FAQ & Support

There are several ways to create a new gallery:

In your browser

Click on “Create New Gallery” in your gallery overview, enter the preferred name of your new gallery and click on “Create gallery” or press ENTER. You will automatically be taken to the new gallery and you can start uploading your first pictures.

Lightroom

Please be aware that you need to install our Lightroom plugin before.

Mark the images, click on “Export” in the bottom left corner of the library view, select “PicDrop FTP Upload” as your destination and enter the name of the new gallery at the bottom of the page. The gallery is created automatically and your images are uploaded. Check the FAQ for more info about our Lightroom plugin.

Via FTP access

In your FTP program, log into your PicDrop FTP account and create a folder. Ready! The gallery is created with it and you can upload pictures to the gallery at any time via FTP, Lightroom or in your browser.

Don’t forget your gallery settings!

For all three ways, you should remember to check the gallery settings afterward and if necessary set what your client is allowed to see and do in the gallery.

After you’ve signed up for your free PicDrop account there are many ways to upload your images to PicDrop:

Drag & Drop

Simply mark the pictures you want to upload in Apple Finder or Windows Explorer and drag them anywhere in your open gallery. (No need to drag them on the hint field for the “Drag & Drop” upload) Then release your mouse button. Your upload starts immediately without you having to do anything else. You can check the status of your upload on the bottom right.

Use the upload button

In the hint field for the “Drag & Drop” upload you will also find a classic upload button (green). By clicking on it, you can search in your Finder or Explorer and also select several files at the same time.

Via FTP

You can also manage and organize your galleries and pictures via FTP. You will find the login data in your registration mail and instructions on how to set up your FTP program in the FAQ section “How do I set up my FTP program correctly?

Lightroom export

After installing the FTP-Upload for Lightroom, you can also upload images directly from Lightroom or create new galleries and upload images to them. The exact instructions for installing the plugin and uploading your first images from Lightroom can be found in the FAQ section “How do I install my PicDrop Lightroom plugin?

In each of your galleries, you can activate or deactivate all functions individually. You can tailor your galleries perfectly to every client and every project. You are able to do this in each gallery in the upper right corner under “Gallery Settings”.

Appearance

• Layout: Here you define the appearance of your gallery. and how your pictures should be arranged.
• Sort by: Here you select how your pictures are sorted by file name, color flag, capture time, upload time, file type, file size, and image dimensions are available as options.
• Welcome Message: Here you can welcome your customers to their PicDrop gallery or give them specific instructions along the way. The text will always be displayed above the pictures in the gallery.
• File information: Choose what your customers can see when clicking on a single image.
• You can also decide if your customers should be able to navigate to sub-galleries and vice versa.
• PicDrop is available in English and German, here you can define in which language your customers should see PicDrop. If you do not set anything, PicDrop automatically detects the browser language of your customer and then displays the gallery in German or in English.

Functionality

The PicDrop features are for collaborating and communicating with your customers. Here you can decide what your customer can do.

• Downloads: Here you can specify whether your customers may or may not download your original images.
• Picture selections: With the picture selection function you can set specific photos in a gallery. With a click on the blue + at the upper left edge of the picture, the picture is added to a set of selections. After completing an image selection, it must be saved and named.
• Color markings: With the color markers you can very quickly and easily make decisions and assessments with your customers. In the picture overview at the upper right edge of the picture or in the single picture display under each picture, the color marking menu appears and each color can be selected with a single click. The colors red, yellow, green and FINAL are available. (Pro-Tip: Sort the images in the “Appearance” area by color markers and downwards.) This automatically sorts your images in the overview according to color and displays them separately, which makes it extremely easy to filter out favorites.)
• Comments: By activating the comments your customers have the possibility to write comments on each picture in the gallery. The comments will be displayed at the bottom left of the picture and can be created in the same place.
• Customer upload: If you want your customers to upload images to the gallery as easily as you can, then activate the customer upload.
• Print contact sheet: For further coordination, you can also activate the option for your customers to print a contact sheet.

Security

Here you are able to protect your pictures with a watermark and password. But above all, you can specify the address at which your gallery should be accessible.

• Gallery Links: There are several ways your gallery links can look. You can choose between plain & secure link, secure link only, and private. The secure link consists of your PicDrop account name and the gallery name, for example, www.picdrop.com/accountname/galleryname. The secure link is created from your account name and a randomly generated letter and number sequence such as www.picdrop.com/accountname/combinationnumbersandletters, If you set your gallery as private, it will only be visible to you as an account owner and added customer accounts.
• Password: Regardless of the shape of the gallery link, you can create or have an additional gallery password created for each gallery. We generally recommend this additional step to secure the gallery to all users.
• Watermark: To protect your pictures, you can activate the PicDrop watermark function. For this purpose, enter one or more desired watermarks in your account settings, for example with your logo. These can then be selected in the gallery settings.
  Please note: Activating and disabling watermarks for a gallery can take some time. Please be patient while the function is applied before making any other adjustments to the gallery settings. It is also important to know that we do not overwrite the watermarks on your original pictures since we will never change your files. Instead, we put the watermark over the thumbnails so they are protected from screenshots. Even though watermarks are enabled, the original files can be downloaded. Make sure to deselect download as a function in the gallery settings.

Presentation View

The presentation view is a specific way for you to deliver a gallery to your customers. It focuses on the beautiful presentation of your pictures and puts the practical PicDrop functions in the background. The presentation view is available for you in some plans. All features of the presentation view are also available in details in our FAQ.

• Starting the gallery in presentation view: The essential setting for the presentation view is its activation/deactivation.
• Since some of the familiar PicDrop functions are not active in the presentation view, if you would still like to use these functions with your customers, you should activate the switch to Edit View. You can apply this change by entering a 4-6 digit PIN number.
• You can hide red marked images in the presentation view from the gallery, so you can present the best pictures.

Don’t forget to save!

If you have set everything, you can save your settings by clicking on “Apply Changes“. To make sure that your customer gets exactly the settings you expect. Select “Client View” in the top right corner to see how your clients will see the gallery!

Your clients do not need an account or log in.

Nevertheless, there are two different, easy ways to send galleries to your clients.

Directly

Send your clients the direct URL to your gallery – they don’t need to log in unless you have set a gallery password in the gallery settings. This is the fastest, most convenient and most used way.

You can send the address to them by e-mail, instant messenger, etc… Or conveniently via PicDrop by clicking on “Send” in your gallery.

Via client access

You can create clients accounts in your account settings. You can set a password and assign this password to one or more galleries to which your client will have access. Afterward, you point your client to your PicDrop URL (https://www.picdrop.com/your-username). There he/she will find a login field in which he/she only has to enter his/her password. After the successful login, your client will see an overview of all the galleries that have been activated for him/her.

It is important to understand that the client access code has nothing to do with the password of a single gallery. Without a client account, neither your client nor anyone else can see your gallery overview. This overview is reserved for you only. Therefore, it makes no sense to refer clients to your own PicDrop URL unless they have client access.

Please check the appearance tab in your gallery settings. Here you can define the criteria after which your pictures should be sorted automatically.

You can sort your images by…

• filename
• color flag
• file type
• file size
• image dimensions
• capture time
• upload time

The only requirement for sorting by capture time is that you have not deleted these so-called EXIF data from the photos before you uploaded them to PicDrop. Each sorting can also be reversed (e. g. images sorted by file name from Z to A instead of from A to Z) by activating the “reverse order” option.

Arranging images freely

A completely free sorting of your pictures by drag & drop is not yet possible but planned for the future.

Your FTP login data can be found in your account settings.

