How to Digitise Old Photo Albums (and Make a New One from Them)

Somewhere in your family there's a box of old albums: sticky pages, fading colours, faces nobody has named in years. Digitising them protects those memories from damp, fire and time — and lets you share them with relatives who've never seen them.

Option 1: Your phone (quick and good enough)

For most families, a phone is all you need.

1. Download a photo-scanning app. Several free apps detect the edges of each print, straighten it and reduce glare.
2. Find good light. Soft daylight near a window, with no direct sun on the photo.
3. Lay photos flat on a dark, plain surface.
4. Hold the phone parallel to the photo to avoid distortion.
5. Scan each photo, then check the result before moving on.

Best for: a few hundred photos, quick sharing, and making new albums.

Option 2: A flatbed scanner (best quality at home)

A flatbed scanner gives sharper, more even results than a phone, especially for small or detailed prints.

• Scan at 600 dpi for standard prints if you may want to enlarge them; 300 dpi is fine for same-size reprints.
• Clean the glass before every session.
• Save as high-quality JPEG (or TIFF if you want archival masters).

Best for: precious photos, enlargements and archiving.

Option 3: A professional scanning service

For thousands of photos, slides or negatives, a scanning service can save weeks. Ask about turnaround, resolution, how originals are packed and returned, and what they do with your files afterwards.

Handling fragile albums

• Don't force photos off old "magnetic" adhesive pages; they can tear. Scan them in place.
• Handle prints by the edges, ideally with clean, dry hands.
• Keep originals stored cool, dry and dark once you've finished.

Organise as you go

Digitising is the perfect moment to add the information that's often missing:

• Name files by date and event, e.g. 1978-07-wedding-nonna-nonno.jpg.
• Ask older relatives who and where people are while you can. Write it down.
• Group by decade or by branch of the family.

Back everything up

Keep your scans in at least two places, such as a cloud service and an external drive. Share a folder with the rest of the family so everyone has a copy.

Make a new multi-generation album

This is where digitising becomes something special. Combine the best old photos with new ones to tell a family's story across generations:

• "Four Generations": great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, children
• A life in photos for a milestone birthday: childhood to today
• Then and now: the same places or poses, decades apart

Arrange them in time order, one photo per page, and give the album a simple title such as "The Borg Family, 1950–2026". Our layout and theme ideas help with structure.

With Foreva, you can send scanned photos alongside new ones on WhatsApp or Messenger, and see a full album preview in seconds. Scans need to be reasonably sharp and not too small — you'll be told in the chat if any look blurry, too dark or too low-resolution. It makes a wonderful gift for parents and grandparents.

The bottom line

A phone scanning app is enough for most families; a flatbed scanner or service is better for large or precious collections. Scan, label, back up — then print the best into a new album so the memories are seen again, not just saved.

See how Foreva works.