Short answer
Keep everything, together, and decide nothing yet. Copy the photos off every device, scan the prints, and put all of it in one dated archive with a backup. Then give every family member a complete copy. Choosing which prints and albums to keep comes last — once every photo exists as a file, no decision can lose one.
The first weeks: keep, don't sort
Photos are often the hardest part of clearing a home, and the part people regret rushing. The one rule for the start is simple: nothing is thrown away, deleted, wiped or sold until its photos are copied. That includes the laptop going to a relative, the phone going back to the network, and the boxes in the loft.
- Gather the prints, albums, envelopes of negatives and loose slides in one dry place, away from sunlight and damp.
- Put the devices — computer, phone, tablet, camera, memory cards, USB sticks — in one box, with chargers.
- Write down the online accounts you know of: Google, iCloud, Facebook, a photo-printing site.
Photos on their computer, phone and accounts
The computer
If you can sign in, copy the Pictures, Desktop and Downloads folders
to an external drive. On a Mac, photos may be inside the Photos app's library: open Photos, select all and
use File › Export › Export Unmodified Original. If the computer will not start, the drive almost
always still reads — it can be taken out and connected to another computer with an adapter. The details are
in how to consolidate photos from old
computers and drives.
The phone
If you know the passcode, copy the photos to a computer before anything else happens to the phone. If you don't, do not reset it: the photos may also be in the cloud account it synced to.
Online accounts
Apple, Google and Facebook each have a process for the family of someone who has died, which usually asks for a death certificate, and some people named a legacy contact in advance. It can take weeks, so it is worth starting early, in parallel with everything else.
Albums and prints
Scan before anyone takes anything home. A scan is what lets every relative have every photo.
- Keep albums whole until they are scanned. The order of the pages and the handwriting are part of what was left to you.
- Scan one album or envelope at a time into its own folder, named with what you know:
Album 1970s Holidays,1987-12 Christmas. Those names are what dates the scans later. - Photograph the backs of prints that have handwriting, and keep those images beside the scan.
- Large collections can go to a scanning service; ask for the scans to come back in folders that match the albums or envelopes you sent.
Putting it all in order
You now have folders from a laptop, a phone, perhaps a cloud export, and a pile of scans. Put them in one archive in the same order as any lifetime of photos:
- Merge every source into one place, keeping the best copy of each photo — parents often have the same photos on the computer, the phone and a CD from the photo shop.
- Date the photos that have none — scans, and anything sent through WhatsApp — from the folder names you gave them. See how to date old photos that have no date.
- Sort into Year and Month folders by the date taken.
- Back up the archive to a second drive before you do anything else with it.
The full method is in how to organize 20, 30 or 40 years of digital photos. FolioSort does every step on your own computer, which matters with photos as private as these: nothing is uploaded, and nothing is deleted unless you ask.
Finding the photos of one person
For a funeral slideshow, a memorial book, or a grandchild who wants every photo of their grandmother, you need to find one person among thousands of photos. Face search does that, but family photos should not be uploaded to someone else's servers to do it.
FolioSort's Find a Person runs entirely on your computer: add one to three clear photos of the person and it lists every other photo of them in the folder, closest matches first, for you to review before copying them anywhere. People goes the other way, grouping all the faces in a folder so you can name them. You can try both free on a sample; whole libraries are part of FolioSort Elite.
Sharing fairly with family
Don't divide the digital photos. Give every brother, sister and grandchild a complete copy of the whole archive. Digital copies are free and identical, so no one has to choose — and no one loses a photo because someone else took the print.
A drive per person is the simplest gift and needs no accounts. A shared folder on a cloud service works too; make sure each person downloads their own copy rather than relying on the shared link forever. Divide only the physical prints and albums, and only after they are scanned.
What to keep, and what to let go
Once everything is scanned and backed up, the decisions become much lighter, because nothing can be lost by them:
- Keep the albums someone loves, the prints with handwriting, and anything that is the only record of a person or place.
- Offer photos of local streets, shops, schools or events to a local archive or historical society — they are often glad of them.
- Let go of duplicates of the same print, blurred shots, and photos of people no one in the family can identify — after scanning, and disposed of privately rather than in public recycling.
Questions people ask
What should I do with inherited family photos?
First keep everything safe and together, prints and devices alike, and throw nothing away in the first weeks. Then copy the digital photos off every device and scan the prints, so everything exists as files. Put the files in one dated archive, back it up, and give every family member a full copy. Decisions about which prints to keep can come last, once nothing can be lost.
What should I do with my deceased parents' photo albums?
Keep the albums intact until they are scanned, because the order of the pages and any handwriting are part of the record. Scan each album into its own folder named with what you know, such as its title or years. Once scanned, the family can decide who keeps which album, knowing that everyone already has every photo.
What can I do with old family photos no one wants?
Scan them before deciding, since a digital copy costs nothing to keep. Photos of local streets, events or businesses may interest a local archive or historical society. Photos of unidentified people that no one in the family recognises can be let go once they are scanned. Dispose of private photos privately rather than in public recycling.
How do I share inherited photos fairly with my siblings?
Don't divide the digital photos: give everyone a complete copy of the whole archive, on a drive or through a shared folder, because copies are free and complete. Divide only the physical prints and albums, after they are scanned, so no one loses access to a photo by not taking the print.
How do I get photos off a late parent's phone or computer?
If you can unlock the device, copy its photos to an external drive straight away. A computer that will not start usually still has a readable drive, which can be connected to another computer with an adapter. For locked phones and online accounts, Apple, Google and Facebook each have a process for the family of someone who has died, which usually requires a death certificate.
How do I find every photo of one person among thousands?
Use face search that runs on your own computer, so private family photos are not uploaded. In FolioSort, Find a Person takes one to three clear photos of someone and lists every other photo of them in a folder, closest matches first, for you to review. People groups all the faces in a folder into people you can then name.