Setting up your FTP accounts isn’t rocket science and in most cases the same procedure. There are differences in the applications though. We compiled a list of the most common FTP clients and provide you with a step by step guide on how to set them up.

One more thing before you start: if your FTP program has problems uploading using Windows, please disable the option to run uploads in .filepart format. (Applies mainly to WinSCP/Putty)

Cyberduck: (Mac)

• Click on “New Connection” on the top right
• Type in this data:

  Connection type: SFTP (SSH Connection)
  
  Server: ftp.picdrop.de
  
  Port: 22
  
  Username: Your chosen username
  
  Password: Your password

• Click on “Connect”
• Your PicDrop-Account can now be found in your Bookmarks and can be opened anytime.

Transmit: (Mac)

• Click on “Favorites”
• Click the + sign on the bottom edge
• Type in this data:

  Protocol: “SFTP”
  
  Server: ftp.picdrop.de
  
  Username: Your chosen username
  
  Password: Your password

• Click on “Save”
• Double click the just created item to connect to PicDrop
• Your PicDrop-Account can now be found in your Bookmarks and can be opened anytime
  Attention: while renaming and moving files and folders in Transmit there are issues sometimes. This is a Transmit issue, not PicDrops. We are working on a solution.

Forklift: (Mac)

• Click on the star in the “Favorites” menu at the top
• Click the + sign on the bottom edge
• Type in this data:

  Protocol: “SFTP”
  
  Name: PicDrop
  
  Group: Favorites
  
  Server: ftp.picdrop.de
  
  Username: Your chosen username
  
  Password: Your password (leave “Ask” blank)

• Click on “Save”
• Double click the just created item to connect to PicDrop
• Your PicDrop-account can now be opened anytime via the “Favorites” in Forklift.

Filezilla: (Windows)

• Click on  “File”
• Click on “Servermanager”
• Click on “New Server”
• Type in this data

  Server: ftp.picdrop.de
  
  Port: 22
  
  Server Type: SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol
  
  Logon Type: Normal
  
  User: Your chosen username
  
  Password: Your password

• Click on “Connect”
• You can now use the new PicDrop-login via the Server Manager

Explorer: (Windows)

• Enter “ftp.picdrop.com” in the address bar
• Confirm the input by hitting the enter key
• Type in this data:

  Username: Your chosen username
  
  Password: Your password

• Activate “save password”

If these instructions didn’t help you or your FTP client is not covered or not working as you would like it to, write to hello@picdrop.com and we will help you!

PicDrop is an online service that lets you as a photographer create flexible image galleries for your clients in a flash.

You don’t need more than an internet browser and your own PicDrop account. The installation of software on your computer or server is not necessary – but possible.

As a photographer, you store your image data at PicDrop, where it is stored absolutely securely and permanently. Your clients will then only need the address to the PicDrop galleries you have created to view, select, download, etc.

The following file formats can currently be uploaded to PicDrop and displayed:

Picture Formats	File Suffix	Picture Preview?	Download?
JPEG	JPG, JPEG
TIFF	TIF, TIFF*
Photoshop	PSD, PSB*
PDF	PDF
Bitmap	BMP
GIF	GIF
PNG	PNG
MPEG	HEIC	No picture format
–
RAW-Format	File Suffix	Picture Preview?	Download?
Canon	CR2, CRW
Nikon	NEF
Kodak	DCR
Sony (Minolta)	MRW
Olympus	ORF
Fuji	RAF
Pentax	DNG, PEF
Leica	DNG
Phase One	IIQ
Leaf	MOS
Mamiya	MEF
Digital Negative	DNG
Hasselblad	3FR, FFF
Sony	ARW
Panasonic	RAW, RW2
Samsung	SRW
Sigma	X3F
–
Other Formats	File Suffix	Picture Preview?	Download?
Canon (new formats)	CR3	No picture format
Text files	TXT	No picture format
HDR	HDR	No picture format
OpenEXR	EXR	No picture format
Metadata	XMP	No picture format
Lightroom	LRTEMPLATE, LRCAT, LRDATA	No picture format
Capture One	COCATALOG, COMASK, COS, COF, COP, COT, EIP	No picture format
Videos	MOV, AVI, M4V, MPG, MPEG, MP4, WMV, FLV, RM, MTS	No picture format
Graphic files	EPS, AI SVG DWG, DXF	– No picture format No picture format	—  —
–
Please note, errors may occur with RAW formats of newly released cameras, as the camera manufacturers do not publish their RAW “recipes”. However, we try to keep up as fast as possible and display the pictures reasonably correctly. Feel free to write us! (hello@picdrop.com) *We recommend to deactivate the alpha channels so PicDrop is able to show a clean picture preview.

In principle, you don’t really need to worry about it. PicDrop always supports the last three versions of the most popular browsers. These versions include all modern and up-to-date browsers that are currently in circulation and are used by a very large proportion of users. The used browser should, therefore, be compatible with PicDrop for you and your customers.

A detailed list of the browsers PicDrop gets along with, you can still find here:

The desktop version works with:

• Google Chrome version 29 or higher
• Firefox Version version 28 or higher
• Safari version 9 or higher
• and Internet Explorer version 8 or higher

The following browsers can be used in their mobile version with PicDrop:

• Safari iOS version 9 or higher
• Chrome for Android version 70 or higher
• Firefox for Android version 63 or higher
• Samsung Internet version 5 or higher
• and the UC Browser for Android version 11 or higher

On May 25, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was enforced in the EU. This standardizes the strict data protection laws of all European countries and thus ensures an even better and more effective protection of your data as well as the data of your clients.

What changes with the GDPR?

Actually, not much has changed. German legislation on data protection has already been very strict, so the changes are more in the details. The protection of your data has always been an important concern for us, in which we invest a lot of money and effort. Your photos at PicDrop are automatically subject to German jurisdiction and data protection.

What changes for me?

The changes for you can be divided into two areas. The first area concerns your PicDrop account. Not much will change here. We will have revised our data protection regulations at the latest by the time the GDPR is enforced and will inform you in good time. Since your rights as a client are significantly strengthened with the GDPR, this is only to your advantage.

Sharing data? Do we have to do this?

For example, in order to send a newsletter or to debit money for the monthly services from your account, we use other but serious and reliable service providers who support us like any other website. We carefully select these service providers and ensure through contracts that your data is also secure there and that all parties involved are adhering to the high legal data protection standards.

As part of the order processing agreement, we accurately list the service providers we work with and keep you informed of any changes.

Of course, you can use PicDrop under your domain and with your logo etc. If you want, none of your clients will notice that you use our service for your work. You can find more information in your account settings. There you will find the following options:

PicDrop under your domain

With the web integration, you can run PicDrop under your own domain so that we remain invisible to your clients.

For example, www.picdrop.com/maxmustermann/gallery becomes www.maxmustermann.com/client/gallery.

Client login on your site

You can also display the login field for your client accounts (BETA) on your own website. For this, you need knowledge in the area of web programming or some support from your webmaster. This feature is also still in beta and details may change.

No. With PicDrop we want to offer a lean, perfect service for the selection and transfer of image data. Selling images and ordering prints is a very large, complex area that other vendors are already doing well and is not on our agenda.

A PicDrop app is not necessary. Instead, you can use our mobile version and save it on your smartphone as an app icon (see instructions below). This way offers the same features as an app would, but saves us the effort of developing several apps for different smartphone operating systems in parallel. As a photographer, you don’t have to install the umpteenth app either.

Just put the link to your gallery overview or to a single gallery directly on your smartphone with a link. Then you can call PicDrop with a “click” and it feels like an app.

Is there an app for my clients?

