Below are simple, actionable steps to help you organize and preserve photos, videos, and memories. We're focusing on different aspects of memory organization—uploading your media, syncing your photos, deleting unwanted images, digitizing physical photos, and even printing special memories.

This plan is designed to be flexible and you can work through the steps at your own pace. The goal is simple: dedicate just 15 minutes a day to organizing your memories. By following this plan, you will gradually build an organized collection of digital and physical photos, while making steady progress in a manageable, bite-sized way. We encourage you to stick with the 15-minute per day theme and keep chipping away at the task, knowing that every small step adds up to big progress over time.

Please note, everyone has specific organizational needs. Organize in a way that works best for you. Reach out to your Ambassador or Client Care if you need help. Let’s get started on the path to an organized and preserved collection of memories!

Step 1: Capture New Memories
Start by simply capturing new moments today. Whether it’s a quick selfie, a snapshot of something beautiful, or a meaningful video, take the opportunity to create new memories.

Step 2: Sign Up & Purchase FOREVER Storage®
Head to FOREVER.com and sign up. Choose the Storage plan that fits your needs, whether it's a one-time purchase or 24 monthly installments. With FOREVER Storage, you can rest assured that your memories are protected for generations to come. Unlike traditional cloud services, FOREVER guarantees your photos, videos, and documents will be safely stored for life, with no subscription fees or risk of losing access.

TIP: Join FOREVER Club to make monthly Club deposits to use on FOREVER Storage purchases. Save 5% on a one-time purchase or all 24 monthly installments.

Step 3: Use the FOREVER Mobile App
Download the FOREVER Mobile App on your phone from the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android), log in, and select your preferred settings. Use the Back Up feature to back up all your past photos and videos. This may take a while depending on the number of files and their sizes, and you may need to keep your device on to continue the upload process. We recommend toggling on Auto Sync to auto-upload your files into FOREVER going forward to ensure new files are safely backed up and accessible from anywhere.

Step 4: Get Familiar with Your FOREVER Account
Check out your Gallery. This is where all your photos are uploaded and ready to be viewed and organized. The Filters button allows you view your memories based on Favorites, Name, File Size, Date Taken, Date Uploaded, Media Type, People, Tags, and Albums. You can even view those that are Not in any album or Untagged. Getting familiar with these filters will help you with upcoming steps.

Step 5: Gather Your Digital Photos & Videos
Collect all your photos and videos from various devices (old phones, camera, laptop, SD cards, hard drives, etc.). Don’t worry about sorting them yet—just gather everything in one place to get ready to upload those files.

Step 6: Upload to FOREVER.com
Upload all your collected digital media to your FOREVER Account. This ensures that your photos and videos are securely backed up and ready to be organized.

TIP: Try out FOREVER Valet, our desktop application that helps you upload large numbers of files from various sources to your FOREVER Account. You can even maintain your original file structure when uploading to your account. Plus, we offer a 60-day free trial!

Step 7: Try Out Facial Recognition
Facial Recognition is a game-changer for many! FOREVER uses AI technology to scan your images to find faces. Facial Recognition can greatly improve your overall experience with advanced filtering, organization, and even printing. The People category will be populated and all you need to do is enter a name to each face by clicking Unnamed.

TIP: In some cases, People’s baby, childhood, and adult photos may need to be merged. To do this, simply right-click or control-click on one of the People and select Bulk Merge to select more of the same person to merge. And yes, if you joined FOREVER Club, you can use your 5% discount code on this too!

Step 8: Order a FOREVER Digitization Box
Check your cabinets, drawers, and boxes for VHS tapes, reels, slides, negatives, and more to digitize. Do you have 2+, 10+, or 20+ items to digitize? Order the FOREVER Digitization Box size that works for you. We’ll ship it to you while you continue organizing your other digital memories.

TIP: Did you join FOREVER Club? You can use your 5% discount code on this too!

Step 9: Create Year Albums
Back in your FOREVER Account, it’s time to start creating albums to categorize your memories. Click Albums, then Add Album to start creating top level albums for each year of your memories: 2024, 2023, 2022, all the way back to when you first started taking digital photos.

Step 10: Populate Your Year Albums
Go to your Gallery and Filter to Not In Any Album and Date Taken from the most recent year, then Show Results. Select up to 2,000 photos and videos at a time, click Organize, then Add to Album. Add your selected photos to the corresponding Year album. Continue this process until all your files are in the Year albums you created from Step 9.

