Custom domain & white-label

By default your gallery runs on a PhotoGala address. In the White-Label tab you turn it into something of your own: a free custom subdomain, your fully own domain, your own email sender domain, and a consistent brand experience (custom loading logo, custom browser-tab icon, hiding “Powered by PhotoGala”).

So “custom domain” is only one building block of a larger area. This guide walks you through the entire White-Label tab.

Note

The White-Label tab only appears in event plans that include custom domain or white-label. If the tab is missing, your current plan doesn’t support these features — see Plan & upgrade.

How to reach the White-Label tab

1. Open the profile menu at the top right and choose Management → Admin portal to enter your event’s admin area.

2. Open Settings and switch to the White-Label tab (globe icon). It sits next to General, Image Quality, Style, Features, Privacy & Moderation, and Photo Wall.

3. The tab has three sections top to bottom: Branding, Your Gallery URL, and Legal documents. Which ones you see depends on your plan and — for partner-managed events — on your partner’s permissions.

Tip

Changes to Branding (logo, favicon, “Powered by”) only take effect with the global Save Changes button at the bottom of Settings. A tab with unsaved changes shows a red dot. The gallery address (subdomain/domain), by contrast, is saved directly inside the wizard.

Section 1 — Branding

The top of the tab is headed Branding. Here you control how prominently PhotoGala appears and how your brand shows up.

At the top right there’s a Show inheritance details / Hide inheritance details toggle. On partner-managed events it reveals source badges (“from Brand” / “overridden”) so you can see which values are inherited from your partner and which are overridden locally. On standalone events you rarely need it.

Hiding “Powered by”

The Hide “Powered by PhotoGala” toggle removes the PhotoGala note from the footer and loading screen. On partner-managed events it reads Hide “Powered by [Brand]” instead. Right below it a footer preview shows live what visitors will see (e.g. “© Year” with no add-on instead of “© Year · Powered by PhotoGala”).

If your partner has locked this toggle, it’s hidden — you then can’t remove the branding yourself.

Custom loading logo

Under Custom Loading Logo you upload your own logo to replace the loading screen. Drag the file into the drop zone or click to choose one. Recommendation: square (1:1), PNG or SVG, transparent background. This area, too, can be locked by your partner and is then hidden.

Browser tab icon (favicon)

Under Browser tab icon you set the small symbol that appears in the browser tab next to the title. You have two options:

• Pick a preset glyph: A grid of twelve symbols (camera, heart, star, sparkles, gift, music, calendar, bolt, sun, fire, people, pin), each tinted in your event’s primary color. One click generates a clean icon.
• Upload your own: Upload your own file (PNG, JPEG, or WEBP, max. 5 MB).

A live preview shows the icon as a mini browser tab. If an icon is already set, Remove appears to clear it. The note “Will be applied when you save” means: the favicon is only uploaded with Save Changes; the system then generates an .ico file for all browsers automatically.

Tip

For the favicon: keep it square, high-contrast, and simple — it must still be recognizable at 16 pixels. If you want a complete white-label look, also hide “Powered by” and set your custom loading logo.

Section 2 — Your Gallery URL

The heart of this guide. Here you decide the address at which your gallery is reachable.

How your gallery address is chosen

An explainer block “How your gallery address is chosen” sums up the priority rule. Remember it, or you’ll be puzzled about which address is active:

1. Custom domain wins. Once your own domain is active, it’s the main address — even if a subdomain also exists.
2. Subdomain with no active custom domain. If there’s no active custom domain, your subdomain is the main address.
3. Neither. If neither is configured, the gallery runs on the default address (photogala.net).

Status overview

Below it you see the current state as read-only rows:

• Active gallery address — the actually active address used in links, QR codes, and emails.
• Gallery subdomain — if set, with Change and Remove buttons (Remove asks for confirmation).
• Custom domain — if set, with a status badge (e.g. active, pending), Manage (opens the wizard), and Remove.
• Email Sender Domain — if set, with a status badge and Remove.

Set up or change the address

1. At the top right of the URL section, click Set up custom URL (if nothing is configured yet) or Change URL (if a subdomain or domain already exists). This opens the “Set up your gallery URL” wizard.

2. The wizard guides you through setup in up to three steps (see below). For a subdomain you’re done in seconds; for your own domain you add a DNS record and verify it.

3. If nothing is set up yet but a subdomain is available, you’ll also see a Get your own subdomain link, which likewise opens the wizard.

The wizard: “Set up your gallery URL”

The wizard has a step indicator (1 → 2 → 3) and Back and Close buttons at the bottom.

Step 1 — Choose your path

Two large option cards:

• Quick: free subdomain — with a Recommended badge. “Pick a name and you’re done. No DNS setup, SSL is automatic, takes 30 seconds.” Shows a preview like your-name.photogala.net.
• Pro: your own domain — “Use a domain you already own. Requires 1 DNS record (~10 min).”

Pick the card that fits you.

Step 2a — Subdomain path

1. Enter your desired name in the Subdomain name field (placeholder your-name). Only lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens are allowed, at least 3 characters.

