Resource library

Every outside page this manual relies on, grouped by the chapter or page that first uses it, with who publishes it. Checked on 2026-10-30; next check due 2027-10-30.

Every link below was fetched live on 2026-10-30, and every one is free to read. We will check them all again by 2027-10-30. Makers' help pages change without notice: where a chapter gives a menu path, it names the version, and your own device is the final word. No link carries a referral or tracking code, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy. We compared paid courses on organizing and preserving photos before writing; none is linked or recommended here.

Three pages the manual relies on are cited by name rather than linked, because they refuse automated link checks: the Canadian Conservation Institute's Longevity of Recordable CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays (CCI Notes 19/1, on canada.ca), Instagram's help page Review and export a copy of your Instagram information, and WhatsApp's help pages About HD photos and videos and Seeing blurry photos. Search for the title on the publisher's site.

Pages from other Learn Things manuals linked in this one: Learn Digital Security, Backups (device backups in general) and Learn Digital Security, Your security file (legacy contacts and account records); Learn Funeral Planning, After the service (accounts and belongings after a death).

Taking stock

• About your Google Photos activity & storage (Google).
• Automatically save photos with OneDrive for Android and iOS (Microsoft).
• Back up photos & videos (Google).
• Check the status of your library in Photos for macOS (Apple).
• Compare Microsoft storage quotas (Microsoft).
• Delete messages and attachments in Messages on iPhone (Apple): messages as an accidental archive and how it can disappear.
• File Retention Policy (Amazon).
• Free up storage on your Android device (Google Android Help).
• Get information about your iPhone (iPhone User Guide) (Apple).
• Hide sensitive photos & videos in Locked Folders (Google).
• How Much Storage do I Have Available? Amazon (manufacturer).
• How to check the storage on your iPhone and iPad (Apple): where to see storage used on iPhone.
• How your Google storage works (Google One Help).
• iCloud storage vs device storage (Apple): what happens when iCloud is full.
• iCloud+ plans and pricing (Apple): free tier and plan sizes.
• Image Capture User Guide for Mac (Apple): importing straight to a folder.
• Import and export photos and videos on iPhone (Apple).
• Inactive Google Account Policy (Google Account Help).
• Keeping Personal Digital Photographs ("Digital Photos – Personal Archiving") (Library of Congress, Digital Preservation): the canonical four-step federal checklist.
• Levels of Digital Preservation, Version 2.1 (matrix) (National Digital Stewardship Alliance): a tiered checklist the manual can adapt.
• Manage your iCloud storage (section "Delete photos in iCloud Photos") (Apple Support): the product fact behind "sync is not backup".
• Microsoft account activity policy (Microsoft).
• Personal Digital Archiving (DPC Technology Watch Report 15-01), Gabriela Redwine, December 2015 (Digital Preservation Coalition): the most authoritative free overview, with timescales.
• See used and available storage space on your Mac (Mac User Guide) (Apple).
• Storage settings in Windows (Microsoft).
• What does it mean when your OneDrive account is frozen? Microsoft (manufacturer).
• What is Amazon Photos? Amazon (manufacturer).
• Whittaker S, Bergman O, Clough P. Easy on that trigger dad: a study of long term family photo retrieval. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 14(1):31-43, 2010 (online 2009). DOI 10.1007/s00779-009-0218-7. Author manuscript:: the best direct evidence on whether people can find their own photos years later.

One home for your photos

• Back up your photo library on Mac (Apple): apple's own "back up even with iCloud" rule.
• Choose the backup quality of your photos & videos (Google).
• Data best practices and case studies: Name files (Stanford University Libraries).
• Delete photos & videos (Google).
• Free up space on your device (Google).
• How to use iCloud Shared Photo Library on iPhone or iPad (Apple).
• Manage your photo and video storage (Apple).
• Save disk space with OneDrive Files On-Demand for Windows (Microsoft).
• Set up and use iCloud Photos (Apple): what iCloud Photos syncs, deletion behaviour, Optimize Storage.
• Set up partner sharing (Google).
• Structuring folders and directories (UK Data Service).
• Transfer a copy of your iCloud Photos collection to another service (Apple): apple's copy-to-Google Photos service.

