Galleries

Galleries are the heart of Seleckt. They are how you deliver photos to your clients, collect their selections, and showcase your work. This guide walks you through every step — from creating a gallery to archiving it after delivery.

Creating a gallery

Click New gallery on the Galleries page. A guided setup walks you through five short steps — only the name is required, and the later steps can be skipped:

1. Basics — Enter a name (e.g., "Sarah & James — Wedding") and optionally the kind of shoot, which suggests a matching style.
2. Style — Pick a design preset (Editorial, Classic, or Minimal). Everything is adjustable later in the gallery's Design tab.
3. Clients — Choose Proofing for the full selection workflow, or Viewing only for a browse-and-favourite experience. See Gallery mode below for details. Proofing galleries can set optional min/max selections.
4. Sharing — Set the visibility (private, unlisted, or public), an optional PIN, and an expiry date — or Skip & create to use the defaults (private, no PIN, no expiry).
5. Photos — The gallery is created; drop photos in right away or head to the gallery page.

Your gallery starts in draft mode. No one can see it until you publish it, and a Finish setting up checklist on the gallery page tracks the remaining steps.

Tip: Use clear, descriptive titles. Your clients will receive a link with this name, and it helps you stay organised when you have dozens of galleries.

Uploading photos

Drag and drop

1. Open your gallery and go to the Photos tab.
2. Drag files from your computer directly onto the upload area, or click Browse to select files.
3. Seleckt begins uploading immediately. You will see a progress bar for each file.

Supported file formats

Seleckt accepts standard web images, RAW files, and short video clips:

• JPEG / JPG, PNG, and WebP — displayed directly in the gallery.
• RAW formats (CR2, CR3, NEF, ARW, RAF, ORF, RW2, DNG, PEF) — processed server-side and converted for web display. RAW support is positioned as a Plus-plan feature.
• Video (MP4, MOV) — uploaded alongside your photos.

Note: TIFF files are not supported.

Duplicate filenames

If you upload a file whose name matches a photo already in the gallery, Seleckt flags it as a duplicate. Matching is case-insensitive and based on the full filename — for example, IMG_1234.JPG matches an existing img_1234.jpg. When duplicates are detected, a dialog gives you two choices:

• Replace All — the new files overwrite the existing photos. Replaced photos keep their position and client selections.
• Skip Duplicates — the duplicates are ignored and only the new (non-matching) files are uploaded.

Batch upload

You can upload hundreds of files at once. There is no need to upload one by one — select an entire folder or drag a batch of files. Seleckt queues them and processes everything in the background. You can navigate away from the page while uploads continue.

Tip: For the fastest upload experience, upload your edited JPEGs. RAW files are much larger and take longer to transfer and process. Save RAW uploads for when your client specifically needs the originals.

Photo processing

After upload, each photo goes through automatic processing:

1. Thumbnail generation — small previews for the gallery grid.
2. Watermarked version — a web-resolution copy with your watermark applied (if enabled).
3. Metadata extraction — EXIF data like camera model, lens, and settings are read and stored.

Processing happens on dedicated infrastructure, so it does not slow down your browsing. You will see a spinner on each photo until processing is complete.

Failed photos

If any photos fail to process, a banner appears at the top of the gallery with a count of failed photos and a Retry All button. Click it to reprocess all failed photos at once. You can also retry individual photos from the photo's context menu.

Gallery settings

Open a gallery and click the Settings tab to configure how it behaves. Settings are organised into five groups:

• General — name, public link, and description.
• Privacy & Sharing — visibility, PIN protection, client sharing, and invitations.
• Proofing — how clients work through the photos: mode, selection limits, deadline, and comments.
• Downloads & Delivery — delivery quality, free downloads, linked invoices, and the watermark override.
• Timeline — expiry date and immediate locking.

How the gallery looks — presets, fonts, colours, layout — lives in the separate Design tab.

Visibility

Control who can access the gallery:

PIN protection

Add a PIN code to your gallery for an extra layer of security. When enabled, visitors must enter the PIN before they can see any photos — even if they have the link.

