With the rise in popularity of photobooks and new gadgets like live photo frames, you might be looking for a way to make your photos more accessible and organized. Enter folders! With folders, photos are no longer banished to the scrolling wasteland of “All Photos,” but will have a new place to call home that makes it simple for you to find and use them.
As this is a new feature in iOS14 you may be asking yourself what the difference is between a folder and an album. The answer is that a folder contains albums. For instance, if you plan on making multiple photobooks you would start a “Photobooks” folder and then add “Vacation 2021” and “Vacation 2020” albums to that folder.
Follow the steps below to create your photo filing system.
Step 1. Open the Photos app.
Step 2. Tap the “Albums” icon on the bottom.

Step 3. Tap the “Plus” icon in the top left corner.

Step 4. Choose “New Folder” from the drop-down menu.

Step 5. Name your folder and select “Save.”

Now, to add albums to your folder:
Step 1. Select the folder from your albums menu.

Step 2. Tap “Edit” in the top right corner.

Step 3. Tap the “Plus” icon on the top left corner.

Step 4. Select “New Album.”

Step 5. Name and save your album.

After saving, you will be able to select the photos you want to add.
If you don’t want to add the photos right then, no problem! You can open the folder at any time and just tap “Add” in the top right corner. Then you will be able to choose the photos for the album.

Here is what your folder will look like with the album added.

The “All Photos” album is automatically generated and lets you see all the photos that are in that folder without having to look in each album. It really is an awesome tool that will help you use your photos more efficiently.
You may have noticed the option to “Add Folder” to your folder. Yes, you can do that! Back to the photobooks example, you can have a folder for vacations that contains an album for different years or locations. The steps are the same as above and the possibilities are endless.
Essentially, folders let you create a filing system for your photos; you can be as organized as you want to be.
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Excellent…..very useful! Thank you.
Hi. Is there a way to “move” photos in an album or file Without it being a duplicate?
It takes up too much space on the iPhone to have that many photos having them as duplicates.
Thank you
Great question! The photos in the folders and albums are not really duplicates. They function more like a link to the original photo. So you can have those “links” in multiple albums/folders but there is only one photo.
If you put one picture into 3 different albums, does it take up more space on my computer? Or is one picture assigned to 3 albums?
It is one picture from your camera roll that is assigned to multiple albums or folders. There’s only one photo but there can multiple references to it.
Can I move previously created albums to my new folder?
Sort of. What you would need to do is open the album, select all the photos, and use the “share” icon on the bottom left corner. In that menu select “add to album” and from there you can duplicate them to a new album in the folder and delete the previous album. Deleting the album will not delete the photos.
After you add your photos to a folder on an IPAD, how do you delete them from the all photo album ?
You can’t. The “all photo” album is something that is automatically generated for easy access to the folders full contents. They are not duplicates, just references to the original photo in your camera roll.
If you put photos in a folder can you delete them from all photos and will those photos still be in your folder?
You are not able to delete the photos from the “all photos” album. It is meant as quick access to all the photos in the folder. But these are not duplicate photos, just reference points to the original photo in your camera roll.
I love all your hints and the directions are easy to follow. This is where I learn so many options on my iPhone
I’ve already got most of my special photos in Albums. Should I move them to Folders?
How can I delete pics from camera roll without delete from albums. Camera roll is so big.
You can’t delete from the camera roll. That is where your photos are actually stored. The albums and folders don’t duplicate your photos, the act as more of a reference point for the actual photo in your camera roll. If you delete from the camera roll it will delete th photo fro your albums as well. That’s why albums and folders are a good way to organize. It’s like a picture version of the dewey decimal system.
That depends on how organized you want to get. Folders is a great way to group your albums but as of right now there is no “drag and drop” method of moving albums into folders. You can open an existing album, select all the photos, and use the “share” icon on the bottom left corner. In that menu select “add to album” and from there you can add them to a new album in the folder and delete the previous album. Deleting the album will not delete the photos.
This is great. Needed this one for sure
How can I move existing albums into folder?
Not really.
Sort of. What you would need to do is open the album, select all the photos, and use the “share” icon on the bottom left corner. In that menu select “add to album” and from there you can add them to a new album in the folder and delete the previous album. Deleting the album will not delete the photos.
how do you delete the album name
Is there a way to filter camera roll for photos that are not in any album or file?
This is very helpful as always, I have been following you for years and learned so much thank you.
I am curious is the a way to organize the folders and/or albums in alphabetical order?
Is there a way to rearrange photos in the “Favorites” album and the “All Photos” album? I have been able to rearrange all albums but those two and the “Hidden” album.
When adding new pictures to an album, is there a quick way to scroll down to the bottom of the album to see newest additions without having to scroll from top to bottom thru all pictures ? TIA
Is there any way to look at a photo and see if you have already put it into an album.
What was the answer to this question?
How do you add a photo to a new folder?