Sharing photos & the gallery

The more guests join in, the fuller and better the gallery gets – which makes sharing one of the most important ways to keep an event alive. This guide is written for guests and walks through every way in detail: passing on the whole gallery, sending a single photo, and what sharing an album really means.

The basic idea is simple: anyone who opens your link or QR code needs no account and no app and lands straight in the gallery. The share dialog says so too: “Anyone with this link can open the gallery.”

Sharing has to be enabled

Sharing is a feature the host turns on per event. There are two separate layers:

• Photo and gallery share buttons need the event feature Photo Sharing (Settings → Features). Without it, every share button is hidden.
• The round share button in the gallery header is an additional, separate switch and is off by default. Even when photo sharing is on, this header button may be missing.

If you see no share button at all, it is not your mistake – check When you can’t see a share button.

Share the whole gallery

The share button in the gallery header (main way)

If the host has enabled it, you’ll find a round share icon in the top right of the gallery (labelled “Share gallery” for screen readers). It opens the full share dialog with a QR code, a link, and direct buttons.

1. Open the gallery (the event home page).

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   The gallery – the share button sits in the top right when it is enabled.

2. Tap the round share icon in the top right.

3. The share dialog opens, titled Share with the subtitle “Invite others – they can view the photos and add their own.”

When does the button appear?

The header share button only shows when the host has enabled it, the sharing feature is available, and the event is not completely private. For completely private events it is deliberately omitted, because a link would only end up at the invitation wall anyway.

What’s in the share dialog

The share dialog gathers every option in one place. From top to bottom:

• Share… – only on devices with native sharing, usually smartphones. Opens your familiar system share sheet to pass the gallery to WhatsApp, Signal, AirDrop, and so on. This is the fastest way on a phone.
• QR code with the hint “Scan with a phone camera to open the gallery”. Below it is a Download button that saves the QR code as a PNG (gallery-qr-code.png, 512 px). Ideal when you’re together in person: print it, put it on a card, or show it on a TV.
• Link field labelled Link with a Copy Link button. After you click, a brief Copied! with a checkmark appears. Tapping the field selects the link automatically. Use it to paste the link into a chat, email, or story.
• A Share via section with three direct buttons:
  • WhatsApp – opens WhatsApp with the link pre-filled.
  • Email – opens your mail app with the subject “Check out this album” and the link in the body.
  • Facebook – opens the Facebook share dialog.
• At the bottom, the note “Anyone with this link can open the gallery.” – remember: the link is the access.

Tip

Fastest on a phone: tap Share… and pick the app in the system menu. On a computer, use Copy Link or the QR code, since desktop browsers usually don’t offer native sharing.

Other ways to get the gallery link

If the header share button is missing (it’s off by default), you can still get a shareable link:

• The browser address bar. The current gallery URL is shareable – just copy it from the address bar and send it. Note: for protected events, a plain address-bar link may land the recipient at the invitation or password wall. In that case the host’s share dialog is better, because it can embed the access code.
• A QR code from the host, the photo booth, or a table card. Often the QR code is already displayed on site. See Scanning a QR code.
• Ask the host. The classic fallback: ask for the link or QR from the share dialog.

Automatic invitation code

For invite-only events, PhotoGala can automatically append the default invitation code to the shared link and QR code. Recipients then get in without typing a code. The host decides this. More on access: Joining a gallery.

Share a single photo

You can share a single photo from three places. All three are only visible when sharing is enabled for the event. What happens next depends on your device (see Phone vs. computer).

From the gallery via right-click or long press

1. On a computer: right-click a photo in the gallery grid. On a phone: press and hold the photo.

   

   Right-click opens the context menu – Share is here.

2. Choose Share in the context menu.

3. On a phone, the system share sheet opens including the image file. On a computer, the share dialog opens instead with the direct photo link.

Note

The context menu offers more actions – Open, Select, Like, Comments, and Download. How those work is covered in Browsing the gallery and Downloading photos.

