Accessing Your Scans

Once your scans are complete we will email you a notification with a download link. For you and your family's privacy, we encrypt and password protect all of your photos when we upload them to the internet. Below is a video guide, as well as some detailed instructions to help you access your scanned photos. The instructions and guide were made using a Windows 10 computer, but the process should be very similar on earlier versions of Windows, as well as MacOS.

  1. You should receive two emails from us when your pictures are scanned and ready for download. The email will contain the download link, a link to this page, and the decryption password for your photos. Begin your download by clicking on the link in your first email.
  2. At that page you should see a large blue Download button. Click this button to begin the download. 
  3. After clicking the button, you should be taken to another webpage warning that the file cannot be scanned. Verify the email you received came from an email address ending in pasttolast.com, and then click the Download anyway button.
  4. Your download should now be in progress and you should be able to see your progress at the bottom of your browser.
  5. Once your download is complete, it should appear as Your_Name.zip in your download folder. To access your photos, we need to unzip the file. To do this, select Your_Name.zip, right-click on the file, and select Extract All... from the dropdown list.
  6. You should now see a Window asking where you want to store your pictures. Use the Browse... button to select where you want your photos. We like to keep ours in our Pictures folder, but you can choose anywhere you prefer. Once you have the location selected in the file explorer, click the Select Folder button to return to the previous window.
  7. Now that you have a location selected, click the Extract button.
  8. You should now be prompted for a password. Copy and paste, or type your decryption password, from the email, into the prompt and click OK. You should now see a progress bar as your pictures are extracted.
  9. Once complete, your photos should be accessible in the location you selected. Make sure to verify the photos are viewable.
  10. Once you verify they are there, feel free to delete the Your_Name.zip file from your download folder as it is no longer needed.
  11. Now you can treat your photos as any other file. Make as many copies as you'd like and email/share them with whoever!

Inside your file you should see your pictures sorted into folders corresponding to how they were sorted when we received them. Inside the folders, there should be 3 separate scans for every picture: an original scan, an enhanced scan (files ending in "_a") and a scan of the back of the picture (files ending in "_b").

If you have any issues, questions, or concerns, please feel free to ask us via email at support@pasttolast.com