2. If several wildcard domains exist, pick the one you want from the dropdown on the right; otherwise it’s fixed.

3. The live preview “Your gallery will be at:” shows the finished address (name.domain).

4. Click Claim subdomain at the bottom. After the “Subdomain assigned!” confirmation the wizard closes. No DNS is needed, SSL is automatic.

Step 2b — Custom domain path

1. In the Your domain field, enter the domain to use, e.g. gallery.yourstudio.com. Invalid input is rejected with a hint.

2. Optional: enable Also set up email sender (recommended). Event emails then come from [email protected] instead of the default address, and three more DNS records (MX, SPF, DKIM) become required.

3. With the email option on, two fields appear: Email domain (default = the apex of your gallery domain, e.g. studio.com for gallery.studio.com) and Sender name (optional) (the “From” name in emails; default = brand name).

4. Click Next: DNS setup to move to step 3.

Step 3 — Set up DNS (custom domain path only)

1. The subtitle names common providers (Cloudflare, GoDaddy, Namecheap). Open the DNS area at your provider.

2. Copy the values from the yellow DNS table (columns Type / Name / Value):

   • CNAME for a subdomain (recommended), Value = the shown CNAME target (e.g. connect.photogala.net).
   • A record for a root/apex domain, Value = the shown server IP. Add either CNAME or A — not both. SSL is issued automatically once DNS resolves; no extra records needed.

3. If you chose the email option, also copy the entries from the Email DNS records box (MX, SPF, DKIM). The DKIM key is generated per domain — copy the exact values from the table.

4. Click I’ve added the record — verify. On success a green “Your domain is live!” appears and the wizard closes shortly after. If verification fails, a red “DNS not yet propagated…” appears with an auto-retry countdown that rechecks up to eight times; after that it’s manual only. Tip from the wizard: DNS usually propagates within 5 minutes — coffee break?

DNS configuration outside the wizard

If a domain is on file but not yet active, the URL section shows the same information directly as a yellow “DNS configuration required” box with the Type/Host/Value table and a Verify DNS button (or “Verifying…”). Success reports “DNS verified!”, otherwise “DNS not yet propagated”. Likewise, an inactive email domain shows an “Email DNS configuration required” box with Verify email DNS.

Note

The A-record value (server IP) only appears after saving (“provided after saving”). So save the domain first, then the exact value shows up in the table.

Section 3 — Legal documents

At the very bottom of the tab you’ll find Legal documents with three documents: Imprint, Privacy, and Terms. For each document you pick a mode via chips: inherit, template (auto-filled from your business data, with preview), custom (your own Markdown text, with “fill from template” and preview), link (external URL), or off (shown nowhere). This section has its own Save button (“Save legal documents”), separate from the global save.

Details are in the dedicated guide → Legal pages.

Who sees what (roles & permissions)

• The White-Label tab only exists with the “custom domain” or “white-label” plan features.
• The Branding section appears only with white-label.
• The URL section is always visible on standalone events; on partner-managed events only if your partner has enabled the domain settings.
• The “Powered by” toggle, logo, and favicon can be locked by your partner — they’re then hidden.
• Remove for a domain/subdomain exists only for event-owned resources, not partner-managed ones.
• In practice the owner works here; moderators usually have no access to settings.

Troubleshooting & edge cases

• DNS takes time. Propagation often takes a few minutes, occasionally longer. Verify multiple times — the wizard also retries on its own.
• CNAME or A — not both. Subdomain (gallery.your-domain.com) → CNAME to the shown target. Root/apex (your-domain.com) → A record to the shown server IP.
• A-record value only visible after saving.
• SSL is automatic — no manual certificate, no extra records.
• Email DNS is separate. MX + SPF + DKIM; the DKIM key is unique per domain. Email verification may lag behind and doesn’t block the gallery domain.
• Removing redirects for 30 days. After removing a domain/subdomain, old links redirect to the default address for 30 days, then they’re dead. You can set it up again anytime.
• Mind the priority rule. An active custom domain overrides the subdomain as the main address.
• Favicon and logo only take effect with “Save Changes”, not immediately.

Best-practice tips

• For most hosts the free subdomain (“Recommended”) is enough — no DNS, SSL automatic, 30 seconds.
• A custom domain pays off mainly for photo studios and brands with an existing domain.
• Where possible pick a subdomain over root (gallery.your-domain.com) — that’s a simple CNAME instead of an A record.
• Configure the email sender domain too, so event emails with clean SPF/DKIM don’t land in spam.
• For a complete white-label look: square, high-contrast favicon, hide “Powered by”, set a custom loading logo.
• Set up DNS early (before the event), so propagation and SSL finish in time.

Related topics

• General settings — including the custom-URL slug (@name) and other basic options.
• Legal pages — imprint, privacy, and terms in detail.
• Email notifications — matches your own email sender domain.
• Style & design — colors, logo, and header.
• Plan & upgrade — if the White-Label tab is missing.