To change the default picture on a Find a Grave memorial, the usual method is to make sure the photo is labeled correctly and, if you manage the memorial, reorder the photos so the one you want appears first. Find a Grave’s help says you can correct a photo’s type from the memorial page, and photos labeled as a person, grave, family, other, or cover photo are handled differently.

What to do

  • If you uploaded the photo , open the memorial, select the photo, and change its photo type to the correct category, such as Grave or Cover Photo.
  • If you manage the memorial , go to the Photos section and use Arrange Photos to change the order.
  • If someone else uploaded it , you usually cannot directly change their photo type; the safest path is to contact the uploader or ask memorial support to help.

Practical notes

  • Find a Grave discussions note that the site tends to prioritize certain photo types, with person photos often appearing first, followed by grave-related images.
  • If the photo is simply in the wrong slot, a memorial manager can often fix the sequence with the arrange function, but not always the uploader’s label itself.
  • If the page is showing the wrong image because of photo order rather than type, reordering is usually the key fix.

Fastest path

  1. Open the memorial.
  2. Check whether you are the memorial manager.
  3. If yes, open Photos and choose Arrange Photos.
  1. If you uploaded the image, edit its photo type from the memorial page.
  1. If neither applies, contact the uploader or Find a Grave support.

Note

Some older forum advice says the last uploaded image may display first in certain cases, but current help and forum posts suggest photo type and manager ordering now matter more.

Would you like the exact steps for the website or the mobile app?