A digital memory box: what to keep in it and how to start

Short answer: a digital memory box keeps a photo or scan of the small things that bring a time of your life back, each with a line of story, in one private place you can open from any device and take out in a full export. Start with one chapter of your life, not with everything you own.

Most people have a memory box somewhere, even if it is a shoebox or a drawer. Tickets, a letter, a few photos, a key, a wristband. The things in it matter because of the story behind them, and that story usually lives only in your head. A digital memory box keeps the thing and the story together, and it keeps a copy if the box itself is lost.

What a memory box is for

A memory box is not an archive. It does not try to keep everything. It keeps the few things that make you say "oh, that summer" when you hold them. That is also the best rule for what to put in a digital one: if it does not bring a moment back, it does not need to go in.

A digital box adds three things a shoebox cannot: your voice next to the object, a way to find things again by chapter, and a copy that survives a move, a flood or a clear-out. Our article on digital versus physical storage weighs the two.

Memory box ideas, chapter by chapter

Think in chapters of your life rather than in types of objects. Each chapter becomes one compartment of the box.

Childhood

• A school report or a drawing you made, a swimming certificate, a postcard from a grandparent.
• A photo of the house or street you grew up in, and a voice note about the neighbours, the smells, the games.

School and student years

• A student card, a party flyer, notes passed in class, a festival wristband.
• The photo of the group you lived with, and three lines about the flat.

A first job

• A name badge, the first payslip (with the numbers covered if you prefer), a card from colleagues when you left.
• A photo of your desk or workplace, and a note about the people who taught you the most.

A move

• The key of the old flat, a photo of each room before you left, the moving-day photo with the boxes.
• A voice note walking through the old place from memory.

A trip

• Boarding passes and train tickets, a map with your route drawn on it, a receipt from the place you went back to every night.
• The five photos that tell the trip, and a short story of the day that went wrong.

A friendship

• Letters and cards, a photo from the first year you knew each other and one from last year, a concert ticket you went to together.
• A voice note from your friend telling how you met, in their words. For more, see how to keep the memories of a friendship, a trip or a time in your life.

How to digitise what is in the box

Objects: photograph them

• Light. Daylight from a window, no flash. Flash makes glare on shiny tickets and badges.
• Background. A plain sheet of paper or a wooden table, so the object stands out.
• Angle. Hold the phone straight above the object to avoid a skewed shape.
• Two photos. One of the whole object, one close-up of the detail that matters: a date, a signature, a name.

Letters and cards: scan them with your phone

• On iPhone, open Notes, tap the attachment button and choose Scan Documents. In Auto mode the scan happens by itself; otherwise tap the shutter. Drag the corners to fit the page, tap Keep Scan, and add more pages if the letter has them.
• On Android, open the Google Drive app and tap the camera button. Photograph the document, crop or filter it if needed, and save it as a PDF or a JPG.
• Both sides. Scan the back of postcards and photos too: that is often where the date and the handwriting are.

For drawings and crafts made by children, our guide on keeping children's drawings and crafts without clutter has more tips. For a large stack of old prints, see how to organise old family photos digitally.

Things that are already digital

• Voice notes. A voice note from a friend, or one you record about an object, is often the most precious thing in the box. See why voice memos are such a good way to keep memories.
• Photos. Pick the few that belong to the chapter, not the whole camera roll. Our guide on turning phone photos into memories explains how to pick.
• E-tickets and messages. Save the ticket PDF or a screenshot of the message that mattered.

Write one or two lines per item

The object brings the moment back to you. The line of story brings it back to anyone else, and to you in twenty years. Who, where, when, and why it went in the box. "Ticket for the last train home, Lisbon, 2017: we missed it anyway" says more than the ticket alone.

Where to keep a digital memory box privately

• A folder on your computer, one subfolder per chapter, with a backup on an external drive. Simple and private, but your voice notes and stories end up in separate files.
• Cloud storage such as Google Drive or iCloud. Reachable from any device. The free space is limited: Google says each Google Account includes up to 15 GB shared across Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos, and Apple gives 5 GB of iCloud storage for free. Google Takeout lets you export your data.
• The Memory Palace, where each chapter of the box becomes a room.

The Memory Palace is your own 3D memory palace: your photos, voice recordings and stories each get a room you can walk through. It is private by default, and you can invite family and friends into a room when you choose. It is not a social platform: there is no public profile and nobody sees anything you did not share.

• A room per chapter of the box. Childhood, student years, a move, a trip: the photos and scans on the walls, the story next to them.
• Your voice next to the object. Add a voice recording to the room and tell why each thing went in.
• Share one room, not the whole box. Invite the friend from that chapter into that room. The rest stays private.
• No lock-in. A full export as a ZIP file on every plan, including the free plan.
• Practical. A free plan with 1 GB; Keeper costs EUR 49 a year, Guardian EUR 79 a year. On iPhone, iPad, Android and in the browser, in five languages. Data is stored in the EU. Made by a small team in Leuven, Belgium.

Have a look at the app.

Start this week: five steps

1. Choose one chapter. The one with the most things in a drawer, or the one you think about most.
2. Gather ten things. Not more. Tickets, letters, photos, one object.
3. Photograph and scan them. Daylight, plain background, both sides of cards.
4. Add one line each, and one voice note for the chapter.
5. Keep it in one private place with a backup. Check our free photo timeline to see which years of your life your photos already cover, and pick the next chapter.

Read on: where to keep your own memories and how to create a digital time capsule.

Sources

• Apple Support, scan documents on iPhone or iPad with Notes: support.apple.com/en-us/108963
• Google Drive Help, scan documents with Google Drive on Android (saved as PDF or JPG): support.google.com/drive/answer/3145835
• Google One Help, how your Google storage works (15 GB shared across Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos): support.google.com/googleone/answer/9312312
• Apple Support, iCloud storage (5 GB free): support.apple.com/en-us/HT201238
• Google Account Help, how to download your Google data (Google Takeout): support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190