Email notifications

As a host you want to know what’s happening in your event – but without your inbox overflowing. In your Account settings you therefore decide, all in one place:

1. whether Photogala sends you emails at all (a single global switch), and
2. which notifications appear in the in-app bell (at the top of the gallery) – 12 types across 3 categories.

These two levels are deliberately separate: the email switch is a pure on/off. The in-app notifications, by contrast, can be tuned individually.

Account-wide, not per event

Your settings apply to your account – not to a single event. If you manage several events, you set this once, centrally, and it takes effect everywhere.

Who sees these settings

The Notifications tab is meant for registered users – host, admins and moderators with their own account. Anonymous guests can’t access it: instead the dialog shows a Guest account banner with a button to register (see Troubleshooting).

Where to find the settings

Notifications live not in the event settings but in your personal Account settings. You reach them through the profile menu in the top right.

1. Open your event admin, e.g. the Dashboard.

2. Click My account in the top right. The profile menu opens.

   Phone

   

   Computer

   

   The menu behind “My account”: Account settings and Language sit under MANAGEMENT, with Help and Sign out below.

3. Choose Account settings. The Account settings dialog opens with the subtitle “Configure your account preferences and settings”.

4. Switch to the Notifications tab at the top of the dialog (bell icon). The address bar then shows ?account-tab=notifications.

   Phone

   

   Computer

   

   The Notifications tab: the global email switch on top, the three in-app categories below – and Save changes at the bottom.

The tabs in the Account settings dialog

The dialog has several tabs, in this order:

• General – the default tab (name, email address, basic account data).
• Security – password and sign-in security.
• Billing – only visible if you have paid at least once. If you’ve never made a payment, this tab is missing entirely. That’s normal – don’t go looking for it.
• Notifications – the tab covered here, always last (for registered users).

The “Notifications” tab in detail

The tab has two sections and a save button at the bottom.

1. Email notifications (the global switch)

At the very top is the Email notifications section with a single box:

• Title: Email notifications
• Description: “Receive important updates and notifications via email”
• On the right: a toggle

What the switch does:

• On – You receive the emails tied to things happening in your events.
• Off – You no longer receive any of the opt-out emails. Security and purchase confirmations still arrive (see below).

This is deliberately a pure on/off. There is no per-event fine control at the email level – the fine-grained control lives only in the in-app notifications below.

Phone

Computer

The box at the very top of the tab: title and explanation on the left, the toggle on the right. That is all there is at the email level – a per-email-type choice is deliberately not offered.

Which emails the switch affects

Photogala distinguishes two kinds of email.

Can be switched off – these stay away when the switch is off:

• Limit notices: an early warning when your free photo allowance is running out, and an acute message the moment a guest upload is rejected because of the limit.
• Tips and prompts around your event: setup tips, feature introductions, reminders before your event date, recaps after the party, plus anniversary and memory emails about your gallery.
• Partner summaries: the monthly overview in the affiliate programme.

Cannot be switched off – these still reach you because they concern your account, your money or your data:

• Account and security: password reset, password changed, confirm email address, account verification, sign-in links.
• Purchase and event ownership: the event key after a purchase, plan changes, refunds, and the confirmations when an event is claimed or deleted.
• Finished ZIP downloads: the email as soon as the download you requested is ready – you started it yourself, after all. See Download & export.
• Expiry and rescue warnings: the reminders before your storage period ends, the download reminders before that, and the notices before a deleted event is removed for good.

Caution

So don’t rely on the switch muting everything. It exists to get rid of promotions, tips and prompts – not to silence warnings about losing your gallery. That’s by design.

2. In-app notifications (12 types, 3 categories)

The second section is called In-app notifications. The help text reads: “Choose which notifications you want to see while using the app. Click a category to expand or collapse it.”

These switches control the in-app bell (the notifications that appear at the top of the gallery) – not individual emails.

Phone

Computer

This is what the switches control: the bell at the top of the gallery – not your inbox. 1 the header with the number of unread messages, 2 filter by type, 3 an item, 4 deletes it.

The 12 types are grouped into 3 collapsible categories. By default all categories are collapsed. Click a category header (arrow icon) to open it. Each header shows a counter “(x/y enabled)” so you can see at a glance how many types inside are active. Each entry has its own toggle – on = the notification appears in the bell, off = it is suppressed.

