Ordering

Are you ready to place your order?

First of all, thank you for choosing Digital Heirlooms!  We are excited and humbled that you have chosen us to help you preserve your precious memories.  If at any time during the process you have questions please do not hesitate to give us a call.  We are here to answer any questions you may have.  Are you ready to get started?

Step 1:

Organizing your images

We highly recommend organizing your images as much as possible based on the order you want to view them in after they have been preserved. Organizing your items before they are digitized as computer files is much easier than renaming and moving them around in folders on your computer. We recommend that you organize and label your items in containers or bags exactly how you want them scanned in as we will scan your items in the order in which they are received.

Tips on organizing and labeling

Are you finding it difficult even knowing how to begin sorting your images.  You’re not alone, so many of our photos, negatives, and slides are not labeled or put in any kind of order.  If you have several decades of images, try sorting them first by type, photos, negatives or slides and then by year and decade.  A few tricks to do this is by looking at the factory processing dates (especially older photos), the type of photo paper used (sepia tone, black and white, first attempts at hand colorization, Polaroid), type of negative/slide (size, black and white, color) or type or brand of processing such as Kodak or Fuji.  You can also sort by looking at the progressive age of children or people in the photos, those good old hair styles, or the types of clothes they are wearing. Put each decade in a bag and label them.

When it comes to home videos and audio tapes that’s another matter.  If the tapes are labeled your in luck!  Just put them in the order you want them transferred, usually oldest to newest.  However, so many of the tapes are not labeled and often the recordings are not in sequence.  Unfortunately unlike photographs, the only way to know what’s on your tapes is to watch/listen to them.  If you are lucky enough to have a player that will still play your tapes we encourage you to watch/listen to them and label them exactly how you want them labeled on the DVD.  If you have several decades of tapes, try sorting them by year and then by decade.  A few tricks to do this is by looking at the progressive age of children or people in the videos, those good old hair styles, or the types of clothes they are wearing (shoulder pads, need we say more).

Step 2:

Estimate how many images and hours of video footage you have.  Print and fill out our Order Form so you’ll have it ready for when you drop off your items or send them to us.  This will also give you a good idea of how much you order will be.

Shipping Tips

If you are sending your items to us via mail, here are a few shipping tips we recommend:

Step 3:

Once you have a good idea of what you have give us a call at (605) 786-8737 and we will arrange a time for pickup or let you know where to send your items.

How long will it take?

 The average order completion time is 2 weeks (this does not include shipping time).  Additional time may be required depending on the size of your order. Media storage options by default will be DVD Disc’s for images and video and CD Disc’s for audio.  Other options of CD and External Hard Drive are available upon request.

Should you decide later that you want additional copies, Digital Heirlooms will store your order on file for up to 14 days starting from the completion date of your order.