Organization: Scanning and Uploading Family Photos | Ancestry

Do you have a lot of family photos sitting in a shoebox or in an old photo album somewhere? Join Crista Cowan for a brief look at some best practices for scanning those photos. Then she will share how to upload them to your Ancestry tree to share them and preserve them for future generations.
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Organization: Scanning and Uploading Family Photos | Ancestry
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[@abcw114]

I inherited a photo album from the ~1860s (with photos from as late as the ~1880s) that belonged to my 2nd great-grandmother. Most of the pictures are of my collateral relatives and in-law families of my collateral relatives. There are very few photographs of my direct ancestors. Fortunately, my 2nd great-grandmother and great-grandmother had labeled the photographs (I recognize the handwriting) and, with descendancy research, I was able to identify 95% of the people. When searching for their descendants, I realized that in most cases there were *no* photographs online of them. There very well could be lots of photographs in private hands, but no one had digitized any of them. So, I scanned them, put them up on Find a Grave, put them up in my tree on Ancestry, and contacted a few of descendants with trees and active accounts asking if they'd like the photos. Within a year, I saw that the photographs had spread like wildfire. I was thrilled. That's exactly what I wanted to happen. Genealogy Karma has been good to me. People have found me through my tree and online message board posts and have sent me copies and originals of photos and documents. Through AncestryDNA, a cousin sent me a card my great-grandmother had given her older brother on his birthday. That was the first time I'd ever seen her handwriting. On the other side, I have a cousin who's very covetous of his documents and photos. He sent me a few after we DNA matched, but he hasn't wanted to share more. I have to respect that, but I wish he realized that he was sitting on a genealogical treasure trove that, while his property, has meaning and value to those outside his immediate family. They're our ancestors, too, and it would bring so much happiness to us to simply see them. To give you an idea, he has childhood photos of my grandfather who just passed away this past November that I'd pay money to see, but he won't do it. I can tell he's very proud of his lifelong work on our family tree and is quite possessive over it. If you're sitting on these kinds of gems, you don't have to relinquish control to share a digital copy with a grateful cousin of yours.

[@songofruth]

I belong to a group online of people taking care of their elderly loved ones. More than once someone on there is an only child who has no children, and no other relatives are interested in the family photos. They feel terrible knowing the photos may eventually be thrown away. Sometimes they will donate them somewhere in the hopes that someone will enjoy old-timey photos of strangers.

[@bennettdarren]

Great Info...Thanks. Especially the tip about attaching photos. It would be great if Ancestry added people tagging so we can make it clear who each person is in the photo... This is especially helpful for large family photos (25+ people at family reunions)

[@gendeb9666]

So glad you're back!

[@SandiDandiLand]

Great tips! Thank you!! Upload pics at 600 dpi, scan a photo 1x and attach to multiple people, and Comments attached to living people aren't shared (along with edits to Comments aren't shared with those who already nabbed the photo) were all very helpful and stood our for me. Also appreciated reminders to not get "stuck" by perfecting images and other reasons.

[@skanoot]

Great topic!! Thank you!!

[@gregp4735]

I thought this was a very clear, concise presentation with lots of useful information. Thank you. Now, it's time to scan!

[@carlyshockley4804]

This was very insightful! I didn't know about the attaching a living person to a photo makes it automatically private!

[@MrDannyDetail]

I wonder if this is different in different countries versions of ancestry. I'm on ancestry.co.uk and there it specifically warns against uploading photos of living people since they will be visible to the public.

[@PilatesFanC]

Crista, you never disappoint. Your tips are right on... I am one with hundreds of photos.... I started the process of having them scanned. I’ve gone back to organize the originals as I found it very difficult to find what I needed without the organization in place... It’s overwhelming, but I persist.

[@jsorhaug]

Crista, your videos are fantastic. Great work. I love, love old photos and agree 150% that sharing these photos are so important for all the reasons you outlined. I have come across numerous photos in other people's trees that are in my family. So valuable! I've also received comments on my own photos which are very helpful -- one where there was a correction to whom the person in the photo was! While it takes additional time, I try to add at the bottom of the photos I scan/upload, name of the person(s) in the picture, who's photo collection it came from and my email address if someone wants a high-res version. You never know where these digital files end up, and it's good for whomever receives them to be able to get that detail attached to the actual photo. Looking forward to your upcoming videos.