Getting photos out

• Care and Handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for Librarians and Archivists (NIST SP 500-252, co-published with CLIR) (NIST).
• Copy files to an existing folder in Internal storage (Files by Google Help).
• Download iCloud photos and videos (Apple): getting originals out of iCloud on iPhone, Mac and iCloud.com.
• Download photos or videos to your device (Google).
• Export a copy of your Facebook information (Meta).
• Forensic Value of Exif Data: An Analytical Evaluation of Metadata Integrity across Image Transfer Methods (Nishchal Soni, Perspectives in Legal and Forensic Sciences, 2025, vol. 2).
• How to download your Google data (Google Account Help).
• How to use Files by Google (Files by Google Help).
• Import from a camera or phone in Photos on Mac (Apple): photos app import steps.
• Import photos and videos from phone to PC (Microsoft).
• Transfer photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac or PC (Apple): uSB import paths to Mac and Windows.
• Use USB storage devices (Files by Google Help): copying files with a USB drive on an Android phone, with no computer.
• Using HEIF or HEVC media on Apple devices (Apple): camera Formats setting, conversion on sharing and USB import, Keep Originals.

Prints, slides and negatives

• 5.3 Care of Photographs (Northeast Document Conservation Center): environment, light, handling, labelling tools, enclosures.
• Care, Handling and Storage of Photographs (Library of Congress, Collections Care).
• Digitizing Your Family Photographs (brochure) (Minnesota Historical Society): per-format ppi table and format advice for families.
• Displaying Family Papers and Photographs (NARA): display copies, framing materials.
• Find a Professional Member (directory search) (American Institute for Conservation): the US conservator directory.
• Finding and dating photographs (talk transcript) (National Library of Australia): a reference librarian's method for dating photos.
• How to scan documents on your iPhone or iPad (Apple Support): the Notes and Files document scanner.
• Motion Picture Film Guidance: Playback and Digitization of Materials (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration): the National Archives' home movies page for decision 9's one line; the family archives index (https://www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives) links it as "Converting Home Movies to Video Tape" (an old link label; the page itself is about playback and digitizing).
• Photo Storage, Display, & Labeling Materials: a guide to ISO 18902 "photo-safe" testing (Image Permanence Institute).
• PhotoScan by Google Photos (App Store listing) (Google via Apple App Store): iOS maintenance status.
• PhotoScan by Google Photos (Google Play listing) (Google): current maintenance status on Android.
• Preservation in Practice: Disasters (Saving Wet Photographs. National Park Service, National Center for Preservation Technology and Training): lay salvage steps for flood-wet photos.
• Preserving Family Papers and Photographs (index), and Digitizing Family Papers and Photographs (U.S. National Archives): federal guidance on handling and digitizing prints, with naming, metadata and 3-2-1 rules.
• Preserving Family Treasures: Personal Papers, Photos, Scrapbooks & More (workshop slides) (University of Nebraska Medical Center, McGoogan Health Sciences Library): a university library's short resolution list.
• Repairing Existing Damage to Family Papers and Photographs (NARA): when to call a conservator.
• Scanning Your Personal Collections (Personal Digital Archiving Series handout) (Library of Congress): loC's consumer scanning settings.
• Scanning: DIY or Outsource (Erin Engle, The Signal blog, Library of Congress): what to ask a scanning service; shipping risk.
• Storing Family Papers and Photographs (NARA): home storage thresholds and materials to avoid.
• Technical Guidelines for Digitizing Cultural Heritage Materials, Third Edition (May 2023) (Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative, Still Image Working Group): the federal star-level image quality targets for prints and film.
• Tips for Handling Family Papers and Photographs (NARA): glove rule.
• What People Are Asking About Personal Digital Archiving: part 1 (Library of Congress, The Signal blog): loC's plain-language answer on JPEG versus TIFF and on generation loss. This is the credible source for re-save loss.
• You Say You Want a Resolution: How Many DPI/PPI Is Too Much? Mike Ashenfelder, The Signal blog, Library of Congress (kind: library or archive): the 300 vs 600 ppi debate with expert answers.

