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 shortlink works regardless of whether the gallery or collection is published — visitors with the link can view it either way. Publishing only controls access through the normal client-portal login; see Publish & client access and Publish & downloads. The usual "not published" draft banner still shows on the admin page as a reminder, even if a shortlink is already live for it.

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

Open the gallery or collection and go to its Shortlinks tab.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.

Tracking views

The Shortlinks tab of a gallery, video collection, or individual video also shows a small view-count block above the table: a total shortlink views count (every time any shortlink to that item has been opened) and a unique visitors count (distinct visitors, counted by device and network). Both numbers cover all of that item's shortlinks together, not one link at a time, and only count visits that came in through a shortlink — views through the normal client-portal login aren't included. Your client sees the same block on their own copy of the Shortlinks tab.

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.