All Help Topics
Gallery Invites
What is a Gallery Invite?
A gallery is a collection of images from one or multiple albums for display to someone else. When you invite someone to a gallery, the gallery can have a "visibility" of either "invite only" or "public."An "invite only" gallery can only be seen by the people you invite. This is method to restrict access to only the people you want.
Why would I want to create invitations to a "public" gallery?
The invitation is a simple way to send an e-mail to another person with a link to your gallery. "Invite-Only" and "Password" galleries also allow you to grant high-resolution download capability.
Creating a Gallery Invitation
- Click the "Invites" tab.
- Click "Show Invites" on the row of the gallery you want to create an invitation for (You can also click "Invite Others" when viewing a specific gallery)
- There are two tabs in the popup window: 1) user, 2) groups. In this example, we will invite a single user. Click "Invite a User/Group"
- Enter the first name, last name, or email of the user you want to invite. As you type, matches in the database will appear. You can select the account you want.
- If there is a match in PhotoShelter, you will be prompted to enter the first and last name of the e-mail that you entered.
- Enter an optional expiration date for the invitation
- Grant high resolution download capability, and specify the format and size of the images to be delivered. If your image is not in the JPG format, and you select "JPG," PhotoShelter will automatically convert it for you.
- Enter an optional note to the invitee
High-Resolution Download Options
You can grant high-resolution downloads through the invite mechanism.
Hi-Res Download: Select between 1) original file format (e.g. RAW, PSD), or 2) JPG. If your file is already a JPG, the selection is moot.
Image Size: You can select from several preset sizes, or select a custom size. This is the size in pixels (width) that the images will be delivered to your client. Of course, if you do not specify a size, the native size will be delivered. If you specify a size that is larger than your native file, PhotoShelter will not upsize the image.
Embed updated metadata: If you made changes to the meta data of the file (e.g. IPTC keywords), you can choose to embed this updated information into the download. PhotoShelter never alters your original file that you originally uploaded.
Max # of downloads: You can restrict the number of downloads for the invitation by specifying a number in this field. For example, if you want to restrict an invitee to 5 downloads, specify 5 here.
How can I tell if a client has viewed the gallery?
If the gallery has a visibility of "Invite Only," PhotoShelter records when the user visits the gallery. This information can be seen when you view the list of invites for the gallery under the "Date Viewed" column. The date viewed only records the FIRST TIME a user views the gallery.If the gallery does not have a visibility of "Invite Only," PhotoShelter does not capture the date viewed.
PhotoShelter not capture the "Date Viewed" for Gallery Collections.
PhotoShelter does not record a "Date viewed" when you invite yourself to a gallery.
What does the Invitee See?
When you send a gallery invitation, an e-mail is instantaneously dispatched to the user with a URL to your gallery.
If the user wasn't in PhotoShelter, and I created a provisional account, what happens?
When you create the invite, the invitee receives an email with your optional message and a link:You have received an invitation from Allen Murabayashi to view an image gallery.Message from Allen: Hey, check out these great images from the shoot!
To view this gallery, please follow this link: http://www.photoshelter.com/invite/g/U0000TQQnqn_WTsU/G0000i.g5zE0tPaY/bcdeaf127716
Clicking on the link for the first time, directs them to a page where they can set a password:
Once they have set their password on their provisional account, or if they already have an account, they will be directed to the gallery that you invited them to. Alternately, they can view a list of all their invitations by clicking "My PhotoShelter -> Gallery Invitations"
A thumbnail view of all the images is presented in the sequence that you determine in your gallery. Clicking on the image will bring up the screen resolution version of the image. If you've set up a watermark, the images will be watermarked.
Your clients will find a download link on the image page . Depending on the theme you are using, it might appear above, below, or the right or left of the image. If you've set up low-res comp downloads, they will also be able to use this link to download a comp.
Clicking on one of these links will prompt the user to save the item to their computer. Like any download, the location is determined by their browser preferences. High-resolution downloads require a Bandwidth Subscription. Each download is decremented from your remaining bandwidth for the month.
Is there a way to download all images in a gallery at once?
Yes, if you have granted a client download access through a gallery invitation, our trusted client feature, or you have enabled downloads via a password-protected gallery, the client will be able to download all the images within the gallery at once. Their browser must support java to use the batch downloader.Why do you require the user to have an account? Why can't I just send them a link?
If you have a public gallery, you can certainly send them a link to your galleries without using the PhotoShelter Invitation mechanism. However, we encourage the use of the account because it provides you with a layer of security, and in the case of high-resolution downloads, gives you an audit trail of who downloaded images.
How can I test the invites to see if they work? (hi-res downloads work etc..)?
To test the gallery invite system, you can just email yourself (either you primary email address or another email address that you have). Just click on the link in the invite and you should see what your real invitees will see. Remember, that if you send an invite to another email address (not your PhotoShelter subscriber email address), you must logout before clicking on the link in the email.How can I invite a group of people at once?
An Invite Group allow you to create a group of users. For example, you might create a group called "Family" with the names and e-mail addresses of your closest family members. When you create an Invite Group, the users are not notified unless you send out an invitation.Just like the individual invitation, you can also create provision accounts for people that don't already have a PhotoShelter account.
How do I create a Invite Group
- Click the "Galleries" tab
- Click the "Invite Groups" link on the Sub-Navigation Menu
- Enter the name of the group, and click "Create New Group"
- Click "List" to add members to the group
- Enter the first name, last name, or e-mail to look up existing users. If the user you want isn't already in the system, you can enter their name and e-mail to add them.
If I create a provisional user in my group, when are they notified?
The user is only notified when you actually create an invitation.
If I create a provisional user when setting up a group, then want to invite them individually to another gallery, what do I do?
Once you create their provisional account, it's available to you via look-up for any other invitation. Just search for their name when you begin an invitation.
What happens if I enter an incorrect e-mail?
If the gallery invitation bounces, you will receive the bounce. You should create a new invitation with the proper e-mail address.
Why can't I edit the e-mail address of a user?
Once you enter an e-mail address, it creates an account for that e-mail address in PhotoShelter. The owner of the e-mail is then responsible for that account. More information here.Can I resend an Invitation?