1. In gallery settings, toggle PIN Protection on.
2. Enter a 4-to-8-digit PIN.
3. Save.

Share the PIN with your client separately (via text message, for example) for best security.

Tip: PIN protection is especially useful for link-only galleries. It means even if the link gets forwarded, the photos stay private.

Expiry date

Set an optional expiry date after which the gallery is no longer accessible to clients. This is useful for:

• Limited-time proofing galleries.
• Creating urgency for clients to make their selections.
• Automatically retiring old work.

After the expiry date, the gallery shows an "expired" message to visitors. You can always extend or remove the expiry later.

Watermark override

By default, galleries use the watermark from your account settings. If you want a specific gallery to use a different watermark — or no watermark at all — you can override it here.

Gallery design

How the gallery looks lives in the Design tab (next to Settings). Start from a preset:

Then fine-tune any axis on its own — cover style, grid layout and spacing, fonts, colour palette, and accent — with a live preview of the real client gallery.

Delivery mode

Control the quality of photos your client sees when browsing the gallery:

• Watermarked — clients see watermarked, web-resolution previews in the gallery viewer.
• Full-quality — clients see the original high-resolution previews in the gallery viewer.

Most photographers start with watermarked delivery and switch to full-quality after payment is confirmed.

Note: Delivery mode controls the viewing experience in the gallery. It is separate from download access -- see below.

Download access

By default, clients can only download photos after paying an invoice (payment gating). The Allow Free Downloads toggle lets you bypass this requirement:

1. In gallery settings, toggle Allow Free Downloads on.
2. All clients with access to this gallery can now download photos without a paid invoice.

This is ideal for complimentary sessions, portfolio gifts, or mini-session giveaways.

When free downloads are enabled, clients can choose between two download qualities:

• Hi-Res — the original full-resolution files you uploaded.
• Web View — smaller, web-optimised versions suitable for social media and email.

You can override this setting on a per-client basis in the Access tab (see below).

Tip: You can combine free downloads with payment gating. For example, enable free downloads on a gallery and still send an invoice for a premium album package. Clients with a paid invoice always have download access, regardless of this toggle.

Note: The invoices that unlock downloads are the ones listed under Linked invoices in Downloads & Delivery — when a linked invoice is paid, the watermark comes off and downloads unlock for that client. Converting a quote links its invoice to the quote's gallery, but an invoice made with Bill selected items is not linked automatically: add it there if paying it should unlock downloads.

Sharing a gallery

Share with specific clients

1. Go to the Access tab in your gallery.
2. Search for an existing client or enter their email address.
3. Click Share. The client receives an email notification with a link to the gallery.

You can share with multiple clients. Each one gets individual access.

Per-client download access

After sharing a gallery, you can control download permissions for each client individually. In the Access tab, each shared client row shows a download access dropdown with three options:

A badge next to each client shows the effective download status (e.g., "Downloads: On (gallery)" or "Downloads: Off").

Tip: Use per-client overrides when you want to give one client early access to downloads before the rest of the group, or when you want to restrict a specific client while keeping the gallery open for others.

Copy public link

For link-only or public galleries:

1. Open the Access tab.
2. Click Copy Link.
3. Paste it into an email, text message, or anywhere you like.

Generate preview tokens

Preview tokens create temporary, limited-access links. They are useful when you want someone (like a client's family member) to view the gallery without giving them permanent access.

Tip: Preview tokens expire automatically. Use them for quick "take a look" moments rather than as a primary sharing method.

Gallery mode

Every gallery has a mode that controls whether the client selection workflow is enabled.

Set the mode when you create a gallery, or change it later in gallery settings. The default is Standard.

Tip: Use Viewing mode for complimentary galleries, portfolio showcases, or any delivery where you do not need clients to formally select photos. Clients can still favourite photos for their own reference and download them if you enable free downloads.

Switching modes on an existing gallery

You can switch between Standard and Viewing at any time. Existing selections and submissions are preserved — they are simply hidden when the gallery is in Viewing mode. Switching back to Standard restores everything.

Client selections

Selections let your client pick their favourite photos from the gallery — perfect for choosing which images get retouched, printed, or included in an album. Selections are available when the gallery mode is set to Standard.