Duplicates

• Digital Preservation Topical Notes 1–10, in particular Note 6 "Personal Digital Archiving" and Note 3 "Digital Images". Digital Preservation Coalition, produced "with the kind support of the National Archives of Ireland" (standards body). Note 6:: a set of 2-page standalone notes that cross-reference each other, the best free model of a chapter-based reference.
• ExifTool by Phil Harvey (home page and documentation) (ExifTool).
• Export photos, videos, slideshows, and memories on Mac (Photos User Guide) (Apple Support).
• Fixity and checksums (Digital Preservation Handbook) (Digital Preservation Coalition): the clearest non-specialist checksum explanation.
• Get-FileHash (Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility) (Microsoft Learn): making a checksum with Windows' own tools.
• Manage photos and videos with Microsoft Photos app (Microsoft).
• Merge duplicate photos and videos on iPhone (Apple).
• Organize your Photos view (photo stacks) (Google).
• Protect Your Data: File Fixity and Data Integrity (Library of Congress, The Signal).
• Remove duplicate photos and videos on Mac (Apple).
• See photo and video information on iPhone (Apple).

Folders and file names

• Bulletin 2015-04 Appendix B (file and folder naming) (National Archives).
• Date and Time Formats (NOTE-datetime) (W3C).
• File Naming Conventions (Harvard Medical School / Harvard Biomedical Data Management).
• Maximum Path Length Limitation (Microsoft Learn).
• Naming Files, Paths, and Namespaces (Microsoft Learn).
• Organize files and folders in Files on iPhone (Apple): making a folder on a drive without a computer (Nadia's path).
• Organize your files: File naming and folder hierarchy (MIT Libraries Data Management).
• RFC 3339, Date and Time on the Internet: Timestamps (section 5.1 Ordering) (IETF).

Dates, captions and people

• Add titles, captions, and more to photos and videos on Mac (Photos User Guide, default version shown, which Apple's guide index gives as Photos 12.0 for macOS 27) (Apple).
• CIPA standards list (Exif), cipa.jp (Camera & Imaging Products Association).
• Describing Archives: A Content Standard, 2.4 Date (Society of American Archivists, TS-DACS): the archival convention for writing uncertain dates.
• Family Folklore: A Possible Questionnaire. Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian Education, legacy "Migrations" pages) (kind: museum / research institution): photo-specific oral history prompts.
• Family Folklore: interviewing tips (Smithsonian Education): use photos as props.
• Find and name people and pets in Photos on iPhone (iPhone User Guide, iOS 27; iOS 26 text checked at: naming people in Photos.
• Great Questions (StoryCorps): general interview prompts by category (Grandparents, Family Heritage, Remembering a Loved One, etc.).
• How to spot a postcard (1900–1950s). Colin Harding, National Science and Media Museum blog (UK) (kind: museum): format date ranges and the postmark caveat.
• IPTC Photo Metadata Standard (overview page) (IPTC).
• IPTC Photo Metadata Standard 2025.1 (specification) (IPTC Photo Metadata Working Group): the field definitions a family would use.
• JPEG file with Exif metadata (fdd000147) (Library of Congress).
• MWG Tags (ExifTool documentation): the only reachable statement of the Metadata Working Group reconciliation rules.
• Set up & manage your face groups (Google Photos Help).
• Understand, find & edit your photos' locations (Google).

Choosing what to keep

• Apply star ratings to photos and videos on iPhone (Apple).
• appraisal (Dictionary of Archives Terminology) (Society of American Archivists): the archival definition of choosing what to keep.
• Delete or hide photos and videos on iPhone (Apple).
• Delete photos and videos or recover deleted ones on Mac (Apple).
• Find your Favorites and albums in Photos on your iPhone or iPad (Apple Support).
• Photo Tip Tuesday: The ABCs of Organizing. The Photo Managers (then Association of Personal Photo Organizers) (kind: practitioner): a professional organizers' sorting method for prints.
• Restore recently deleted photos & videos (Google).
• Sort and filter the photo library on iPhone (Apple).
• Sweeten G, Sillence E, Neave N. Digital hoarding behaviours: underlying motivations and potential negative consequences. Computers in Human Behavior 85:54-60, 2018. DOI 10.1016/j.chb.2018.03.031 (kind: journal). Abstract read on the Northumbria University research portal:: qualitative description of digital hoarding.
• Sync your favorite photos with Apple Photos (Google Photos Help).
• The ABCs of Photo Organizing (Cathi Nelson, The Photo Managers): the five-step professional organizer workflow.

