How Do I Scan Old Scrapbooks?

Scrapbooks are a wonderful way to preserve your memories, but they can be hard to share with friends and family who don’t live nearby. Memory Fortress has specific oversized photo scanners dedicated to scrapbooks, which allows our team to scan each page without damaging it. Instead of finding a scanner yourself, ship your scrapbooks to our company and let us digitize the pages for you. 

Customers often call to ask if they can scan 12×12 scrapbook pages and we are here to answer any questions you have. Get to know more about this process, including the cost to scan old scrapbooks to turn them into digital files. Our team understands how precious these books are, which is why we are careful to preserve each page and scan each item without damaging them.

How does Memory Fortress scan old scrapbooks? 

In 2015, Keith Osbon founded Memory Fortress to help families preserve their photos and memories in an increasingly digital world. As customers started to send loose photos and collective albums, some started to ask about scrapbook scanning, and how we might scan their books without damaging them.

The scrapbooks our customers create are carefully developed, with written notes, ticket stubs, and little mementos that preserve the memories alongside photos. Each page is a work of art and tells a story about an important life event or person. Keith knew these scrapbooks needed to be kept together and protected during the scanning process, which is why he invested in a specific scrapbook scanning machine for his company. 

These special scanners (there are now two) allow the team at Memory Fortress to scan entire pages without damaging the scrapbooks. They capture large images of each layout so we don’t have to scan the same page multiple times in order to include everything. The scanner preserves the colors of your scrapbook and saves each file digitally. The order of pages is kept intact. Plus, you don’t have to worry about damaging the spine or the pages of the scrapbook itself. 

As more customers walk away happy with digital scans of their scrapbooks, demand for our services continues to grow. Today, Memory Fortress now has multiple scrapbook scanning machines to help hobbyists and family members preserve their memories.

How much does scrapbook scanning cost?

Scrapbooks are scanned on a per-page basis. This makes it easier for customers to estimate their costs before they ship their scrapbooks to our team. Once you know the average number of pages per scrapbook and the number of scrapbooks you have, you can estimate your total costs. 

Scrapbook scanning prices start at $1.59 per page when you work with Memory Fortress. This pricing was developed to be competitive in the market. Most other scanning companies charge more than $3 per page for scrapbook scanning, which can make your project significantly more expensive than you would like. Our scrapbook scanning prices have remained constant since 2015, and we have no plans to increase prices.

You can start an order at Memory Fortress with a $29 deposit. You can then ship us your scrapbooks and we will start scanning. After you pay the remaining balance on your project, we will return your scrapbooks in the same condition that you sent them to us. We will then send you digital files of each page on USB drives, through the cloud, or on DVDs.

As with all of our orders, the minimum order size to scan old scrapbooks at Memory Fortress is $99. This works out to around 50 pages or so. Most customers send anywhere from 100-500 pages at a time.

Who pays for shipping for a scrapbook scanning project?  

Our policy is to split the shipping costs with our customers. We will ask you to pay for the shipping costs to send your scrapbooks to our Atlanta-based company, and we will pay to ship your original pages back to you. 

You can send your scrapbooks through UPS or FedEx, depending on which company you prefer. Customers who live nearby can deliver their scrapbooks directly to us if they want. (Please avoid using the Post Office (USPS) if possible – there can be significant delays!)

After our team completes the scanning process, we will send you a final invoice for the cost of the project. Once this is paid, we will give you the digital copies of your scrapbook pages. Our team will then cover the costs to return your scrapbooks to you and handle all of the shipping arrangements. Within a couple of days, you should have your original scrapbook copies back in your possession.

Will my scrapbooks get damaged during shipping and scanning? 

We understand that your scrapbooks contain years of work and key memories. This is why we have created multiple Safety and Care policies to protect every order. 

If you have more than one scrapbook, it makes sense to put each one in an oversized kitchen garbage bag before shipping. It might sound weird, but this system keeps scrapbooks separated from each other, and offers an additional layer of protection during the shipping process.

When we receive your package or packages, our team will immediately process the contents. As part of our quality standards, we weigh all customer packages as soon as they arrive and before we ship them out again. With this process, you will get back every scrapbook, page, and photo you send us. 

After arrival, your scrapbooks will be assigned to a station within our offices. The books and pages will not move from this station until they are digitized and ready to be returned. All scrapbook orders are sealed in a crate at the station when they are not being worked on. Our team members know to handle each page and are carefully trained on how to scan old scrapbooks. Once each scrapbook is scanned, a member of our quality assurance team will check each original page and each digital copy to make sure they match. 

While our team carefully packs up customer boxes and tapes them tightly, we sometimes receive broken and poorly-taped boxes from customers where some of the contents could fall out. If you secure your scrapbooks and package them carefully before shipping them to us, they will arrive without any damage. Please take the extra minute to seal the box tightly!

Turn Your Scrapbooks Into Sharable Memories

Take the first steps to scan old scrapbooks and digitize the pages. With digital copies, you can share photos of your scrapbooks with friends and family who will appreciate the memories you have curated. You can also enjoy peace of mind knowing that you will always have digital copies of your scrapbooks in the event that something happens to them. 

Start your scrapbook scanning order with Memory Fortress today for only a $29 deposit.

We digitize everything right here at our facility in metro Atlanta, processed by US citizens.