TIP: Select the first file, then hold the Shift key on your keyboard and select the last file (up to 2,000 files) from that year to select them all.

Step 11: Create Core Collection Albums
Next, it’s time to start creating albums to categorize your core memories. We suggest creating albums for Core Collections like Vacations, Weddings, Professional Photos, School, Sports, Private/Medical (i.e., for documents), Careers, Church/Clubs/Groups (e.g., Rotary), Genealogy, Inspiration (i.e., for recipes, home), and Pets. Click Albums, then Add Album to create these albums at the same level of your Year albums.

Step 12: Populate Your Core Collection Albums
Here’s where you’ll really start to see progress. Under one of your Year albums, find the images and videos from one Core Collection and select Organize then Move to Album to move the files to their corresponding Core Collection album. Continue moving images and videos of each Core Collection from each Year album. The goal is to move many files from each Year album into their corresponding Core Collection album.

Step 13: Create Core Collection Nested Albums
Once your Core Collection albums are filled, it’s time to create nested albums! Within your Core Collection album, click the 3 dots then Add Nested. Enter your album name then Create New Album. Be specific! We suggest the Year – Month – Event Title (e.g., 2024_08 Colorado Road Trip). Do this for each event from your Core Collection.

Step 14: Populate Your Core Collection Nested Albums
It’s time to select the photos and videos from each event in a Core Collection album and move them to their corresponding nested album. Do this by selecting your files, clicking Organize then Move to Album. Next hit the large gray arrow next to the Core Collection album you’re working within to choose the nested album. The goal is to move all the files from each Core Collection album into their corresponding nested albums.

Step 15: Create Year Nested Albums
Let’s go back to your Year albums and see what’s left. You might have holidays, birthdays, and other miscellaneous moments or events that didn’t fit into a Core Collection. Create nested albums for each of these events by clicking the 3 dots, then Add Nested. Enter your album name then Create New Album. Again, be specific! We suggest the Year – Month – Event Title (e.g., 2024_12 Christmas).

Step 16: Populate Your Year Nested Albums
It’s time to select the photos and videos from each event in a Year album and move them to their corresponding nested album. Do this by selecting your files, clicking Organize then Move to Album. Next hit the large gray arrow next to the Year album you’re working within to choose the nested album. The goal is to move most files left in each Year album into their corresponding nested albums.

Step 17: Delete Your Unwanted Photos
We all have them. Blurry photos, duplicates, food pics, and screen shots we just don’t need. Go through all your albums and delete those you don’t want by first selecting them, clicking Remove, checking the Also move to Delete Bin box, then Move to Delete Bin.

TIP: Access your Delete Bin by clicking your profile then Delete Bin to restore any photos back into your account within 60 days.

Step 18: Sort Your Old Videos
By now, your FOREVER Digitization Box should have arrived. (Keep the outer box for return shipping.) Review the booklet inside. Sort your videotapes and reels into one pile. Add a barcode to each videotape and film reel. (NOTE: film reels larger than 3” require more than 1 barcode; reference the booklet for details.) Fill out the tape and film portion of your order form.

Step 19: Sort Your Old Photos
Sort the photos for digitization with like items, for instance, slides, negatives, and photographs. Add like items into baggies and label them with a name and quantity (e.g., 1984_02 Florida Vacation #32). Add a barcode to each baggie. Fill out the portion of your order form that corresponds with your items.

TIP: It’s helpful to have at least 25 images of like items in each baggie (i.e., slides with slides and negatives with negatives). Cover any negative images you don’t want scanned with a sticker. Each image on a negative strip is considered one image.

Step 20: Pack, Ship & Track Your Box
You may add other items like album pages to your box and note those on your order form too. Secure all your items in the larger bags provided with packing materials and also include your completed order form. Place the blue FOREVER Box inside the outer box that you saved for added protection during return shipping. Place the shipping label on the outer box and drop it off at FedEx. You may track every step of the shipping and digitization progress.

TIP: On the order form you may have noticed a line to subtract your box credit. Anything over that amount are extra items or overages. Once FOREVER inventories your box, you’ll need to pay for your extra items before we begin the digitization progress.

Step 21: Back Up Your Facebook Photos
FOREVER offers a great tool to back up your Facebook photos. When in your Gallery, click Upload to Gallery, then Facebook Import. Click Back Up to do a one-time back up of your existing Facebook photos. A pop-up window will guide you through connecting your FOREVER account with Facebook.

