How to build your yeerbook, start to finish.

First, choose what kind of book you are making

Every yeerbook runs for 3 to 12 months and ends as a printed hardcover, but there are two different ways to build one depending on who is authoring it:

1. A personal book (for you): You are the author. You add the photos and reflections, choose which pages stay private and which ones to share, and invite the friends and family who were part of your chapter to sign your pages with handwriting, notes, voice messages, and photo stickers.

2. A group book (for friend groups or families): Everyone is an author. One person starts the book and invites up to 25 people with a single link. Each month, everyone gets a nudge to share a monthly recap or a moment that stood out, plus an optional shared prompt to answer, and the whole month is revealed to the group all at once to read and sign together.

If you are building a personal book, you can approach it in two ways depending on your timing: a chapter completed (looking back on a past year, a semester abroad, a milestone trip, or a season with a close team using photos already on your phone) or a chapter unfolding (capturing the year you are living right now, adding moments as they happen or checking in once a month).

Not sure which path fits the chapter you have in mind? Explore yeerbook for personal life, yeerbook for friend groups, yeerbook for families, or see all the ways people use yeerbook.

How to build a personal book (A chapter completed)

You do not need to have kept a journal to make a book for a year or season that already happened. Your camera roll, calendar, and group chats already hold the timeline.

1. 1

   Choose your window

   Pick any 3-to-12-month period starting this year or last year, such as the previous calendar year, a study abroad semester, or a big trip.

2. 2

   Drop in the photos that mattered

   Select the photos from that window on your phone (up to 40 at a time over a few quick sessions). Yeerbook groups photos from the same outing into memories, sorts them into the right months using the date on each photo, and lays out the pages automatically.

3. 3

   Add the backstory looking back (with prompts to jog your memory)

   Write a few sentences for each month or memory, or record a voice note and let yeerbook transcribe it into text. Writing in hindsight ("here is what I remember now") is often more honest than writing in the moment. If you are not sure where to start, every memory and monthly reflection includes starter questions (like "What made this moment worth remembering?" or "If this month had a title, what would it be?"), and you can tap Try another question to generate a tailored follow-up prompt based on what you have written so far to help you go deeper.

4. 4

   Keep private pages private, and turn shared trips into group memories

   If you wrote a personal reflection page that is just for you, you can hide that page from signers in a click; it will still print in your book, but nobody else will see it. For shared events like a trip or a dinner, you can turn on "Make this a group memory" so everyone who signs can read each other's written notes and even upload their own photos from their phones.

5. 5

   Share one book signing link (or per-memory links)

   Instead of sending a separate link for every moment, you can copy your book signing link (or show its QR code in person) so friends can flip through all of your visible memories and sign whichever ones they shared with you. If you only want someone to sign one specific occasion, you can share a single memory signing link instead. Either way, signers open the link in their browser with no app or account required, and leave handwritten signatures, drawings, notes, and custom photo stickers.

For a deeper playbook on mining your camera roll and chats month by month, read How to make a yearbook for a year that already happened.

How to build a personal book (A chapter unfolding)

If you are starting at the beginning of a year, a move to a new city, a baby's first year, or a new chapter of life, you can let the book grow alongside the year itself.

1. 1

   Capture moments in under a minute

   Whenever something worth keeping happens, drop in a few photos and a line or two while the details are still fresh, or speak a voice note and have it transcribed for you.

2. 2

   Keep thoughts that do not have a photo, with questions that help you go deeper

   Not every meaningful moment comes with a picture. A page can be a standalone written reflection on an ordinary Tuesday, or a monthly reflection summing up how the month felt. Whenever you want a nudge, starter questions are right above the page, and you can generate thoughtful follow-up questions tailored to your own writing to pull out details you might otherwise skip over.

3. 3

   Choose what stays private and what becomes a group memory

   Your book is private by default. You can hide any personal reflection page or entire memory from signers while still keeping it in your printed book. When a memory involves a whole crew, you can mark it as a group memory so friends can read each other's written notes and contribute their own photos from the day.

4. 4

   Invite people with a memory signing link now, or a book signing link later

   Share a memory signing link right after a weekend trip so friends can sign that page and drop in their photos while the jokes are still fresh. Or wait until further into the year and send your book signing link so people can browse and sign across all your shared memories in one sitting.

5. 5

   Let the monthly reminder catch what you missed

   You do not have to remember to open the app every week. An optional monthly nudge reminds you to look back at the last few weeks and add a couple of moments in ten minutes, so nothing piles up at the end of the year.

Curious how different people pace their books over the year? See Four ways people actually use yeerbook.

How to build a group book (For friend groups & families)

A group book is built so that one "planner friend" or parent never gets stuck chasing everyone for photos in December.

1. 1

   Share one invite link

   One organizer creates the book, chooses a 3-to-12-month window, and drops the invite link (or QR code) into the family or friend group chat. Up to 25 people can join with just their name and email address. Nobody else needs an account, a password, or an app download.

2. 2

   One small ask on the 1st of each month

   Every month, yeerbook emails each member asking them to share a recap of the month that just ended, or a moment or memory that stood out: a few photos and a short story (typed or recorded by voice, with optional starter questions if they want help getting started).

3. 3

   Optional monthly prompts for the whole group

   Alongside their monthly memory, members can also answer an optional shared question for the month (seeded from curated starter prompts or suggested by members of the group). Even if someone had a quiet month with no photos to upload, they can still answer the monthly prompt in a sentence or two so their voice is part of that month.

4. 4

   A one-week private window, then the reveal

   What people add stays private for a week (visible only to that person and the organizer) so nobody feels self-conscious going first. Around the 8th, everyone's monthly recaps and prompt answers appear together at once, and the whole group gets an email to read them.

5. 5

   Sign and doodle on each other's pages

   Once the month is revealed, everyone can read each other's updates and sign pages with their own handwriting, drawings, notes, and custom photo stickers right from their phones.

Want to see how this works in practice for different circles? Read our guides on making a friend group yearbook or a family yearbook.