Bi-Directional *And* Top-Loading Photo Albums???

Hello to All!

I have been trying for years to find a photo album that holds different-sized pictures in both directions (vertically and horizontally) without having the pictures fall out or slide around. I have seen the Pioneer Bi-Directional albums at the stores, but since they are side-loading (and not top-loading), pictures that are smaller than the 4 x 6 size these albums are made for would fall out.

I recently bought the Pioneer 46-VHP 4x6 Refill Pages For 12x12 Albums. These refill pages are the closest thing I can find to what I want since they are both bi-directional *and* top-loading. The problem is, they are transparent (the backs of one page's pictures can be seen through the reverse page) and not very sturdy since have no paper backing for support. The great thing is that they accommodate various picture sizes without sliding around. I have a lot of 3.5 x 5, 4 x 5, and 4 x 6 pictures that I like to keep in the same albums, so the pages do seem to work well enough in that way.

If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. I just thought out of all of the options that seem to be out there, there might be some albums or refill pages I am not aware of that would meet my needs.

Thanks to all & God Bless!

You can use a scrap album with these page protectors. They are available in different configurations.

They are also available in different page sizes (8 1/2 x 11; 8x8)

Creative Memories makes albums called Pic-folio albums. They hold both vertical and horizontal photos and the photos do not fall out.

Thanks so much for your help!!! For me, the problem with the We R Memory Keepers and Pic-Folio sleeves is that they don’t allow a choice in how many of each type of picture (vertical or horizontal) can be put on a single page since the configuration of each page has been predetermined. I would really like to arrange pictures in chronological order, and this means that I will have many, many different configurations to a page. For a page that holds 4 photos, for example, I would like the option of choosing any of these configurations-- 2 vertical/2 horizontal, 3 vertical/1 horizontal, 1 vertical/3 horizontal, 4 vertical/0 horizontal, 0 vertical/4 horizontal.

I know I am really picky, but I would just like to double check and find the best options before I continue with my photo archiving.

Thanks so much again, and God Bless!!!

I guess I'm kind of not following you.


How about a 12x12 page protector, a piece of cardstock, and some adhesive?

These say they are bi-directional.

Okay, never mind. I just saw the video. These are side-loading.

• Bxr-Linda Said:

That’s actually a great idea, if I didn’t fear putting adhesive on my photos . . .

Pioneer I believe has the “Bi-directional” title trademarked . . . they would be perfect if not side-loading . . . every side-loading album I’ve had allows the photos to fall out if they are smaller than the 4 x 6 size the albums are usually made for, and I have so many photos that are smaller than 4 x 6.

Thanks again!

• scrapbooker777 Said:

If you don't want to use adhesive you can use the stick on photo corners that stick to the cs and photos slip into them.

Exactly, like these ones from 3L.

Thanks so much for your suggestions. I’m sort of looking for an option where there’s no work involved other than slipping photos into sleeves. Having hundreds of photos to archive really doesn’t lend itself too well to the photo corner method.

I’ve thought about putting a little tape on the edge of the sleeves, but that would create too much hassle removing the tape whenever I wanted to retrieve a photo. I haven’t seen an album or photo sleeve that exactly meets my needs, so I’ll probably continue with the sleeves I mentioned earlier that I already have. I was just checking to see if there was an option out there that I may have overlooked.

Thanks again & God Bless!

What about cutting a 4x6 mat out of cardstock and slipping that in behind the smaller photo? It may keep it from falling out.

That’s a good idea too, it’s just I was hoping there was already an album out there that would do the trick. I guess there isn’t.

Thanks again!