Backups

• #StopRansomware Guide (CISA, with MS-ISAC, FBI and NSA).
• Backblaze Drive Stats for 2025 (Backblaze).
• Backblaze Drive Stats for Q2 2026 (Backblaze).
• Data Backup Options (PDF) (US-CERT / CISA; written by Carnegie Mellon University): the US-government statement of 3-2-1 and its origin.
• Data Backup Strategies: Why the 3-2-1 Backup Strategy is the Best (Backblaze).
• Data best practices: Store & backup files (Stanford University Libraries).

Formats and the long term

• Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) 1.6 (fdd000628) (Library of Congress).
• Appendix A: Tables of File Formats (NARA Bulletin 2014-04 transfer guidance) (National Archives and Records Administration): which formats NARA accepts for permanent federal photo records.
• Apple ProRAW (fdd000594) (Library of Congress).
• Camera Raw Formats (fdd000241) (Library of Congress).
• Caring for your collections: Digital prints (State Library of Queensland, Australia).
• CD-R and DVD-R RW Longevity Research (Library of Congress, Preservation Science).
• Checking Your Digital Content: What is Fixity, and When Should I Be Checking It? NDSA (professional alliance), hosted by LoC.
• Create a package in Apple Business (Apple): apple's own documented way to make a SHA-256 checksum on a Mac (written for app packages).
• Digital Evidence Preservation: Considerations for Evidence Handlers (NIST IR 8387) (NIST): the only US-agency table of unpowered media longevity found.
• High Efficiency Image File Format, HEVC encoding, HEIC/HEIX brands (fdd000526) (Library of Congress, Sustainability of Digital Formats): loC's sustainability assessment of iPhone-style HEIC.
• How Long Will Digital Storage Media Last? (PDF, Personal Digital Archiving Series) (Library of Congress): why media fail and what to do about it.
• IPI Guide to Preservation of Digitally-Printed Images (DP3) (Image Permanence Institute, Rochester Institute of Technology).
• JEDEC SSD Specifications Explained (presentation PDF, Alvin Cox) (JEDEC).
• NARA Digital Preservation Framework, File Format Preservation Action Plans (CSV dated 2026-10-21, release 3.7.0) (National Archives): nARA's own risk rating and planned action per format.
• PNG (fdd000153) (Library of Congress).
• Preservation Leaflet 5.4: Creating Long-Lasting Inkjet Prints (Northeast Document Conservation Center).
• Recommended Formats Statement 2025-2026, Still Image Works (Library of Congress): loC's preferred and acceptable formats for digital photographs.
• Share photos and videos on iPhone (iOS 27 version) (Apple).
• TIFF Revision 6.0 (fdd000022) (Library of Congress).
• Wilhelm Imaging Research (home page) (Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc., Grinnell, Iowa).

Sharing photos

• Control the location information you share on iPhone (Apple): the iOS 27 guide's path to per-app location access.
• Create a temporary shared album (Apple).
• Heads Up: Stop (Think. Connect. Federal Trade Commission).
• How to use Shared Albums in Photos on iPhone, iPad, or Apple Vision Pro (Apple): shared Albums, with big version 27 change.
• Kids and Cell Phones (Federal Trade Commission).
• LGBT Q&A: What's one thing I can do today to improve my safety and security online (Electronic Frontier Foundation).
• Manage location metadata in Photos (Personal Safety User Guide) (Apple): location removal and prevention.
• Photographing and filming children (NSPCC Learning).
• Photography & Copyright (handout M-313) (U.S. Copyright Office): who owns a photo, and the Office's only statement on inherited family photos.
• Share photos & videos (Google).
• Share photos and videos on iPhone (iOS 26 version) (Apple).
• Shared Albums limits (Apple).
• What is Sharenting? Children and Screens: Institute of Digital Media and Child Development (kind: nonprofit research institute; states it takes no technology industry funding): consent and risk guidance on posting children's photos.
• What Photographers Should Know about Copyright (U.S. Copyright Office): the general rule and its main exception.
• Windows Explorer: Improper Exif Data Removal (Didier Stevens).

Routines and handing on

• About Inactive Account Manager (Google Account Help).
• About legacy contacts on Facebook (Meta).
• Accessing Outlook.com, OneDrive and other Microsoft services when someone has died (Microsoft).
• Data that a Legacy Contact can access (Apple).
• How to add a Legacy Contact for your Apple Account (Apple).

My phone is full

Photo services compared

• How to use camera and mobile device uploads (Dropbox).