Batch Guide

How to Scan and Review a Stack of Photos

A shoebox is not one photo at a time. Here is how to scan a whole stack hands-free, let a quality check catch the soft shots, and review the batch into keepers without losing the few that need a better scan.

Scan the stack hands-free

Hold each print under your phone and the camera fires on its own the moment the photo is flat and in focus. No tapping the shutter, no shake. Set one print down, pick up the next, and a shoebox becomes a few quiet minutes instead of an afternoon.

Glossy prints get a short glare-removing burst, and if you lay an album page or several prints down at once, the app offers to split them into individual photos. Your original capture is always kept beside the cleaned-up scan.

Work on a plain, matte surface in even, indirect light. Auto-capture and the edge detector both work best when the print stands out from the background. A busy tablecloth is the most common reason a scan needs a second try.

Let the quality check catch the weak shots

Speed should not hide a soft frame. Every scan gets a quick quality check right after the shutter, so when you rip through a stack the review screen tells you up front when a few may need a better scan, before you commit a single restore.

The obvious redos (a blurry frame, or the back of a photo) start unselected, so you restore the keepers without un-ticking the rest. Nothing is auto-spent: you always choose what continues.

Review the batch into keepers

Send only the photos worth restoring into Photo Insight, which recommends the safest next step for each one and runs the work in the background. When results land, Progress & Review groups them so you can compare each against its preserved original, choose the keeper, and add names or notes.

When a rescan genuinely helps, the app says so. When it won't (a busy background the detector can't read) it points you to a crop or to restoring anyway, so a stack never stalls on one stubborn photo.

Restore usage is per photo, the same as single-photo work. There's no surcharge for batches. A Family plan's monthly allowance and never-expire credit packs both add room when an inherited collection is large.

Then share the whole stack

Once a batch is reviewed, you can share it as one private link instead of sending photos one at a time, a simple way to hand a restored album page or an event back to the family in a single message.

Ready to work through a stack?

Scan a group hands-free, let the quality check flag the soft shots, and review the batch into keepers.

Start a batch restore How batch processing works