Your clients can “store” their galleries on their phone in the same way. Just open your gallery and follow the instructions below for your Android or iOS device.

Instruction: PicDrop-Homescreen shortcut access under Android

Just follow these 4 steps:

1. Open overview or gallery
2. Open the menu at the top right and click on “Add to start screen”
3. Enter a name for the icon and click on “Add”
4. Position the icon on your home screen by holding it down or click on “Automatically add”

Instructions: PicDrop-Homescreen Shortcut access to iOS

Just follow these 4 steps:

1. Open overview or gallery
2. Click on the send icon at the bottom in the middle
3. Select from the options the item “To home screen”
4. If necessary, enter a name and click on “Add”

The vast majority of formats

Of course JPGs, TIFFs, PSDs and most RAW formats are displayed cleanly in PicDrop. An exact list of displayable formats that PicDrop can handle can be found here.

RAW formats

With RAW formats, unfortunately, each manufacturer makes his own type, so that the formats of some manufacturers can lead to color shifts and other effects. This is especially true for brand-new camera models, which we don’t always support immediately. However, we can display most formats without any problems. To make sure that PicDrop can also display your RAWs well, you can simply output them as DNGs in your RAW editing program like Lightroom. This has no influence on the quality of your RAWs.

PSD format

Everything works perfectly fine in 99% of all cases. However, with very complex Photoshop files (.PSD), errors can occur when working with many layers and various layer modes, etc. For example, we recommend to deactivate the alpha channels so PicDrop is able to show a clean picture preview. Flat, simple PSDs without thousands of layers are no problem at all.

With our Studio Account (see prices) this will soon be possible. At the moment this function is still under development and we will inform you as soon as the employee logins are available.

No, unfortunately we don’t offer such a service.

Your clients do not need an account or log in.

Nevertheless, there are two different, easy ways to send galleries to your clients.

Directly

Send your clients the direct URL to your gallery – they don’t need to log in unless you have set a gallery password in the gallery settings. This is the fastest, most convenient and most used way.

You can send the address to them by e-mail, instant messenger, etc… Or conveniently via PicDrop by clicking on “Send” in your gallery.

Via client access

You can create clients accounts in your account settings. You can set a password and assign this password to one or more galleries to which your client will have access. Afterward, you point your client to your PicDrop URL (https://www.picdrop.com/your-username). There he/she will find a login field in which he/she only has to enter his/her password. After the successful login, your client will see an overview of all the galleries that have been activated for him/her.

It is important to understand that the client access code has nothing to do with the password of a single gallery. Without a client account, neither your client nor anyone else can see your gallery overview. This overview is reserved for you only. Therefore, it makes no sense to refer clients to your own PicDrop URL unless they have client access.

In your trial month, as well as plans starting from the Pro-Plan will have three different gallery layouts to choose from. 

1. Grid Layout

The grid layout is the layout that will automatically be used when a new gallery is created. Unless you have changed this in your own default settings. This layout gives your customers a quick, orderly overview of all images. Thus, making it the ideal layout for working with professionals such as picture editors or corporate clients who want to quickly make a selection and get an overview of all images.

2. Masonry Layout

The main difference between the Masonry layout and the grid layout is that the images are displayed much larger and the arrangement is “fluid”. One preview image after the other – this makes the gallery look prettier overall, but it is also a bit more confusing. The layout is therefore perfect for private customers, e.g. weddings, where presentation is more important than selection and quick comparison of similar images. Especially in combination with the large cover picture (also included in the Pro-Plan) your galleries will look much more impressive.

3. List Layout

The list view is intended for fast file exchange between professionals working together on a project. If you’re looking for a file with specific attributes such as dimensions or file type, this view is great for sharing with post-producers or staff who know exactly what they’re looking for and need quick access to it. We recommend that you sort the view in the gallery settings so that the last upload is always on top.

Get the Layouts

You can switch between the layouts in each gallery in the Pro and Studio Plans.
Here you can upgrade to these plans.

You can currently change your logo (account wide), the cover image (per gallery), the text above the gallery (per gallery) as well as the size and type of thumbnails and of course the functions of a gallery. You can also format the description text of a gallery and include Youtube or Vimeo videos.

Tip:
Use the welcome text to show your clients how to set image flags and create image selections or to link to your custom instructions.

Just you. No one else.

To share galleries with third parties, you should always send the direct link to the desired gallery.

In each of your galleries, you can activate or deactivate all functions individually. You can tailor your galleries perfectly to every client and every project. You are able to do this in each gallery in the upper right corner under “Gallery Settings”.

Appearance

• Layout: Here you define the appearance of your gallery. and how your pictures should be arranged.
• Sort by: Here you select how your pictures are sorted by file name, color flag, capture time, upload time, file type, file size, and image dimensions are available as options.
• Welcome Message: Here you can welcome your customers to their PicDrop gallery or give them specific instructions along the way. The text will always be displayed above the pictures in the gallery.
• File information: Choose what your customers can see when clicking on a single image.
• You can also decide if your customers should be able to navigate to sub-galleries and vice versa.
• PicDrop is available in English and German, here you can define in which language your customers should see PicDrop. If you do not set anything, PicDrop automatically detects the browser language of your customer and then displays the gallery in German or in English.

Functionality

The PicDrop features are for collaborating and communicating with your customers. Here you can decide what your customer can do.

• Downloads: Here you can specify whether your customers may or may not download your original images.
• Picture selections: With the picture selection function you can set specific photos in a gallery. With a click on the blue + at the upper left edge of the picture, the picture is added to a set of selections. After completing an image selection, it must be saved and named.
• Color markings: With the color markers you can very quickly and easily make decisions and assessments with your customers. In the picture overview at the upper right edge of the picture or in the single picture display under each picture, the color marking menu appears and each color can be selected with a single click. The colors red, yellow, green and FINAL are available. (Pro-Tip: Sort the images in the “Appearance” area by color markers and downwards.) This automatically sorts your images in the overview according to color and displays them separately, which makes it extremely easy to filter out favorites.)
• Comments: By activating the comments your customers have the possibility to write comments on each picture in the gallery. The comments will be displayed at the bottom left of the picture and can be created in the same place.
• Customer upload: If you want your customers to upload images to the gallery as easily as you can, then activate the customer upload.
• Print contact sheet: For further coordination, you can also activate the option for your customers to print a contact sheet.

Security

Here you are able to protect your pictures with a watermark and password. But above all, you can specify the address at which your gallery should be accessible.

• Gallery Links: There are several ways your gallery links can look. You can choose between plain & secure link, secure link only, and private. The secure link consists of your PicDrop account name and the gallery name, for example, www.picdrop.com/accountname/galleryname. The secure link is created from your account name and a randomly generated letter and number sequence such as www.picdrop.com/accountname/combinationnumbersandletters, If you set your gallery as private, it will only be visible to you as an account owner and added customer accounts.
• Password: Regardless of the shape of the gallery link, you can create or have an additional gallery password created for each gallery. We generally recommend this additional step to secure the gallery to all users.
• Watermark: To protect your pictures, you can activate the PicDrop watermark function. For this purpose, enter one or more desired watermarks in your account settings, for example with your logo. These can then be selected in the gallery settings.
  Please note: Activating and disabling watermarks for a gallery can take some time. Please be patient while the function is applied before making any other adjustments to the gallery settings. It is also important to know that we do not overwrite the watermarks on your original pictures since we will never change your files. Instead, we put the watermark over the thumbnails so they are protected from screenshots. Even though watermarks are enabled, the original files can be downloaded. Make sure to deselect download as a function in the gallery settings.