Setting selection limits

1. In your gallery settings (or the creation wizard's Clients step), make sure the gallery mode is Standard.
2. Optionally set a minimum and maximum number of selections. For example, "Choose between 50 and 100 photos."
3. Save.

Switching the gallery to Viewing mode clears the limits and deadline — they don't apply when there is no selection round. Set them again if you switch back to Proofing.

How clients select photos

When the gallery is in Standard mode, your client sees a "Select" button on each photo. They click to choose, click again to deselect. A counter at the bottom of the gallery shows how many they have selected relative to the allowed range.

Viewing selections

Once your client submits their selections:

1. Open the gallery and go to the Selections tab.
2. You will see every photo the client chose, along with the total count.
3. You can export the selection list or use it to guide your editing workflow.

Favourites

Favourites let clients mark the photos they love with a heart icon. Unlike selections, favourites are available in all gallery modes (Standard and Viewing) and do not require submission.

• Clients can double-tap (on mobile) or click the heart icon (in the lightbox) to favourite a photo.
• A filled heart appears on favourited photos so they stand out in the grid.
• Clients can filter the gallery to only their Favourites or, in galleries with selections, only their Selected photos. The filter sits in the gallery toolbar (a single filter button on phones).
• If downloads are enabled, clients can download just their favourites as a group.

Favourites sharing links

You can create shareable links that show only a client's favourited photos. This is useful when a client wants to share their top picks with a partner or family member.

1. Go to the gallery's Access tab.
2. Under a client's share, click Share Favourites.
3. A unique link is generated. You can optionally enable downloads on the link.
4. Share the link with the client or their guests.

Favourites sharing links can be revoked at any time from the Access tab.

Comments

Comments let clients leave feedback on individual photos or the gallery as a whole. They are enabled by default on new galleries. Comments support threaded replies and emoji reactions.

1. Clients can type comments on any photo.
2. Clients can reply to existing comments to create threads, and react with emojis.
3. You will see comments in the gallery detail view, and they appear in your Dashboard activity feed.

To turn comments off (for example, after the proofing phase is done), open gallery settings and toggle Enable Comments off.

Tip: Comments are private to each client. One client cannot see another client's comments on the same gallery.

Editor shares

If you work with external editors or retouchers, you can share a gallery with them for collaboration.

1. Go to the Access tab.
2. Under Editor Access, enter the editor's email address.
3. The editor receives an invitation and can view and download the photos they need to work on.

Editor shares are separate from client shares — editors do not see client selections or comments.

Analytics

Each gallery tracks basic view metrics, shown as tiles:

• Total Views — total number of times the gallery was opened.
• Unique Visitors — how many individual people viewed it.
• Views (7 days) — views in the last seven days.

Find these numbers in the gallery's Analytics tab, alongside a Recent Gallery Views list of who viewed the gallery and when. They help you understand how actively your client is reviewing their photos. If a gallery has been shared but shows zero views after a few days, it might be time for a gentle reminder.

Bulk actions

When managing many galleries at once, bulk actions save you time.

1. On the Galleries list page, select multiple galleries using the checkboxes.
2. Choose an action from the Bulk Actions menu:

Tip: Archive rather than delete whenever possible. Archived galleries can be restored; deleted ones cannot.

Grid vs List view

The Galleries page offers two layouts:

• Grid view — shows gallery cover photos in a visual grid. Great for quickly scanning by thumbnail.
• List view — shows galleries in a compact table with columns for title, status, photo count, client, and dates. Better for sorting and managing large numbers of galleries.

Toggle between them using the view icons at the top of the page.

Search and status filtering

Use the search bar at the top of the Galleries page to find galleries by title or client name. You can also filter by status:

• All — everything in your account.
• Draft — galleries you have not yet published.
• Published — live and visible to clients.
• Archived — retired galleries.
• Expired — galleries past their expiry date.

Combine search and filters to narrow down results quickly. For example, search "Johnson" and filter by "Published" to find all active galleries for a particular client.

What to do next

• Organise collaborative uploads with other photographers: Collections
• Invoice your client for the shoot: Invoices
• Send a quote before the shoot: Quotes