Phone

Computer

This is how you find the tab: three collapsed categories. The header itself is the button that expands them – and the counter tells you beforehand how many types inside are on.

Expanded, a category shows its types with one toggle each; the header carries the counter – here (6/6 enabled).

Category “Achievements” (trophy icon) – 2 types:

Switch	What triggers it
Achievement unlocked	When you unlock a new achievement
Role changes	When your role in an event changes

Category “Interactions” – 6 types:

Switch	What triggers it
@mentions in comments	When someone @mentions you in a comment
Replies to your comments	When someone replies to your comment
Comments on your photos	When someone comments on your photo
Media rejected	When your media is rejected by a moderator
Media unpublished	When your media is unpublished by a moderator
Processing failures	When your media fails to process

Category “Activity” (heart icon) – 4 types:

Switch	What triggers it
Likes on your comments	When someone likes your comment
Likes on your photos	When someone likes your photo
Photos added to albums	When your photo is added to an album
Report resolved	When action is taken on your report

Leaderboard win: no switch for it

There is one more notification type you won’t find here: the leaderboard win. When the host freezes the standing, the winners on the awarded places get a notification with the category, their rank and their result. This notification deliberately cannot be switched off – without it winners would only discover their win by chance and could not collect a prize. It goes only to the actually awarded places, not the whole standing, and only once, at the moment of freezing.

How to freeze the standing and redeem wins is explained under Leaderboard & winners.

3. Saving – no auto-save

Nothing is saved automatically

When you flip switches, the changes are at first only local. They take effect only after you click Save changes. If you close the dialog beforehand, your selection is lost.

At the bottom right is the Save changes button. Click it after adjusting the email switch or individual in-app types:

Phone

Computer

At the end of the dialog, below the three categories: Save changes. Without this click the dialog discards every switch you flipped.

1. Set the global email switch to On or Off.

2. Open the categories that interest you and turn individual types on or off.

3. Click Save changes at the bottom right. While saving, the button shows a loading state.

4. On success the confirmation “Notification settings saved” appears.

Example

The tip emails before the party annoy you, but you still want to hear when your gallery expires. You set Email notifications to Off: setup tips, date reminders and the recap afterwards stop. The “your ZIP download is ready” email, the purchase confirmation and the warning before the storage period ends still arrive – those can’t be switched off. If instead you only want the in-app bell quieter, leave the email toggle on and turn off individual types in the section below; the header then reads something like (2/5 enabled).

Recommendations for practice

• Inbox too full? Turn off the global email switch. The in-app bell is unaffected – you still see everything in the app.
• As a moderator you should keep Media rejected, Media unpublished, Processing failures and Report resolved enabled. That way you notice when moderation-relevant things happen. More on this under Moderation.
• Large events: Likes on your photos and Comments on your photos can fire very often. Turn them off in the app if needed to reduce the noise.
• Several events? Everything here applies account-wide. You set it once and don’t have to deal with it per event.

Edge cases & troubleshooting

“I don’t see the Notifications tab.” You’re probably signed in as a guest. The dialog then shows only a Guest account banner with a Register account button. Register or sign in – the tab appears afterwards. How to turn your guest account into a real account is described under Account & sign-in.

“The Billing tab is missing.” That’s normal if you’ve never made a payment. The tab appears only after your first payment.

“I flipped a switch but nothing happened.” You have to click Save changes. Without that click nothing is applied.

“I still don’t get any emails.” Check in order: (a) is the global email switch On? (b) is the message in the spam folder? (c) is your email address correct and confirmed (the General or Security tab in the same dialog)?

“The switch is off but I still get emails.” That’s not a bug. Account, security, purchase, download and expiry emails deliberately cannot be switched off – see the list under “Which emails the switch affects”.

Loading error. On a network error the note “Failed to load notification settings. Please try again.” appears. Close the dialog and open it again.

Related topics

• Managing registered users
• Moderation – explains the “Media rejected”, “Media unpublished” and report events
• Leaderboard & winners – relates to the leaderboard win
• Download & export – relates to the “ZIP download ready” email
• Setting up achievements – relates to “Achievement unlocked”
• Roles & permissions – relates to “Role changes”
• Account & sign-in