Presentation View

The presentation view is a specific way for you to deliver a gallery to your customers. It focuses on the beautiful presentation of your pictures and puts the practical PicDrop functions in the background. The presentation view is available for you in some plans. All features of the presentation view are also available in details in our FAQ.

• Starting the gallery in presentation view: The essential setting for the presentation view is its activation/deactivation.
• Since some of the familiar PicDrop functions are not active in the presentation view, if you would still like to use these functions with your customers, you should activate the switch to Edit View. You can apply this change by entering a 4-6 digit PIN number.
• You can hide red marked images in the presentation view from the gallery, so you can present the best pictures.

Don’t forget to save!

If you have set everything, you can save your settings by clicking on “Apply Changes“. To make sure that your customer gets exactly the settings you expect. Select “Client View” in the top right corner to see how your clients will see the gallery!

With PicDrop we would like to offer you a reliable service on which you can depend one hundred percent. We ourselves have seen, used and loved many tools that unfortunately had to stop working after a while because they only concentrated on popularity or great features. Not on how they can finance themselves and pay the next server bill. We do not speculate on one day being bought by an Internet giant for millions of euros. Instead, we want to offer you a great service that you like to pay for. This is the only way to ensure that PicDrop will remain with you for many years to come. Therefore, that’s why PicDrop costs money.

The operation of PicDrop is simple and intuitive, as is the naming of your galleries. However, in some special cases it may be helpful to know which characters PicDrop supports when naming your galleries.

You can use the following characters in your PicDrop gallery names without any problems:

• A-Z (lower & uppercase)
• äöü (lower & upper case)
• 0-9
• _ – ( ) .
• As well as spaces if they are not at the beginning or end of the gallery name

The following characters are automatically converted or reduced by PicDrop into your gallery name:

You enter: & or +        PicDrop changes to: und
You enter in: ß           PicDrop changes to: ss
You enter: á               PicDrop changes to: a (letters with diacritical characters are reduced to the basic letters if possible – with the exception of German umlauts)

All other special characters in the gallery name are not supported by PicDrop and will be removed from your gallery name.

This can have several causes.

Spaces in the file name
Lightroom, Windows Explorer, Apples Finder, etc. cannot filter out files that contain spaces. Before uploading, you should make sure that your file names consist only of letters, numbers, and underscores or hyphens.

Files renamed to PicDrop when uploading
Basically, the files on your hard disk must have the same file name as the files in your PicDrop Gallery and the selection you want to filter out locally. So you should make sure that e.g. Lightroom does not rename the files when uploading.

Missing fill zeros
If additional images are filtered out instead of your selection, this is often due to missing “fill zeros” in your file names. From the beginning, for example, if you filter to “File-2,” Lightroom and Co will display all files that contain the “File-2” section in their names. Unfortunately, this section is also found in other file names such as “File-24”. The result, both files (or even much, much more…) are displayed.

To solve this problem permanently, we recommend naming files from the memory card to the hard disk so that the trigger number always has at least 4 digits at the end of the file. Shorter digits before should always be filled with zeros. So “File-2” would become “File-0002” and the number is always and everywhere completely unique, even when filtering in Lightroom. For example, using this method, the “File-0002” file can no longer be part of the “File-0024” file name, as it was before.

This procedure helps you in many other programs besides Lightroom, including PicDrop.

Capture One
You may be using the wrong search in Capture One. Please use the search described here.

There can be several reasons for this error:

1. Deactivated cookies for you or your clients:
Make sure that cookies are activated in your browser and that your clients have also activated PicDrop cookies for third parties. Access to password-protected areas is not possible without cookies. Alternatively, deactivate the password to allow your client access to the gallery.

2. An outdated web integration on your server:
You are still using an old web integration. Please download and install the latest version of the web integration. You can find the download of the web integration again in your account settings and you can simply overwrite your old web integration.

3. Other installations on your server (WordPress and Co.)
Probably other applications such as the popular WordPress or Drupal, Joomla or a framework are running on your server or storage space. They often save certain addresses like www.yourname.com/gallery etc…. If you or your client try to call PicDrop via your web integration, this application “kidnaps” the entered address and displays error messages instead of PicDrop. To eliminate or exclude these applications as error causes, please change your WordPress or other programs on your server and exclude your PicDrop folder from their functional range. If you have detailed questions, please contact your programmer or system administrator or the manufacturer of the corresponding program to change this behavior.

There can be several reasons for this error:

1. Disabled cookies for you or your clients:
Make sure that cookies are activated in your browser and that your clients have also activated cookies for PicDrop. Access to password-protected areas is not possible without cookies. Alternatively, deactivate the password to allow your client access to the gallery.

2. Completely outdated browsers:
Some clients, especially in large corporations, unfortunately still use completely outdated browsers. The reason for this is usually strict security regulations from the IT department. They like to use “secure” old browsers instead of laboriously converting all computers in a company to newer, modern browsers. We try hard to get PicDrop to work on ancient browsers, but we can’t guarantee it on browsers that are ten years old. If your client might have this problem, simply ask him to use another browser.

3. Very sharp security settings:
Large companies and corporations, especially in the banking, aviation and pharmaceutical sectors, extremely protect their employees’ PCs from external dangers such as viruses or unknown websites with potential traps. This often means that only a handful of websites can be accessed. All other pages, whether news, football or image transfer pages, i.e. PicDrop, will then remain blocked or only function incompletely. Unfortunately, we have no influence on this. If your company or your client’s company is affected, a discreet hint to the IT department will help to put PicDrop on the “Whitelist”.

The following message appears

“Unable to upload because Lightroom cannot ascertain if the target destination exists.”

The reason for this in most cases with incorrectly entered FTP access data and similar. To eliminate the error to 100% we have here a checklist, which you should go through point by point, no matter how funny or nonsense some steps may seem to you.

1. Make sure that you really entered ftp.picdrop.com as the server and not just picdrop.com.
2. Make sure you have entered your username correctly. You can find the username here.
3. When exporting files from Lightroom, make sure you selected “PicDrop” in the “Target Server” section (at the bottom). Please read our installation instructions very, very carefully, as such important details can be quickly overlooked.
4. Please change your password in your PicDrop account settings and then adjust the FTP settings in Lightroom. (Do not forget to save!) This option prevents typing and copying errors.
5. Check if you use unusual special characters like “&” or similar in the gallery name. If so, please try it without this sign.
6. Try to switch your connection from FTP (port 21) to SFTP (port 22), or vice versa if you already use SFTP. Please do not forget to save the settings.
7. Make sure you are not using any form of firewall or programs such as “Little Snitch” that block your connection. Disable these for testing purposes to see if it works without them.

Is nothing still helping?

In this case, it is very likely that your ISP has blocked the FTP Port. This is occasionally the case in public WLANs, in hotels and holiday homes, at airports etc… Or a bad Internet provider. Some providers want to prevent the misuse of “their” Internet connection, but unfortunately also block serious services such as your upload. Please try SFTP and port 22 (see point 6).

An alternative?

Have you already looked for another internet connection or just tested it with friends, colleagues or neighbors? We also recommend that you upload via your browser. This cannot be blocked and thanks to our convenient drag & drop upload this should be very easy for you. If none of this works, just write us at hello@picdrop.com and we’ll see how we can help you.

For problems with very slow uploads, aborts or incomplete uploads etc. we recommend the following procedure:

In the browser:

1. Restart your browser and computer. Very often the problem has already been solved afterwards.

2. Please try uploading in another browser. We recommend in this order: Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Is this working any better?

In Lightroom

1. Please try to change your FTP settings from FTP and port 21 to SFTP and port 22. If this is already the case with you, please try the other way round. In many cases, this should help.