[@donnakfitz]

Thanks for an enlightening video. :)

[@dyandrakimbro2576]

I have tons of photos and didn't know what to do with them. This video is very informative and appreciate you sharing this information!!! It's a big project, but have kids and niece to help!!!

[@alisonbrown1477]

Wow, I learnt so much from that Crista, thank you :-)

[@PiercedBySorrow]

I use an iPhone app named PhotoScan by Google Photos. It helps with the glare that normally comes with taking a photo of a photo. You take 4 photos and then it compiles them as one.

[@Living796]

Thank you for another great video! A side note about pics: It’s really irritating to me when folks upload screenshots of virtually every single citation for an individual (Census records, birth, death, marriage, Findagrave, etc.). I can understand this if there is some error/confusion regarding facts, and screenshots help clarify things. However, I see it SO many times in even clear-cut families. It’s not a huge deal, but all the resultant leaf hints...argh! Okay, rant over. Thanks again for all your hard work! :-)

[@lynda514]

some of the older original Kodak photos have the year processed in the front margin too.

[@steelpaine9932]

Actually, the standard resolution is 300dpi. The only time you would need to scan higher is if you have very small photos or a picture with a lot of people in them. This is something that is so misunderstood. People think higher scan is better, not true, please research, don't take my word for it.

[@stevengasser9812]

Does Ancestry have plans to develop facial recognition software? This would assist researchers in finding lost relatives in their photos. I hanks for another great video!

[@neobreaker91]

Nice video! But where is the What's New March video? I've been dying to see it.

[@AncestryUS]

I was travelling for a week and then sick for a week so no March update. I'll catch up on both months in the Apr update. Thanks for watching! (~Crista)

[@neobreaker91]

Thanks for the update! Now I can stop checking everyday ha ha. I've been dying to hear about any new features or updates, as well as how over doubling Ancestry's number of tests taken in the last year will affect ethnicity results. also curious to see if the reference panel has grown any, if any new regions were added, things like that.

[@JimBob-sc1nj]

Hello, quick question. In the DNA test ancestor timeline you are able to go back to about the 1700's I believe. In my own personal tree I have gone back hundreds of years before this, and I think it would be a very interesting feature if it was possible to have an interactive timeline that is able to go back as far back as your tree goes. Thanks!

[@energymaven]

I agree with sharing photos. However, I wish Ancestry wouldn't send me hints with the photos I originally uploaded.

[@AncestryUS]

That usually happens when someone else has uploaded the same photo (because surprisingly we aren't the only one with copies of old photos) or when someone has downloaded a photo to their computer and then reuploaded it to their tree instead of saving it directly to their tree. Once that link is broken, Ancestry has no way of knowing it is the same photo.

[@harrymyhero]

and that is when I quit sharing them. They rename them wrongly and everything else. Now they have to ask.

[@frankhooper7871]

Has anyone else noticed an issue with the cropping handles recently? I now have to click about a centimetre diagonally to the right and below the actual handle. This occurs both on all my devices and on the library computers I use.

[@frannetwest]

Thank you for the info. I have scanned numerous photos & they are all PDF's. Cannot upload to Ancestry in that format. Have tried several FREE programs to convert the PDF's to JPEG...without success. Would appreciate a solution, if you have one. Thanks so much!

[@clarewalkercjw]

you could load the PDF image and take a screenshot and save it as a jpg

[@PiercedBySorrow]

Question: How do I use a Ancestey.com yearbook photo as the main profile image for someone in my tree? The only way I have found to do this is to save the yearbook page as a photo and upload it to the gallery and then select that image. This is working for me, but it seems to break the only upload a photo once rule.

