Related Resources • Digital Photo Techniques • Dating Old Photographs • Genealogy Organization 101

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How many times have you exclaimed in delight over the discovery of an old photograph of your ancestors, only to turn it over and find out that absolutely nothing is written on the back. I know it has happened to you - I can hear your grown of disappointment all the way from here. Wouldn't you give just about anything to have ancestors who took the time to label their family photographs?

Whether you own a digital camera or use a scanner to digitize traditional family photographs, many of you probably have at least a small collection of digital photos sitting on a CD or on your computer's hard drive. But I'd be willing to bet that most of you do not have these photos labeled. I'm guilty of this oversight myself, and can only imagine the moans of my descendants hundreds of years in the future when they can't figure out who's who in my collection of hundreds of digital family photos.

Labeling digital photographs is a bit more tricky than getting out a pen, but if you use the right program you will find that it can actually be fun to organize and label your digital photo collection. One easy solution is to use a Thumbnail Image Browser, a software program which provides you with a visual way of browsing, organizing and sorting through your image collection. Be sure to look for one which provides good text annotation capabilities so that you'll have no further excuse for not labeling your digital family photos!

Top 10 Thumbnail Image Browsers