General Information

1. Please check the speed of your internet connection. Unfortunately, it is still the case that even the fastest lines (DSL, cable, etc.) have a rapid download, but the upload speed is only a fraction of this speed. You can find out how this works for you in the contract details of your Internet provider or you can just test it. At speedtest.net you can test the speed of your line and send us the results of the test in case of further questions.

If you have the possibility to test another computer or to test your computer via another internet connection, we can also recommend this to detect the error.

2. Please check the settings of your router, your possibly installed firewall, and possibly installed browser extensions. Does it work better after a short deactivation of firewall and extensions? (Attention: don’t activate again!) If yes, please check the settings of your firewall in more detail. Uploading via a network cable instead of via slow WLAN is also optimal.

3. Please remember, parallel downloads or streams (music, videos etc.) slow down the speed of your upload extremely!

None of these are helping.

In this case, it is very possible that your internet provider has blocked the FTP-Port (21). This is occasionally the case in public WLANs, in hotels and holiday homes, at airports etc… Or a bad Internet provider. Some providers want to prevent the misuse of “their” Internet connection, but unfortunately, also block serious services such as your upload.

An alternative?

Have you already looked for another internet connection or just tested it with friends, colleagues or neighbors?

If you have tried all of the above and your upload still doesn’t work correctly, please send us an e-mail to hello@picdrop.com. Thank you!

Sometimes you may need to enable the “Maximize PSD and PSB file compatibility” option in Photoshop’s Preferences. After that the file will also be displayed cleanly in PicDrop.

Within a gallery, PicDrop automatically scans your images for repetitive behavior in the file names. These name parts, which are always the same from file to file, are then hidden in the image overview. This ensures that only the relevant file numbers are displayed. Your gallery will be clearer and communication with your clients will be easier. Of course, the complete file name is always displayed in the large image view.

If you don’t like the automatic file shortcut, you can simply disable it in your account settings.

You are probably using an ad blocker. Please check your browser for installed browser plugins like:

• Adblock
• Adblock Plus
• uBlock
• uBlock Origin
• etc…

Unfortunately, our tests and reports of users have repeatedly shown that ad blockers can severely hinder the upload. We are still trying to understand this behavior better, because PicDrop of course does not have any advertising. If such an ad blocker is installed on your computer, please deactivate the blocking permanently for the domain picdrop.com. This can often be done with one click.

Then restart your browser. It should work now. If not, you can reach us at any time at hello@picdrop.com.

Not a problem. Under the login form on your account page, click on “Forgot password?” and have a new password sent to you. Doesn’t work either? Write us an email at hello@picdrop.com and we will take care of it.

Too bad! In the bottom left corner of your account settings, you will find the option: “Delete account”. After another click, your account including all pictures will be deleted and you will never hear from us again.

There are four ways to delete a gallery:

1. Open the corresponding gallery and click on the three dots in the upper left next to the gallery name. There click on “delete”.
2. In the gallery overview (listing A-Z), move your mouse over the name of the gallery and click on the three dots in the upper left corner next to the gallery name. Then select “delete”.
3. On the right side of your gallery overview, you will find the same three dots at each gallery, if you move the mouse over the gallery. There, too, simply select “delete”.
4. Finally, you can, as always, login into your PicDrop account with your FTP program and delete the gallery there.

There are four ways to rename a gallery:

1. Open the corresponding gallery and click on the three dots in the upper left next to the gallery name. There click on “rename”.
2. In the gallery overview (listing A-Z), move your mouse over the name of the gallery and click on the three dots in the upper left corner next to the gallery name. Click on “rename”.
3. On the right side of your gallery overview, you will find the same three dots at each gallery, if you move the mouse over the gallery. There, too, simply click on “rename”.
4. Finally, you can log in to your PicDrop account with your FTP program and rename the gallery there.

Please note, when you rename a gallery, the direct link to the gallery always changes. The old link becomes invalid and can no longer be accessed by anyone. If you have shared the link with someone before, send them the new link if necessary. The secure link to the gallery, however, remains and can be accessed further.

To delete multiple images at once, select the images and click on the delete icon in the lower right corner.

To mark several images you can use the selection function or drag a “frame” around the desired images while holding down the left mouse button.

Please check the appearance tab in your gallery settings. Here you can define the criteria after which your pictures should be sorted automatically.

You can sort your images by…

• filename
• color flag
• file type
• file size
• image dimensions
• capture time
• upload time

The only requirement for sorting by capture time is that you have not deleted these so-called EXIF data from the photos before you uploaded them to PicDrop. Each sorting can also be reversed (e. g. images sorted by file name from Z to A instead of from A to Z) by activating the “reverse order” option.

Arranging images freely

A completely free sorting of your pictures by drag & drop is not yet possible but planned for the future.

If you use the “Secure Link” function, you can give your clients or third parties a link to your gallery from the address with the exact structure of your folder and the gallery structure will not be visible.

For example, www.picdrop.com/photograph/client/project/shooting would appear as www.picdrop.com/photograph/PQd4HQ

Someone who only knows this shortened, secure address and has bad intentions cannot simply find out the addresses of your other galleries by analyzing or trying them out.

Of course, you should always protect your galleries with a password that only you and your client know. You can enter it under “Gallery Settings” and select “Gallery Password”. If the item “View sub-galleries” is activated in the parent gallery, your client can, of course, continue to navigate via the navigation on the left side and continue to access parent folders etc..

The color markings, which you can find above each thumbnail in the image overview and below each opened image, are intended to better capture the different stages of image processing or image selection.

For example, you can mark pictures with the color “green”, which you feel is finished, and your client can set them to “final” if he agrees or downgrades them to “orange” if he still has change requests. This is just one example of many ways you can use the color markers.

We have deliberately kept the functionality open because every photographer and every client has his own way of working. Soon you will also have the possibility to label the three colors in your account settings yourself.

If your client adds new color markings to your images or changes or removes existing ones, you will always receive an email. All new selections or changes are listed in this mail. Existing markings that have not changed are not listed there. You can view them at any time in the gallery. The email is always sent 5 minutes after the last color marking.

If you no longer want to receive these emails anymore, you can deactivate them in the notifications section of your account settings.

You’ve probably seen how to filter out your clients’ image selections in Lightroom, Capture One, Photo Mechanic, Finder, and Explorer. The whole thing is not only possible with image selections but also with all color-coded images. (Note: The “Image Selection” function must be active in the gallery settings) combination of Apple-A or Ctrl-A to select all currently displayed images. You have now created a selection from the color markers that you can filter out locally on your PC.

1. Click on the “Export Selection” icon in the selection, bottom right. There you will find the various possibilities to filter the selection in Lightroom or in your Finder/Explorer etc. – without a long search.
2. Optionally, you can save this selection permanently in PicDrop to make it easier to find it again later.

Please continue on your computer with your favourite tool:

The steps in Lightroom

Open the Shooting folder in Library mode

1. Press the ESC key to display the filters at the top
2. Select the category “Text”
3. In the drop-down menu, select “File name” and “Contains“
4. Copy the file names into the search field
5. You will now only see the images that were previously saved in the selection.

The steps in Capture One

1. Open the folder with the images to be filtered
2. Click on “Edit” in the upper C1 menu
3. Click on “Select by”
4. Click on “File Name List”
5. Copy the filenames from the Capture One filter field into the search field, making sure the separators are selected correctly.
6. Click on “OK”
7. The images are now selected. Before you click anything else, you can make a selection in Capture One.

