Written by Generation Archives. We make a family tree app that tags people in photos, so we have an opinion about this, but the method below works with any folder on your computer and any tree program.

How to organize family photos for a family tree

Q: What if I do not know who anyone in a photo is?

Keep the photo, put it in a to-identify folder, and ask relatives. Even "unknown woman in a hat, studio stamp from Duluth" is a useful name, since the stamp gives a place.

Published by Generation Archives on November 5, 2026.

Most families do not lack photographs. They lack photographs with names on them. A box of three hundred prints, a phone full of screenshots from relatives, and a cloud folder named "old pictures" are not an archive until somebody can say who is in each one. This guide covers a practical way to scan, name, sort, and identify photos so they attach cleanly to people in a tree, and still make sense in twenty years.

The goal: a photo you can find and trust

For each photo you care about, you want to be able to answer four questions without guessing:

Who is in it?
When and where was it taken, even roughly?
How do you know? Who identified it, or what is written on it?
Where is the original?

Everything else in this guide is a way of keeping those four answers attached to the picture.

Step 1: collect before you sort

Gather what exists before you decide on a system. Ask relatives for albums, shoeboxes, and loose prints, and ask for copies of digital files too. Keep each batch together, with a note saying where it came from. A photo's origin is a clue: pictures from your grandmother's drawer are probably her side of the family.

Handle prints by the edges, store them flat, and do not write on the front. If you need to label an original, use a soft pencil on the back, lightly, away from the picture area, or put the print in a sleeve and label the sleeve.

Step 2: scan or photograph

For prints you care about, a flatbed scanner is best. Around 600 dpi is a sensible choice for small prints you might want to enlarge. For large or fragile items, or if you have no scanner, a phone camera in good light works. Put the print on a plain surface near a window, avoid glare, and hold the phone parallel to the print.

Also scan or photograph the back of each print. Writing, studio stamps, and dates are often the most useful information on the page. Save the back as a separate file with the same name plus a suffix, such as -back.

Keep an unedited original of each scan. Make any cropping or color fixes on a copy.

Step 3: a file name that works

A file name is the cheapest metadata you have. It travels with the file everywhere. A good scheme sorts well, says who and when, and survives being copied to a new computer or service.

A simple pattern:

surname-firstname-year-place-nn.jpg

Examples:

hale-margaret-1952-regina-01.jpg
whitfield-walter-ruth-1957-duluth-01.jpg
unknown-family-picnic-1960s-01.jpg

Some rules that help:

Use lowercase and hyphens, and avoid spaces and special characters.
Use the year first or last, but pick one. Putting the year first sorts photos chronologically in a folder. Putting the surname first groups by family. Either is fine if you stay consistent.
Use an approximate year when needed, such as 1950s or 1952c.
Name the main person, not everyone. The file name cannot hold a full caption. That is what tags and notes are for.
Never leave a camera name like IMG_4021.jpg as the only name for something you want to keep.

If you have thousands of photos, do not try to rename them all in a weekend. Start with the ones that include named relatives, then work outward.

Step 4: folders, not too many

Folders should be as simple as possible. Two or three levels is plenty.

By family branch, such as hale, whitfield, ames.
Inside that, by decade or by person.
A separate folder for unidentified photos, called to-identify.

Do not build a folder for every event. You will not remember the system later.

One more folder is worth having: originals, for untouched scans. Edited copies go elsewhere.

Step 5: identify people

This is the part that takes time. Work with relatives, since they can identify what you cannot.

Print or share a batch of unidentified photos and ask relatives to name faces. Group sessions work well, since people trigger one another's memories.
Record who said what. If two relatives disagree, keep both.
Use clues. Clothing, cars, buildings, and the age of children can narrow a date. A baby in a christening gown, for example, is a few weeks old.
Compare with identified photos of the same person at other ages.
Be honest about uncertainty. "Probably Margaret, per June, 2019" is better than "Margaret."

For how to write these notes, see how to cite a photo, letter, or interview. If you are talking to relatives, interviewing relatives for family history has questions to try.

Step 6: attach photos to people in a tree

A folder of well-named photos is a good archive. A tree that connects each photo to the people in it is a better one, because you can open a person and see their pictures, or open a picture and see who is in it.

In Generation Archives, you can add photos to a tree and tag people in each one by drawing a box around each face, and you can add notes to the photo and to each person. The tags and notes live in the tree, so it is worth keeping your file names too, in case you ever move.

There are two ways to get a photo into the tree:

Link a photo that already has a public web address. This costs nothing and uses no storage credit. The address has to be one the tree can open without signing in. If the other site removes the file or restricts it, the tree cannot show it.
Upload the photo to Generation Archives. Hosting costs $1 per GB per year in prepaid credit, with 100 MB-years of starter credit on new accounts. The pricing page has examples.

Whichever you choose, keep your own originals. A tree is not a backup of your scans.

Step 7: be careful with people who are still alive

Photos of living relatives, especially children, are more sensitive than names on a chart. Before you add a photo of someone else's child to a tree other people can open, ask their parents. Avoid photos that show street numbers, school uniforms with names, or other identifying details. See what to record about living people.

Step 8: back up photos separately

Photos do not travel inside a GEDCOM file, so exporting your tree does not back up your pictures. Keep a copy of the folder on a second drive or in a second place. How to back up a family tree explains a simple routine, and what is GEDCOM explains what the file leaves out.

A realistic schedule

You do not have to do this all at once. A schedule that works for most people:

Week 1: Collect from relatives. Do not sort.
Week 2: Scan the ten most important photos, front and back.
Week 3: Name the files and put them in folders.
Week 4: Show the unidentified ones to a relative.
Then: Add a few photos a week, and back up once a month.

Frequently asked questions

What resolution should I scan at?

For most family prints, 300 dpi is fine for viewing and 600 dpi is better if you may enlarge them. For small or detailed photos, use the higher setting. Slides and negatives need a higher resolution, since they are small.

Should I fix faded photos?

Keep the unedited scan. Make corrections on a copy, and label it as edited. Over-correcting can remove details.

What if I do not know who anyone in a photo is?

Keep the photo, put it in a to-identify folder, and ask relatives. Even "unknown woman in a hat, studio stamp from Duluth" is a useful name, since the stamp gives a place.

Can I link photos stored somewhere else?

Yes, if the address is public and the tree can open it without signing in. It costs nothing in Generation Archives. See pricing.

Do I need special software to organize photos?

No. A folder, a consistent file name, and a short note are enough. Photo software can help later, but the naming habit matters more.

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