiness, increases gratitude, and increases relaxation. Among other things.
I talk about some more reasons to prioritize spending time with photos in the video, which you'll find below after #7.
#6: Saving, organizing and sharing photos (and videos) is doable! No overwhelm required.
I really wish people knew this. Some people don't believe it. But it's definitely true! I write about this all the time, I know. This is huge:
In the video of Seven Things I Wish Everyone Knew About Photos, I actually give a ton of tips and ideas for making preserving photos and videos doable, so definitely check out that part.
#7: Photo experts recommend storing them three ways.
You probably already know this from your time here at Photo & Story Treasures, but this is definitely one thing I wish everyone knew. I hear, "Oh, I'm set. All my photos are on an external hard drive." If it's the one and only place, they are still, most definitely, at risk. Photo experts say the safest way to keep photos is:
In the video below I explain why 2 digital ways are best and the difference between the two that photo experts suggest. I also talk about why print is still a recommended photo preservation way! I also talk about cloud options since Google and iCloud are obviously out of the question.
And here's the video so you can dive a little deeper! Grab a snack and a drink and enjoy this 40-minute informational video. Or just have it playing while you make dinner. I guarantee you'll learn something new!
Was there anything in this Seven Things I Wish Everyone Knew list that you didn't know before? I'd love to know, so tell me in the comments.
Share this post to help everyone know these seven things by Pinning this image to Pinterest or using the social media share buttons at the left.
NOTE: I am a Forever affiliate called an Ambassador (a decision I made because I love it so much), so you will find affiliate links in this post. I earn a commission from anything purchased at my website, and being your Ambassador means I'm here to help you with questions, too. If you're new to Forever and open your free account here to give it a try, you'll get a $20 welcome coupon towards anything mentioned in this post.
Follow Photo & Story Treasures on social media here:
