Photo Requirements

Thank you for choosing PhotoPanda! We are excited to help you digitize your photos.

Our general rule is we will scan any photo you can fit into the box, however there are some exceptions. Please read these requirements before sending your photos.

If you have any questions or need assistance at any time, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Prepare Photos for Scanning

• ✅ Photos must be organized by size. Please stack all of the 4x6 photos together, then the 5x7 photos, and so on.
• ✅ Each photo should be visible (facing up).
• ✅ Each photo should be as flat as possible.

We cannot scan photos in albums or glued to pages.

Please remove your photos from envelopes and bags (unless you paid for Photo Grouping).

Please remove any:

• ❌ Staples
• ❌ Paper clips
• ❌ Tape (front and back)
• ❌ Plastic photo covers
• ❌ Glitter
• ❌ Glue

Photos do not need to be rotated correctly (i.e. all landscape or portrait). We will rotate them for you as best we can.

Types & Sizes

We estimate how many photos fit into each box based on the most common photo size of 4 x 6 inches. However we will scan many different sizes, including Polaroids.

Photos must be within the following dimensions to be scanned:

• Minimum: 2 x 3 inches
• Maximum: 8.5 x 15 inches; 0.5mm thick

Photos too large, too small, too thick, or too oddly shaped will not be scanned. We will do our best to scan folded cards or papers, but we cannot guarantee the quality.

We do not digitize VHS tapes, cassettes, negatives, slides, reel to reels, DVDs, CDs, nor transparencies. You can find our recommended VHS, slides, or film scanning solution here.

Cleaning

Cleaning your photos is not required, but we do not clean photos before scanning.

We recommend wiping down your photos before sending them in for the best possible image quality. Any glue or glitter on your photos will appear in the scanned image. If you would like to clean your photos, please use a soft, dry cloth. Do not use any cleaning solutions or water.

Groups

Grouping photos is an optional paid add-on for your order.

If you have purchased the Photo Groups add-on, you can separate groups of at least 60 photos using bags or rubber bands.

We preserve these groupings digitally by creating different folders for each group. These titled folders will appear on both your USB flash thumb drives and your Cloud Vault Backup weblink.

1. Each group must be at least 60 photos (about a 1/2 inch stack).
2. Each group must have a title.
   • Titles can be written on a sticky note or on the bag/envelope.
   • Titles can anything, from "A" to "bag 1" to "Mary's Wedding 1992".
   • Titles will be converted to ALL UPPERCASE for compatibility.
   • Titles cannot be longer than 30 characters. A forward slash '/' will be replaced with a dash character '-'.

We do not guarantee the order of photos within groups. Groups must follow the photo preparation guidelines, it's especially important to sort photos by size.

Groups smaller than 60 photos will be combined without notice.

Reverse Scanning

Reverse scanning is usually done on an automatic basis. Our machines detect handwriting or printed timestamps and will save a copy of the backs of photos.

Photos that are too thick (over our 0.5mm requirement) will not be reversed scanned, if they can be scanned by our machines at all. If you have photos that are too thick, please contact us before sending them in.