how to store photos

You’ve taken literally thousands of amazing photos over the years, and you’re probably unsure what to do with them all. 

Stacks of photos have been shut away in drawers, others are gathering dust in old boxes, while your most recent photos are clogging up the memory on your phone. It can all get a little overwhelming. 

From storing physical photo prints to organising digital photos on your phone, we’ve put together all the best ways to store photos you love. 

Let's take a look at how to organise photos without any fuss, so you can quickly and easily enjoy all your favourite pictures!

1. Remove all your bad photos first

Start by going through your photos and culling any bad ones you don’t want to keep. You take so many photos on your phone every day, there’s a good chance you’ve got loads of rubbish snaps taking up valuable memory space. 

Since you’ll still be taking new photos, scheduling a monthly photo declutter is a great way of keeping everything super-organised (and freeing up some precious memory space).

2. Use cloud storage for automatic backup

Most of your photos are probably saved on your phone or computer these days, and cloud storage is the quickest, easiest and safest way of backing them up. If you lost your phone, your photos would still be safe and sound on the cloud. Phew.  

The most popular cloud storage services include Google Photos, OneDrive, Dropbox and iCloud, but there are all kinds of other cloud options out there. Most cloud storage services offer “automatic backup”, so any new photos will be synced to the cloud without you having to do anything! 

3. Save local backups on external hard drives

Cloud storage is the easiest way to back up your snaps, but consider investing in an external hard drive to add an extra layer of security. Storing photos on a hard drive is often a much better long-term solution, as you’ll avoid cloud subscription fees and can always access your photos without internet access (or if your cloud service shuts down). 

This is also the best way to store photos in large quantities, since so many affordable hard drives offer generous storage!

4. Organise your photos into folders

Whether you’re storing photos on the cloud or a hard drive, you need to sort them all into clearly-named folders. Our favourite folder system organises folders by year, month and event, so that it looks something like this:

Year > Month > Summer Holiday

However, you might want to try organising photos by theme instead, so that you can easily find photos of certain people and places. For example:

Family > Holidays > Italy 2026

These are just some quick ideas to get you started, and you can obviously organise folders however you like. The most important thing is consistency - once you’ve chosen a folder system, make sure you stick to it!

5. Print your favourite photos

It’s just too easy for digital photos to get lost in your camera roll or cloud storage. Even with a great folder structure in place, there’s a good chance your most amazing photos will get lost amongst the thousands of others you’ve saved (and the thousands more you’ll take in the future). 

Instead of leaving them trapped on a screen forever, printing photos will reduce digital clutter and ultimately put the spotlight on your favourite pictures. It doesn’t matter if you’re sticking them in a scrapbook or hanging them on the wall, physical photo prints make happy memories feel more tangible and alive.

Check out our complete guide on the benefits of photo printing to learn why you should print your photos!

6. Create beautiful photo books & albums

Organising photos into photo books and albums is a great way of reliving happy memories. Whether it’s a selection of holiday snaps or your best snaps of the year, storing photos inside themed photo albums won’t just help you keep them organised, but can also showcase your creativity and bring your stories to life. 

You can fill photo albums with anything from magical wedding snaps to your favourite pictures; the most important thing is that your favourite photos are now stored safely and much easier to find!

7. Share your best photos on social media

Instagram isn’t just about likes and comments, it’s actually a really cool way of organising your photos. While your phone and cloud storage are cluttered with endless photos, you can use your social media accounts to save and share your favourites. 

It sounds really simple, but your Insta profile could be the perfect place to document your very best photos and scroll through happy memories.

8. Keep photos inside archival storage boxes

When you’ve got far too many loose photos for albums and scrapbooks, you can store them inside archive storage boxes instead. You should start by organising photos by category, year or theme, and then buy an acid-free photo box that keeps all your printed photos safe and sound. 

The best archival storage boxes use acid-free materials, are totally waterproof and even include dividers for you to easily organise photos inside. When you’ve got multiple storage boxes, it’s really important to label them clearly, so that you can easily find the photos you’re looking for! 

9. Digitise your old printed photos 

When they haven’t been stored properly, old photos will eventually fade, deteriorate or tear. To keep your loose printed photos safe forever, we recommend digitising your prints and saving them to USB, DVD or the cloud. 

From old family photos to precious wedding snaps, converting photos to digital formats ultimately keeps them safe for future generations. You’ll still want to keep the physical copies, but once they’ve been scanned you can easily sort them into folders (along with all your other digital photos!).