TIP: On the Facebook Import screen, you can toggle on Facebook Sync to automatically add photos from Facebook from now on. This may not be necessary for you if you’re syncing all your phone’s photos through your FOREVER Mobile App.

Step 22: Favorite Your Memories
Here’s a fun step. As you scroll through your gallery or albums, select the ones that are meaningful or bring you joy. Click Organize, then Add to Favorites. A little heart will show up in the corner of those images. Or, if you’re clicking through each photo, you can click the heart icon from there as well.

TIP: Use the Filter tool to easily find your Favorites later.

Step 23: Apply Tags
Tags are useful to link related images together that are in separate albums (e.g., Colorado, Dance, etc.). As you scroll through your gallery or albums, select ones that are connected. Click Organize, Add Tags, then Select Tags to start typing a new Tag to add. Navigate to Tags in your menu bar and select a specific one to view all related photos and videos from that Tag.

Step 24: Add Descriptions
One of the best parts of FOREVER is adding descriptions to images and even albums. Click a photo to add a story or description to the file. Click on an album, the 3 dots, then Edit Details, to add a description of the album. Specific moments and stories can be easily remembered and shared with others using descriptions.

TIP: Try talk to text in the app for the quickest way to add descriptions! Tap the information icon when viewing a photo or on your album name while viewing an album. Click to add a description. Tap the microphone icon on your mobile device's keyboard to speak and automatically add your story or description.

Step 25: Select Privacy Settings
FOREVER makes it easy to share what you want with whom you want. Select a Private, Public, Connections, or Groups privacy setting for each of your albums. Private means only you can see the files. Public means that anyone can view them. Connections means anyone that’s connected to you through FOREVER can see your photos and videos set to Connections (NOTE: albums set to Private remain viewable only to you, not Connections). Groups means only certain people you choose to be in your Groups can see the files.

TIP: Manage who your Connections are and who’s in your Groups in the menu bar.

Step 26: Share Photos & Videos
Privacy Settings are helpful for sharing albums or keeping them private. Use the Share button to share specific files, albums, or tags with whomever you want with a Link, QR Code, or Email.

TIP: Anyone on the internet with the link can view and download the content, so make sure you’re sharing with those you trust.

Step 27: View a Slideshow in FOREVER
The Slideshow feature in FOREVER is an effortless way to share photos in group settings, like birthday and anniversary parties or at a celebration of life. The easiest way to do this is to organize all the photos you’d like to display into an album. Click on the album, the 3 dots, then View Slideshow. Click the settings icon to adjust how your slideshow plays.

Step 28: Create a Collaborative Album
Collaborative albums are great for sharing group and event photos and videos. Individuals can create their own FREE FOREVER Account to upload files into the album to share. Do this by creating an album and from there select Share, then check the Allow anyone with the link to upload button. Share the album however you’d like—with a Link, QR Code, or Email.

NOTE: This enables anyone with the link who has an account to upload files to the album. Files uploaded will belong to you, appear in your Gallery, and count against your storage. Again, anyone on the internet can view and download the content with a link, so make sure you’re sharing with those you trust.

Step 29: Print Photos
Adorn your walls and tables with framed photos or print photos for an event. It’s easy to accomplish this with FOREVER. Simply click on an album then the Print icon. Or you can click on the Print icon in your menu bar, then Order Photo Prints. You’ll be able to select the size, finish, quantity, and even what’s written on the backs. Once your photos are selected, add to your cart, and check out when you’re ready.

Step 30: Create a Print Project
Peruse Create & Print on FOREVER.com and choose your favorite product and design. Customize with photos, text, and colors. Simple one photo projects can be made in under a minute! Add to your cart to check out when you’re finished.

TIP: Easily find photos to use from your Gallery, Albums, Tags, and People. Do you have more memories tied to your print project you’d like to share? Add a QR code when designing your project to link to specific files, an album, or tag.

BONUS Step 32: View & Organize Your Digitized Memories
We didn’t forget about your digitized memories. It takes several weeks for your items to be digitized. Once digitization is complete, click your profile then Box Center to view your memories. Move them to your FOREVER Storage® account for safekeeping and organize them how you’d like with the ways we’ve shared. Create more Year albums (or even choose to create Decade albums if you’re fuzzy on the specific year) to move your files into. You can then move them into nested albums within your Core Collection albums or choose to keep them together in a Digitized Memories album.