The steps in Photo Mechanic

1. Open the corresponding project folder in Photo Mechanic and press Command+F (Ctrl+F under Windows).
2. Now you can insert the filter text from PicDrop and check the box “Filenames”.
3. Click “Find” and the corresponding images will be selected.
4. Then you can close the search field and start the next steps with the marked files.

The steps in Mac Finder or Windows Explorer

1. Open the folder where the pictures are located
2. Click on the normal search
3. Copy the file names into the search field
4. You will now only see the images that were previously saved in the selection.

In many image editing programs, you can use the file search to display exactly the images of a selection of images from PicDrop. This saves you the trouble of searching for each individual file. Below we will show you how it works.

The steps in PicDrop

1. Open in the gallery the selection that you want to filter out locally or mark the pictures with the selection function (blue plus sign in the picture overview)
2. Click on the “Export Selection” icon in the selection, bottom right. There you will find the various possibilities to filter the selection in Lightroom or in your Finder/Explorer etc. – without a long search.
3. Copy the corresponding file lists to the clipboard.

Please continue on your computer with your favourite tool:

The steps in Lightroom

1. Open the Shooting folder in Library mode
2. Press the ESC key to display the filters at the top
3. Select the category “Text”
4. In the drop-down menu, select “File name” and “Contains”
5. Copy the file names into the search field
6. Only the images that were previously saved in the selection are seen

The steps in Capture One

1. Open the folder with the images to be filtered
2. Click on “Edit” in the upper C1 menu
3. Click on “Select by”
4. Click on “File Name List”
5. Copy the filenames from the Capture One filter field into the search field, making sure the separators are selected correctly
6. Click on “OK”
7. The images are now selected. Before you click anything else, you can make a selection in Capture One.

The steps in Photo Mechanic

1. Open the corresponding project folder in Photo Mechanic and press Command+F (Ctrl+F under Windows).
2. Now you can insert the filter text from PicDrop and check the box “Filenames”.
3. Click “Find” and the corresponding images will be selected.
4. Then you can close the search field and start the next steps with the marked files.

The steps in Mac Finder/Windows Explorer

1. Open the folder where the pictures are located
2. Click on the normal search
3. Copy the file names into the search field
4.  Images that were previously saved in the selection will only be seen

There are two ways to upload images to PicDrop when working with Photo Mechanic.

Option 1 – Export to hard disk

Export the images from Photo Mechanic to your hard disk and upload them from there via drag&drop in your browser or via FTP tool.

Option 2 – Direct export to PicDrop

Of course it is also possible to upload images directly from Photo Mechanic to PicDrop. PicDrop supports direct upload via FTP and thus all programs that offer an FTP upload.

Here are the necessary steps for a successful upload:

1. Select the images to upload

2. Click on “File” – “Upload….” or “FTP Photos as…”

3. Select “SFTP” as uploader and set all necessary file preferences.

4. Click on “Connections…” and set up your connection here. All the necessary details can be found here.

5. Close the connection and click on “Send” in the lower right corner of the main window.

6. Watch how your pictures are uploaded or use the free time to look out the window.

To ensure that visitors of a gallery do not have access to existing sub-galleries, the item “View Sub-Galleries” in the parent gallery must be inactive. Thus no one in the parent gallery can see the lower galleries – and vice versa.

See also: How do I prevent visitors to a gallery from accessing the parent gallery?

In your account settings (“Your watermarks”) you can upload your logo or other graphics and create multiple watermarks with just a few clicks.

You can then select the watermark you want to use in the gallery settings of each gallery, save it and all the images in the gallery will be watermarked in no time. It couldn’t be easier.

Note: the watermarks “only” protect the thumbnails in PicDrop, so your clients can’t take screenshots or steal the pictures in other ways. If you activate the download of the original images at the same time, these are not protected by watermarks, because PicDrop never modifies your uploaded images.

German introduction to our watermarks:

Every smartphone and tablet should automatically display the better, mobile version. To switch to the mobile version, tap on the white menu at the bottom right. There you can switch to the desktop view. If you want to switch back from the desktop view, you will find a corresponding option above the gallery.

To ensure that visitors to a sub-gallery in the left menu do not have access to the parent gallery, the option “Navigation to sub-galleries and vice versa” must be inactive in this parent gallery. Therefore, no one in the parent gallery can see the sub-galleries – and vice versa.

In order to additionally prevent a “clever” visitor from shortening the address of a sub-gallery by one level and still being able to access the parent gallery, we recommend using the “secure link”. This link consists of only one code and does not allow any conclusions on your folder structure. You can find it in the “Send” section.

If you want to send a gallery to your clients, you can either copy & paste the link to the gallery and send it via any channel. Or you can send a mail using the “Send” button within the gallery. Here PicDrop gives you by default a general text, which fits every situation, but doesn’t look very individual.

If you would like to make this text more personal, you can adjust it in the account settings. Open there the point “Your text templates” and click on “Create new template”.

There you will see the standard text in an editor. In this editor you can customize the mail as you like and save it under a name. Beside the (only visible for you) name of the template and the subject the e-mail is divided into 4 areas:

• Greeting and beginning of the message
• Note to the gallery password
• Note on the PIN in the presentation view
• End of the mail and farewell

You can freely edit points 1 and 4 and be creative. It is important that you do not forget to insert the placeholder for the gallery link. All placeholders are already included in our template. However, if you have deleted them and want to insert them again afterwards, you can place them again in the text at any time using the “Insert placeholders” function. Make sure that the placeholders for the “Password” and the “PIN” end up in the respective areas 2 and 3.

You can also freely edit the already mentioned areas 2 and 3. But: It is important to know that these areas are only inserted into your mail when the respective function is active in the gallery to be sent. The sentence “The password is “password123″. (without quotation marks)” is only inserted if a password is active at all. This ensures that you will never forget to send the password for a gallery. PicDrop thinks about it for you. The same applies to the PIN to switch to the voting view. So it doesn’t make sense to put these topics in item 1 or 4. Just keep them separate and leave the rest to PicDrop.

Of course you can create as many templates as you want. Afterwards you can open your templates in the “Share” area of each gallery with one click and save a lot of work with each gallery sent to you. When sending, you can then decide whether you want to send the mail via your own mail program or via PicDrop.

Unfortunately, storing images on Apple mobile devices is not as easy as it is on Android devices. Unfortunately, we have no influence on that. But we want to make it as easy as possible for you and your customers with this guide. Basically we recommend downloading rather on PC/Macs and not necessarily on mobile devices because our preview function in the galleries on mobile devices is good enough and it makes no difference for your customers if they have downloaded the pictures or not, as long as their mobile device is online and you leave the gallery online for them.

Variant 1: Save a single image

1. Open the picture in the gallery

2. Click on the download button
The original image opens.

3. Press and hold on the image and then click on “Save Image”
The image is now automatically saved in your photo roll. You can find and open it anytime via the photos app.

Variant 2: Save all images as ZIP

1. Open the gallery

2. Click on the three dots at the bottom right

3. Now click “load all images as ZIP”

4. Click “more”

5. Select the desired location to be saved
You can also select “Save to files”.

With the iOS 13 update the automatic unpacking of ZIP files is finally supported. In your “Files” section you now find the unpacked gallery folder next to the ZIP file. With one click on it the images can be opened individually and viewed one after the other.

(For all previous iOS versions the following note still applies: Please note, after that, there is a ZIP file in your files. For the further processing of a ZIP, you or your client need an appropriate app to unpack the pictures into the photo roll. Winzip is a free tool that we recommend.)

As long as you want.

PicDrop never interferes with your data. This means: we do not change or delete any data unless you explicitly request us to do so. All galleries remain online until you delete them yourself when you no longer need them.