[@AncestryUS]

Profile photos do have to be selected from photos that have been uploaded and not from document images that have been linked. I will go ahead and submit a suggestion that we look into changing that. Thanks for the feedback. (~Crista)

[@superduperduperdelightyeah4357]

How valuable is it to include as much information possible about aunts and uncles and their spouses? I developed the habit of only putting in a lot of info about grandparents and only just a list of their children with birth dates (if I can find them) a long time ago but I'm beginning to wonder if it's the wrong approach.

[@AncestryUS]

That is entirely up to you, Zendee. Personally, I find that the more I know about the children, the more likely I am to accurately identify the parents and grandparents.

[@RonNasty]

Can images be linked to an event? I have photos from a family reunion from 30 years ago.

[@frankhooper7871]

Edit the event and click on 'media' - a thumbnail of the image will then show in the event.

[@cornerthe]

Crista, is there any plan to help populate the location like the rest of the tree?

[@AncestryUS]

Hi Michael, I'm not sure what you mean by "populate the location?"

[@michaelcallahan3777]

Ancestry auto populate. If I type fort wayn, having it auto populate the to Fort Wayne, Allen, Indiana, USA like the other location areas.

[@LG-kw1in]

My matches usernames are popping up as name unavailable. The matches photo is also missing. I was looking up matches and all of a sudden their usernames disappeared, and it just says name unavailable. If I click on name unavailable it shows the matches username. The matches photo doesn't show. What is going on? I think you have some sort of glitch on the matches site.

[@AncestryUS]

That just sounds like an incomplete page load. It usually happens with a slower internet connection or when something interrupts the connection. Just hit refresh on the page and all the information should appear.

[@markp5228]

Is there a limit to how many photos can be uploaded (and/or linked) to a single person? Likewise, is there a limit on the amount of space available for uploaded photos - e.g., all photos combined must not exceed 250Mb per person...)? Thanks in advance for any answers!

[@AncestryUS]

Hello Mark, that's a good question, we'll be glad to help. There isn't a set limit exactly to the photos you upload to a profile on your tree on Ancestry, however, the photos uploaded to Ancestry must be 15 MB or fewer. There should not be issues with a limit on most profiles, but please do get in touch if you have any issues with this in the future, we can review it with you. This support guide can assist you with the uploading process, we hope this will help: support.ancestry.com/s/article/Uploading-Photos-or-Documents?language=en_US. Thanks for getting in touch! 😊

[@chadebrownnyc]

I realize this goes against Ancestry interests, but I would like to know how to move photos and other records out of Ancestry where I must pay monthly fees and into the software where I can print trees? Ancestry no longer supports Family Tree Maker so this is a need for all its customers.

[@AncestryUS]

I still use Family Tree Maker (version 2017) every day. It syncs with my Ancestry online tree and downloads a copy of all documents to my hard drive. (~Crista)

[@lynda514]

I did randomly buy an old photo in an antique shop that turned out to be the older sister of the silent / talkee actor of Pedro De Cordoba. There is someone on ancestry.com who has a De Cordoba tree posted. I wonder how I can share it with them ?

[@AncestryUS]

Send a message to the tree owner and request their email address.

[@lynda514]

Ancestry I did something aliitle different since I am not a paid men member of ancestry I set up a tree for Pedro de Cordoba and marked everybody as deceased and attach the photo to his sister so it should actually go right to de Cordoba member.

[@LNelson882]

I have a photo album from 1916 and uploaded a couple photos. My only thing I wish is that yes to share the pictures but of you reupload pls give credit to who it belongs to

[@harrymyhero]

I feel the same way.

[@marybassham3078]

Never, Never, tag or name a photo or Story as My Grandma. Aunt Helen, Use their full names

[@gregp4735]

Great point.

[@chadebrownnyc]

Tiff or jpg?

[@chadebrownnyc]

Or DNG?

[@AncestryUS]

I upload all of my images as jpg.

[@harrymyhero]

That's what is missing from this video. The best way to get from 1200 tif (needed for small photos to get 4000 pixels on their longest side) to a reasonable size jpg?

[@casewhite5048]

the photo uploading needs work should not be so basic

[@AncestryUS]

I'm a little confused, Case. You want it to be more complicated?