Public shortlinks

Goal: create a public link you can send directly to anyone — no client login required — with its own expiry, password, and download settings.

Prerequisites

  • A gallery or video collection to share. Shortlinks work the same way for both: photo galleries use Galleries → [Gallery] → Shortlinks, video collections use Videos → [Collection] → Shortlinks. Individual videos within a collection can also have their own shortlinks from the video's detail page.
  • A published gallery or collection is not required to create a shortlink, but an unpublished one won't be visible to anyone who opens it — see Publish & client access and Publish & downloads.
Shortlink creation and visit lifecycle Create link label, options Set expiry, password & downloads Share it copy link or send the QR code Visitor opens the link
A shortlink is created with its own options, shared as a URL or QR code, then used by whoever opens it — subject to its expiry, password, and download settings.

Creating a shortlink

  1. Open the gallery or collection and go to its Shortlinks tab.
  2. Under Create Shortlink, optionally enter a Label (e.g. "Client preview") so you can tell links apart later — if you leave it blank, the table just numbers the link.
  3. Choose Expires. For a gallery shortlink the options are 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120 days, 1 year, or Never (Never is selected by default). A video collection shortlink offers two shorter options as well: 7 days, 14 days, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, 120 days, 1 year, or Never (7 days is selected by default).
  4. Optionally set a Password. Leave it blank for no password — a password you do set is stored hashed, never in plain text, so it can be checked but not recovered later from the database.
  5. Leave Allow downloads via this link checked to let visitors download photos or the video, or untick it for a view-only link. This is independent of the gallery's or collection's own downloads setting — see Downloads & zipping and Publish & downloads.
  6. Click Create Shortlink. The new link appears at the top of the table above the form.
There's no limit on how many shortlinks a single gallery or collection can have. Create separate links for separate audiences — for example one for a client's family with downloads on, and another for social media with downloads off — and delete individual links later without affecting the others.

Reading the shortlinks table

Each row shows the link's Label, its URL as a button containing the link's token, Expires (a date, or Never), a Downloads badge (Yes/No), a Password badge (Protected/None), a QR button, and a delete button.

Copying the link

Click the URL button in a row (it shows the link's token with a copy icon) to copy the full public URL to your clipboard. The button briefly confirms the copy so you know it worked, without leaving the Shortlinks tab.

Prefer sending a scannable code instead of a URL? See QR codes to generate and download one for any shortlink.

Deleting a shortlink

Click the trash icon on a shortlink's row to remove it immediately. Once deleted, its URL stops working for anyone who still has it — there's no way to restore a deleted shortlink, only create a new one.

An expired shortlink isn't automatically deleted from the table — it simply stops granting access once its expiry date passes. Delete it yourself if you want it out of the list.

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