So neither you nor your clients have artificial time pressure as with other providers.

No.

Your clients only need Internet access and a reasonably up-to-date browser such as Firefox, Chrome or a current Internet Explorer (from version 9).

Definitely. Just open “Gallery Settings”, click on “Security” and define the password your client or everyone else has to enter before entering your gallery.

If you allow it, you can also allow your clients to upload to galleries.

To do this, open the corresponding gallery (or create a new gallery for this purpose) and activate the item “Client Upload” in the “Gallery Settings”:

Then you can send your clients the link to the gallery. They can now upload their own pictures at any time by drag & drop or by clicking on the upload button.

Can my clients delete images?

No. Only you can delete pictures. One possibility to enable your clients to delete is planned for the future.

Can my clients overwrite images?

Yes, as far as uploading is concerned, your clients have exactly the same possibilities as you have with this option and can therefore simply overwrite images of the same name.

Will my clients be able to download their or other images automatically?

No, If you want your clients to be able to download images again, activate “Downloads” in the gallery settings as usual.

Do I get a message if my client has uploaded pictures?

Yes, you will receive an email every time your client uploads pictures.

If a client only receives an error message instead of the desired gallery, this can have various reasons:

1. The gallery no longer exists or has been renamed. Please send your client the current address.
2. Case sensitivity is important when sending galleries. Therefore, you must pay attention to the upper and lower case of the entire address. It is best to copy the link directly and paste it into the mail to your client to avoid typos. Or you can use the “Share-function”. Especially when passing addresses on the phone you should be very accurate. Tip: You can avoid such mistakes and make your life easier by consistently writing everything in small letters.
3. Your clients’ browser does not accept cookies. Please deactivate the password of the gallery concerned or ask your client to use another browser.

We’ll make it easy for you:

• If you pay monthly, you can also cancel monthly. (monthly payments are possible in pro and studio rates)
• If you take advantage of the half-yearly payment, you can cancel semi-annually.
• This means that you can cancel an annual payment with all its benefits every year.

What does termination mean?

Termination means that your contract will not automatically be renewed for the same period at the end of the current billing period. In the event of termination, the current billing period can, of course, continue to be used in full until the end. A pro rata repayment of the current billing period is not poss

No period of notice

You will always have until the last day to object to an automatic renewal, i.e. to cancel your plan. We want you to stay with us because of our great service – not because of a gag contract. If you no longer need PicDrop, you can leave us painlessly at any time and download all your data from us without any problems.

What happens in the event of termination?

Your account will be automatically reduced to the “free rate” at the end of the current, already paid billing period. All your galleries and pictures will of course remain, but you cannot upload any more pictures if you want to use more than 3 galleries or more than 1 GB memory (included in the free rate).

Currently, this is only possible in the studio rate. If you need more than the GB contained there, write us at hello@picdrop.com, and tell us how much storage is needed. We will then quickly send you an individual offer.

This depends on where you live or where your business is registered. We orientate ourselves by the address given by you to PicDrop. Here are the rules:

If you live within Germany, we are not allowed to issue an invoice without VAT under any circumstances, regardless of whether you have a VAT identification number.

If you live outside the EU, you will automatically receive a net invoice, i.e. without VAT.

If you live within the EU (but outside Germany), we can issue an invoice without VAT if you have entered your VAT identification number before creating the invoice. If you enter the sales tax identification number after the first invoice, this rule only applies to all invoices that follow in the future.

If you live within the EU (but outside Germany) and do not enter a sales tax identification number, you will always receive an invoice with VAT. This VAT varies from country to country and is based entirely on your place of residence.

Exceptions to these legal regulations are not possible.

Any more questions? Write to us: hello@picdrop.com.

Unfortunately, this is not possible. PicDrop is a very complex program that we constantly maintain and improve for you. This also includes perfectly adapted servers and the interaction of several functions. A use on other servers is therefore not possible.

Instead, you can use PicDrop with our Web Integration under your domain, so your clients won’t even notice that PicDrop isn’t on your server.

But of course! For every direct debit, you will receive a proper invoice with VAT and you can book PicDrop as an expense at the tax office. You can call up and print out older invoices at any time in your account.

If you change to a higher plan, it is immediately active and any remaining credit will be credited until it is used up. If you switch to a lower rate or free rate, you will keep the rate you have already paid until the end of the current period and will then be downgraded.

After the trial month you are free to choose one of our plans or continue to use the free plan.

If you don’t decide for one of our affordable plans, but choose the limited free plan, all your galleries created so far and all uploaded pictures will of course be preserved. If the uploaded pictures exceed the total amount of data or the number of galleries in the free plan, all exceeding pictures or galleries can no longer be accessed by third parties, such as your clients.

Of course, you can always switch to a Pro Account to continue working without restrictions.

In your trial month, as well as plans starting from the Pro-Plan will have three different gallery layouts to choose from. 

1. Grid Layout

The grid layout is the layout that will automatically be used when a new gallery is created. Unless you have changed this in your own default settings. This layout gives your customers a quick, orderly overview of all images. Thus, making it the ideal layout for working with professionals such as picture editors or corporate clients who want to quickly make a selection and get an overview of all images.

2. Masonry Layout

The main difference between the Masonry layout and the grid layout is that the images are displayed much larger and the arrangement is “fluid”. One preview image after the other – this makes the gallery look prettier overall, but it is also a bit more confusing. The layout is therefore perfect for private customers, e.g. weddings, where presentation is more important than selection and quick comparison of similar images. Especially in combination with the large cover picture (also included in the Pro-Plan) your galleries will look much more impressive.

3. List Layout

The list view is intended for fast file exchange between professionals working together on a project. If you’re looking for a file with specific attributes such as dimensions or file type, this view is great for sharing with post-producers or staff who know exactly what they’re looking for and need quick access to it. We recommend that you sort the view in the gallery settings so that the last upload is always on top.

Get the Layouts

You can switch between the layouts in each gallery in the Pro and Studio Plans.
Here you can upgrade to these plans.

No.

We don’t want to annoy you with emails every month. In your account settings under “Your plan”, you will always find all the information about your current plan and when your subscription will be automatically renewed.

That’s up to you.

You can pay monthly, semi-annually and annually (with more storage space) – conveniently by automatic direct debit (Euro area, except GB and Switzerland) or with your credit card (worldwide).

The renewal of your plan can be canceled at any time.

You will find your invoices listed in your account settings under the menu item “Your invoices“:

You can find the plugin and the instructions in your PicDrop account settings under the menu item “Lightroom“.

The step-by-step installation guide can be found here.

The following message appears

“Unable to upload because Lightroom cannot ascertain if the target destination exists.”

The reason for this in most cases with incorrectly entered FTP access data and similar. To eliminate the error to 100% we have here a checklist, which you should go through point by point, no matter how funny or nonsense some steps may seem to you.

1. Make sure that you really entered ftp.picdrop.com as the server and not just picdrop.com.
2. Make sure you have entered your username correctly. You can find the username here.
3. When exporting files from Lightroom, make sure you selected “PicDrop” in the “Target Server” section (at the bottom). Please read our installation instructions very, very carefully, as such important details can be quickly overlooked.
4. Please change your password in your PicDrop account settings and then adjust the FTP settings in Lightroom. (Do not forget to save!) This option prevents typing and copying errors.
5. Check if you use unusual special characters like “&” or similar in the gallery name. If so, please try it without this sign.
6. Try to switch your connection from FTP (port 21) to SFTP (port 22), or vice versa if you already use SFTP. Please do not forget to save the settings.
7. Make sure you are not using any form of firewall or programs such as “Little Snitch” that block your connection. Disable these for testing purposes to see if it works without them.

