The ability to assign download permissions to galleries and collections is one of the most powerful features in your PhotoShelter account. It’s up to you to determine who can download your photos, when access expires, and what file size can be downloaded.
There are three options for setting download permissions: (anchor links)
- Create a password
- Grant access to specific people (login required)
- Grant access to anyone (anonymous downloads)
For the download methods outlined in this article to work, you will need to make sure your "Download" buttons appear in your Archive pages to allow clients to download. To ensure they are visible:
- Visit your Archive Page Settings
- Make sure "Display download links" is set to "Yes."
- Click "Save Settings."
Your download buttons will appear on all galleries Archive, but only users who you have explicitly given access (using one of the three methods outlined below) will be allowed to download.
Setting Download Permissions with a Password
Password permissions restrict download access to only those with the password you set.
Passwords are generally considered to be a lighter form of security, as they are used by anyone with access to the password and can be easily forwarded along.
1. Navigate to your Image Browser.
2. In the Left Pane, select the gallery or collection from which you’d like to allow downloads.
3. In the Right pane, click the blue gear icon next to “Visibility and Access.”
4. You’ll then see a pop-up box where you can control your visibility and download permissions. Choose your desired visibility setting (more on that here).
5. If the gallery/collection is viewable to “everyone,” click the “add download permissions” link.
6. Click the option to “Create Password.”
7. Enter your desired password in the box. Note that the password is case-sensitive, so capitals/lowercase letters matter.
8. If you’d like the password to expire after a certain date, you can click “none” to pick the expiration date. If you want the password to work indefinitely, no action is needed.
9. Next to “DL Type” choose the file size that you’d like to give your client(s) access to. If you select “Original file,” they’ll be able to download the original file you uploaded to PhotoShelter. Note that your clients will have the option you select, as well as any smaller file size options, when they go to download.
10. If you’d like to limit this password permission to a specific number of downloads, you can set a number next to “DL Max.” Please note that this will apply to the password as a whole (e.g. if you set a download max of 5 and give the password to multiple people, if one person downloads 5 images, there will be no downloads left for the other clients). If you do not wish to implement a limit, you can leave this option set to “unlimited.”
11. Now that you have your password set, you can either “save & notify” or “save”:
- Save & Notify will allow you to send an email to your client(s) with the gallery/collection link and password.
- If you simply save, you can share the link and password with your client however you’d like.
Granting Download Permissions to Specific People
If you want tighter control over who is downloading from your galleries and collections, this is the option for you. You’ll set access using specific email addresses and those individuals will need to log into a (totally free) account to access their permissions.
1. Navigate to your Image Browser.
2. In the Left Pane, select the gallery or collection from which you’d like to allow downloads.
3. In the Right pane, click the blue gear icon next to “Visibility and Access.”
4. You’ll then see a pop-up box where you can control your visibility and download permissions. Choose your desired visibility setting (more on that here).
5. If the gallery/collection is viewable to “everyone,” click the “add download permissions” link.
6. Click the option to “grant access to specific people.”
7. In the field provided, enter in your client’s email address. If you’re setting permission for multiple people, you may want to first set up a group in your address book.
8. If you’d like the permission to expire after a certain date, you can click “none” to pick the expiration date. If you want the permission to work indefinitely, no action is needed.
9. Next to “DL Type” choose the file size that you’d like to give your client(s) access to. If you select “Original file,” they’ll be able to download the original file you uploaded to PhotoShelter. Note that your clients will have the option you select, as well as any smaller file size options, when they go to download.
10. If you’d like to limit the number of downloads your clients have access to, you can add a number next to “DL Max.”
11. Now that you have your permission set, you can either “Save & Notify” or “Save.” If this is the first time you’re sharing access with this particular client, we recommend using “Save & Notify.” This will allow you to send an email to your client with the gallery/collection link. The first time they access these permissions, they’ll be prompted to create a free account.
Granting Download Permission to Anyone
Anonymous downloads allow you to provide friction-free download permission to anyone that visits a gallery or collection - no password or login required.
1. Navigate to your Image Browser.
2. In the Left Pane, select the gallery or collection that from which you’d like to allow downloads.
3. In the Right pane, click the blue gear icon next to “Visibility and Access.”
4. Make sure the visibility of the gallery or collection is set to “Everyone.”
5. Click the link to “add download permissions” and choose “grant access to anyone.”
6. If you’d like the password to expire after a certain date, you can click “none” to pick the expiration date. If you want the password to work indefinitely, no action is needed.
7. Next to “DL Type” choose the file size that you’d like to give your client(s) access to. If you select “Original file,” they’ll be able to download the original file you uploaded to PhotoShelter. Note that your clients will have the option you select, as well as any smaller file size options, when they go to download.
8. With anonymous downloads, we recommend leaving the download max at “unlimited.” The max applies to the permission as a whole, so if you set a download max of 5 and share the link with multiple people, after 5 downloads, there will be no downloads left for others.
9. Now that you have your permission set, you can either “save & notify” or “save”:
- Save & Notify will allow you to send an email to your client(s) with the gallery/collection link.
- If you save, the permission will be set and it’s up to you how you’d like to share the gallery or collection link.
A few things to note about anonymous downloads:
- Anonymous downloads only work on galleries and collections with a visibility setting of “Everyone.” If you enable anonymous downloads on a gallery with a visibility of “Those with permission,” the visibility will automatically switch to “Everyone.”
- Currently, we do not recommend enabling anonymous downloads on a gallery or collection with any other type of download permission set, as it will override those settings. If you need to grant download permissions via password or login on a gallery that also has anonymous downloads enabled, we recommend making a second gallery or using the Quick Send tool.
- Our FileFlow app currently requires that you sign up for a free PhotoShelter account to access any downloads you have permission to. If your clients require download permission via their iOS device, we recommend using the “people/group” option for setting download permission.