Albums

Galleries → Albums. Lay out an album from the photographs already in a gallery, send it to the client as a link, and they either approve it or tell you what to change — on the spread, not in an email thread. Albums are part of Studio.

Starting one

1. Go to Galleries → Albums.
2. Under Start an album, type a Title, for example *Ava and Tom —

Wedding album*.

1. Choose the gallery under From which gallery.
2. Press Create album.

The album takes its photographs, and its client, from that gallery. Make sure the gallery is linked to the client, or there is nobody to email the album to.

Laying out the spreads

The album's screen has a numbered list of Spreads, and under it Photographs in this gallery, with a number under each photograph. That number is what you type into a spread, so spread 4 holding photographs 12, 14 and 15 means the same thing to both of you.

For each spread:

• Photo numbers — the numbers separated by commas, such as 12, 14, 15. Blank rows are ignored, so you can leave gaps and fill them later.
• Layout — a short label of your own: full, two up, panorama. Nothing is imposed on you, because the album is made by whoever prints it and their names are the ones that matter.
• Note — for you, not the client.

Press Save layout when you are done.

A spread holds at most six photographs; any numbers past the sixth are dropped. A number that is not in the album's gallery is dropped too, so check the spread after saving.

Sending it

Press Send to client (or Send a new version after the first time) above the spreads, and confirm.

The client is emailed a link, and the album's screen shows the Client link too. What they see is a snapshot of the spreads at the moment you sent it. Editing afterwards changes only your working copy, never what they are looking at — so the version the client saw is always the version the client saw, and an approval can be shown as the thing that was actually approved, months later, when somebody remembers it differently.

Each send is the next version: 1, then 2, then 3. An album with no spreads cannot be sent.

What the client does

They open the link — no account, no password — and page through the spreads in order.

Under each spread is a box, Anything to change on this spread?: *swap the third photograph for the one of her father*. They can write in as many as they like, type Your name, and press Send my notes. Or they press **Approve and print**.

Changes, and which version they were about

Notes arrive under the spread they were left on, and you press done beside each as you deal with it. The screen tells you how many are still to deal with.

When you send a new version, the old notes stay, marked with the version they were about, rather than being deleted. "Swap the third photograph" reads oddly beside a layout where it already has been — but deleting it loses the reason the layout changed, which is the thing you want in six months when somebody asks.

Approval

Approval is recorded with the client's name, the date and the version number, and you are emailed.

After that the album is locked. The spreads cannot be saved, and it cannot be sent again. If the client changes their mind, start a new album — which leaves the approved one intact, rather than quietly editing the thing they signed off.

Where it sits

An album goes to Changes requested on its own the moment notes arrive, and you are emailed, so the list tells you who is waiting on you without opening anything.