Vocabulary for Pfotos
ARTICLE 3 — Understanding the Pfotos Vocabulary
Title: PFarms, PFamilies, PSilos & PHarvests — What They All Mean
Subtitle: A plain-language guide to the words Pfotos uses for organizing your family.
Date created: 2026-05-03
Keywords: pfarm, pfamily, psilo, pharvest, vocabulary, terminology, organization, structure, hierarchy, what does that mean
Body:
Pfotos uses a few unique words to describe how your family's information is organized. They're all built around the idea of a family farm — a place where memories are gathered, stored, and shared. Here's what each one means.
PFarm — your family vault
"Everything — photos, people, stories, and records — lives inside a PFarm. It's your private family folder in the cloud."
A PFarm is the biggest container in Pfotos. Most users have one PFarm for their whole family. Some users have several — one for each side of the family, or one for a special collection.
PFarms are private by default. Only the people you invite to your PFarm can see what's inside it. You decide who joins, and what they're allowed to do.
PFamily — a branch of your family tree
"PFamilies represent a family line — like the Hanson side or the Johnson side. Each one lives inside a PFarm."
A PFamily is a branch of your family — usually one bloodline, one side, or one connected group of people. If your PFarm is the whole tree, your PFamilies are the branches.
A few things worth knowing:
- One person can belong to multiple PFamilies (think: your mom is in your PFamily AND her parents' PFamily)
- A PFamily holds the names, dates, and relationships that make up your family tree
- You don't always have to think about PFamilies — they exist quietly in the background as you add people. They become useful when you have several branches you want to keep distinct.
PSilo — a category inside your PFarm
"Each PSilo is a category inside your PFarm — like 'Mom's Side', 'Immigration Records', or 'Summer Trips'."
PSilos are how you sort the contents of your PFarm into meaningful groups. They can be anything — by family branch, by topic, by time period. There's no wrong way to use them.
Common examples:
- "Mom's Side" / "Dad's Side"
- "Summer Trips" / "Holidays" / "Birthdays"
- "Old Photos" / "Letters & Documents"
- "Grandma's Recipes" / "The Family Cabin"
You can rename or delete PSilos anytime. Pfotos won't make you decide your organization upfront.
PHarvest — a memory or collection
"A PHarvest lives inside a PSilo and holds photos, stories, and memories from a specific event, time, or theme."
A PHarvest is the actual memory itself. One PHarvest might be "Summer at the Lake — July 2004" with 14 photos and a story about the cabin you rented every year. Another might be "Grandpa's WWII Letters" with scanned documents and notes about each one.
Each PHarvest can hold:
- Photos (or no photos at all — a story-only PHarvest is a real thing in Pfotos)
- A written story or memory
- The people who were there
- A date, season, place, and tags
Family members can add their own piece to a PHarvest over time. If your aunt remembers something about a photo your mom uploaded, she can add what she knows. The harvest grows.
Why this many words?
We get the question a lot — why not just call them folders and files?
Because they're not folders and files. A PFarm isn't a Dropbox folder. A PHarvest isn't a JPEG. They're meant to hold family, not data. The names are a small reminder that what you're saving here matters — and that it's not the same as the random photos on your phone.
You'll get used to the vocabulary in a week or two. After that, it'll feel natural.