In full screen / the slideshow

1. Tap a photo to open it in full screen.

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   Full-screen view with the control bar and kebab menu.

2. Open the ⋮ menu (kebab, three dots) and choose Share.

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   The kebab menu holds Download, Share, Report, and Details.

3. On a phone, the system share sheet opens with the image file; on a computer, the share dialog opens.

Tip

In the slideshow you can also trigger sharing from the keyboard, without reaching for the mouse – handy when you’re stepping through photos with the arrow keys.

From the image details

1. Open a photo’s details (the Details entry in the kebab menu).

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   The image details gather stats and info – and the share button.

2. Tap the round Share action button. When there are many actions, “Share” sits in the overflow submenu.

3. Depending on the device, the system share sheet or the share dialog opens.

What exactly gets shared: file or link

• On modern phones the actual image file is shared (JPEG; WebP is converted to JPEG automatically). The file name carries the gallery name, not “PhotoGala” – for example annas-wedding-<id>.jpg. Videos and motion photos can be shared this way too.
• If your device can’t share files, only the link to the photo is shared instead. That’s not an error.
• A shared photo link shows a nice preview with an image in WhatsApp, Facebook, and the like, so it’s clear what’s behind it.
• On a computer, the share dialog shows the same Copy Link field as for the gallery – except the link points straight to this one photo.

Share an album or a selection

PhotoGala has no dedicated “Share album” button. Here’s how you still share a sub-collection on purpose:

1. Filter the gallery to the album you want (e.g. “Ceremony” or “Party”).

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   Use the filter to narrow the gallery to an album or a person.

2. Now share the gallery link – via the header share button or the address bar. When the gallery is opened through the album entry, the link carries the album state.

3. Alternatively, just share a single, characteristic photo from the album (see above).

Note

If sharing is missing entirely, it’s probably deliberately disabled – for instance on a private event, so the photos stay within the circle of guests. More on browsing: Browsing albums and Filtering the gallery.

Phone vs. computer

Why sharing feels different on a phone and a computer:

• On a phone: the share button opens the system share sheet (WhatsApp, Messages, AirDrop …). For single photos, the image file comes along. Instead of right-click you use a long press.
• On a computer: the share button and right-click open the share dialog with a QR code, Copy Link, and the WhatsApp / email / Facebook buttons. There’s usually no system share sheet here, because desktop browsers rarely offer that feature.

When you can’t see a share button

Troubleshooting

• No share button anywhere? The host disabled sharing. Enable it under Settings → Features → Photo Sharing (“Let guests share photos on social media”). The plan must also include this feature.
• No round share button in the header, but photo sharing works? The header button is a separate switch and off by default. Use the address bar or photo sharing in the meantime. The host enables it in the header/design area.
• Link leads to the invitation or password page instead of the gallery? The event is private or invite-only. Ask the host for the link/QR from the share dialog (which may embed the code) or for the invitation code. For completely private events, sharing is deliberately not possible.
• “Share…” (native) missing on a computer? That’s normal – desktop browsers don’t offer native sharing. Use the QR code, Copy Link, or the WhatsApp / email / Facebook buttons.
• Message “Still processing”? The image is still being prepared. Wait a moment and try again.
• Share menu opens with only a link, no image? Your device doesn’t support file sharing; the link was shared. Not an error.
• WhatsApp/Facebook window won’t open? A popup blocker is probably blocking it. Allow popups and tap again.

For moderators and hosts

The sharing options are the same for every role – guests, moderators, and admins see the same buttons, as long as the feature is on. To enable it, open the profile menu in the top right and switch to the admin area.

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The profile menu in the top right takes you to Moderation and the Admin portal.

There, turn on Photo Sharing under Settings → Features. The round header share button is enabled separately in the header/design area. The automatically embedded invitation code is a host setting too (privacy & moderation).

Related help pages

• Scanning a QR code
• Joining a gallery
• Browsing albums
• Filtering the gallery
• Browsing the gallery
• Downloading photos