Carol, If you decide to use Excel for a database of your photos, I would encourage you to make a copy of the file everytime you are about to sort it. It is quite easy to scramble your file if you choose the wrong options for sorting. But that should be no big drawback. Excel has a feature where you can add a comment/note about the entry which is very useful. The comment is out of signt unless you choose to view it. There is a little flag to show that there is a comment. This would be in addition to all the columns of whatever size and number you want. If you will have an enormous number of photos, it is probable that Access would be a better choice, especially if you already own that program. With Access there is no risk of accidently scrambling your file and you would have better search capabilities. Of course backups would still be very wise. Helen Allen