By Tracey Dowdy

Am I the only one with Facebook albums that need to get cleaned up? My Facebook page is cluttered with photos of things that were important to me years ago but now…not so much.

Of course deleting them is an option, but what if you want to save some? For example, that sandwich from your Vegas vacation. It was pretty epic. Alternatively, you could go through and select them one by one but who has that kind of time? Plus, Facebook compresses photos when you upload, so clicking and dragging to your desktop will leave you with an image of lesser quality than the one you uploaded.

Here’s the good news: there are options and most don’t take a whole lot of time.

Download it all, and I mean all

Facebook allows users to download a copy of their entire Facebook data, including photos. Go to Settings >Download a Copy and Facebook will download everything – every status, every chat log, every photo. Downloading doesn’t take long and once you have your copy, you can sort through what’s important to you and delete the rest. Keep in mind photos won’t revert to original quality – you’re getting the compressed version.

Use the Download FB Album mod on Google Chrome.

This extension allows you to download albums and photos and, while the photo quality is not great, it is decent. Install the extension through the Google Chrome store and you’ll see the Facebook icon appear in the top right corner of your screen. Simply open a Facebook album or page, click the icon, and select “Normal.” Press Command +S (iOS) or Control +S (Windows) to save your photos.

Use an app like Fotobounce.

Fotobounce is a photo management and sharing app that allows you to quickly download and organize your pictures online or offline. Once you create an account, login and access Facebook in the panel on the left side of your screen. Login to your account and once there you’ll be able to access all your albums.

To download, highlight the photo or album and select “Download” from the Edit pane. You’ll be prompted to choose where on Fotobounce you want to store the images – either a new album or add to an existing album. You can also upload to your Flickr account by choosing “Upload to Flickr” in the edit pane. Fotobook even has face recognition capabilities, works with Mac or Windows, and fully integrates with Twitter as well as Flickr.

Tracey Dowdy is a freelance writer based just outside Washington DC. After years working for non-profits and charities, she now freelances, edits and researches on subjects ranging from family and education to history and trends in technology. Follow Tracey on Twitter.