Make Digital those Photos
You have put off that task long enough. Now is the time to make digital your collection of photos. Recruit some help from a family member or friend and make it a party.
One of the easiest methods is using a portable scanner especially if you have boxes of photos.
I had six very large plastic boxes from my mother-in-law who had passed away and I managed by working about 4-5 hours a day to complete all those hundreds and hundreds of photos within 5-6 days. Using the portable scanner made it much easier. You connect the scanner to your computer so it goes directly to a folder on the computer. I did create several folders labeled so I knew the topic and time period of that set of photos when placed in that folder.
Most portable scanners you just feed the photo in and it runs through and out the other end – done! Then place the next photo. If you want an image redone, just take that photo and run it through again. This works for postcard collections also. The neat part it scans as the size of the photo, so if the image is 5” by 8” that is the size not extra white border around it to trim. 
Some portable scanners have a memory card and the photos can go to that then you can place which ones you want on your computer. Most portable scanners are under $100 and well worth it.
Once on a memory card or on your computer, always save to other drives, such an external hard drive, a disc, a cloud-storage or using a FamilySearch.org account, they offer free web storage/archival of family photos – WOW. I also send using Dropbox all the photos from my mother-in-law to her other son – my brother-in-law, so he has all of them in digital format also.
There are quite a variety of portable scanners even those with a dock making it even easier to feed the photos. Go to an office supply store, learn about what is available – it is well worth the effort. 
Photos: Various portable scanners.
Related FamilyTree.com Blogs:
FamilySearch.org / Family History Centers
< Return To Blog
Leave a Reply