Is nothing still helping?

In this case, it is very likely that your ISP has blocked the FTP Port. This is occasionally the case in public WLANs, in hotels and holiday homes, at airports etc… Or a bad Internet provider. Some providers want to prevent the misuse of “their” Internet connection, but unfortunately also block serious services such as your upload. Please try SFTP and port 22 (see point 6).

An alternative?

Have you already looked for another internet connection or just tested it with friends, colleagues or neighbors? We also recommend that you upload via your browser. This cannot be blocked and thanks to our convenient drag & drop upload this should be very easy for you. If none of this works, just write us at hello@picdrop.com and we’ll see how we can help you.

We clearly recommend SFTP. The access data remains exactly the same, only the port changes to port 22. The upload via SFTP serves your own security because otherwise you can transfer your access data unencrypted with every login and every upload and someone else can intercept and steal them if necessary.

You’ve probably seen how to filter out your clients’ image selections in Lightroom, Capture One, Photo Mechanic, Finder, and Explorer. The whole thing is not only possible with image selections but also with all color-coded images. (Note: The “Image Selection” function must be active in the gallery settings) combination of Apple-A or Ctrl-A to select all currently displayed images. You have now created a selection from the color markers that you can filter out locally on your PC.

1. Click on the “Export Selection” icon in the selection, bottom right. There you will find the various possibilities to filter the selection in Lightroom or in your Finder/Explorer etc. – without a long search.
2. Optionally, you can save this selection permanently in PicDrop to make it easier to find it again later.

Please continue on your computer with your favourite tool:

The steps in Lightroom

Open the Shooting folder in Library mode

1. Press the ESC key to display the filters at the top
2. Select the category “Text”
3. In the drop-down menu, select “File name” and “Contains“
4. Copy the file names into the search field
5. You will now only see the images that were previously saved in the selection.

The steps in Capture One

1. Open the folder with the images to be filtered
2. Click on “Edit” in the upper C1 menu
3. Click on “Select by”
4. Click on “File Name List”
5. Copy the filenames from the Capture One filter field into the search field, making sure the separators are selected correctly.
6. Click on “OK”
7. The images are now selected. Before you click anything else, you can make a selection in Capture One.

The steps in Photo Mechanic

1. Open the corresponding project folder in Photo Mechanic and press Command+F (Ctrl+F under Windows).
2. Now you can insert the filter text from PicDrop and check the box “Filenames”.
3. Click “Find” and the corresponding images will be selected.
4. Then you can close the search field and start the next steps with the marked files.

The steps in Mac Finder or Windows Explorer

1. Open the folder where the pictures are located
2. Click on the normal search
3. Copy the file names into the search field
4. You will now only see the images that were previously saved in the selection.

In many image editing programs, you can use the file search to display exactly the images of a selection of images from PicDrop. This saves you the trouble of searching for each individual file. Below we will show you how it works.

The steps in PicDrop

1. Open in the gallery the selection that you want to filter out locally or mark the pictures with the selection function (blue plus sign in the picture overview)
2. Click on the “Export Selection” icon in the selection, bottom right. There you will find the various possibilities to filter the selection in Lightroom or in your Finder/Explorer etc. – without a long search.
3. Copy the corresponding file lists to the clipboard.

Please continue on your computer with your favourite tool:

The steps in Lightroom

1. Open the Shooting folder in Library mode
2. Press the ESC key to display the filters at the top
3. Select the category “Text”
4. In the drop-down menu, select “File name” and “Contains”
5. Copy the file names into the search field
6. Only the images that were previously saved in the selection are seen

The steps in Capture One

1. Open the folder with the images to be filtered
2. Click on “Edit” in the upper C1 menu
3. Click on “Select by”
4. Click on “File Name List”
5. Copy the filenames from the Capture One filter field into the search field, making sure the separators are selected correctly
6. Click on “OK”
7. The images are now selected. Before you click anything else, you can make a selection in Capture One.

The steps in Photo Mechanic

1. Open the corresponding project folder in Photo Mechanic and press Command+F (Ctrl+F under Windows).
2. Now you can insert the filter text from PicDrop and check the box “Filenames”.
3. Click “Find” and the corresponding images will be selected.
4. Then you can close the search field and start the next steps with the marked files.

The steps in Mac Finder/Windows Explorer

1. Open the folder where the pictures are located
2. Click on the normal search
3. Copy the file names into the search field
4.  Images that were previously saved in the selection will only be seen

Your gallery is beautifully trimmed in the Presentation View. The range of functions is reduced to the most necessary to avoid distraction from the most important things, your images. What remains is a pure, beautiful view gallery without annoying sidebar, with impressive, large cover photo, larger preview images, horizontal navigation, large gallery title, bright image view and so on. Only the download function is left if you have enabled it in the Gallery Settings.

The Presentation View is a new view trimmed to a pure presentation. It is perfect for weddings, events and other picture presentations.

The Presentation View is best suited for sending your photos from weddings, events and all other moments where you need the perfect first impression and presentation to the client.

The presentation can be activated in your gallery settings. If this setting is activated, your gallery will be displayed in the Presentation View when your client opens it.

After you have activated the Presentation View in the Gallery Settings, the gallery looks the same as before. To test the new view, click on “Client View” in the upper right corner. There the gallery will appear exactly as your client will see it when opening the gallery.

To allow your clients to hide certain pictures, activate the functions “Allow switch to edit view” and “Do not show red flagged images”. Your clients can now switch to the editing view and highlight images they want to hide in red. These marked images are automatically hidden in the Presentation View.

In principle, anyone to whom you give the direct address of a gallery can also access it. So you alone are responsible for who can see your galleries. We therefore recommend two things:

1. Protect your galleries with a password, especially when it comes to sensitive topics. (weddings, erotic pictures, company secrets etc…)
2. Always use secure links and deactivate the clear link of a gallery if necessary. (What exactly is a “secure link”?)

If you use the “Secure Link” function, you can give your clients or third parties a link to your gallery from the address with the exact structure of your folder and the gallery structure will not be visible.

For example, www.picdrop.com/photograph/client/project/shooting would appear as www.picdrop.com/photograph/PQd4HQ

Someone who only knows this shortened, secure address and has bad intentions cannot simply find out the addresses of your other galleries by analyzing or trying them out.

Of course, you should always protect your galleries with a password that only you and your client know. You can enter it under “Gallery Settings” and select “Gallery Password”. If the item “View sub-galleries” is activated in the parent gallery, your client can, of course, continue to navigate via the navigation on the left side and continue to access parent folders etc..

Definitely. Just open “Gallery Settings”, click on “Security” and define the password your client or everyone else has to enter before entering your gallery.

Just you. No one else.

To share galleries with third parties, you should always send the direct link to the desired gallery.

In your account settings (“Your watermarks”) you can upload your logo or other graphics and create multiple watermarks with just a few clicks.

You can then select the watermark you want to use in the gallery settings of each gallery, save it and all the images in the gallery will be watermarked in no time. It couldn’t be easier.

Note: the watermarks “only” protect the thumbnails in PicDrop, so your clients can’t take screenshots or steal the pictures in other ways. If you activate the download of the original images at the same time, these are not protected by watermarks, because PicDrop never modifies your uploaded images.

German introduction to our watermarks:

Yes, our servers are connected to the rest of the world several times, backed up and monitored around the clock, so that we can guarantee a network availability of at least 95%. In case of failures, you can be sure, it is in our own interest to get PicDrop back up and running as soon as possible.

Your data is backed up daily. Of course, you can also download a complete backup of your data at any time via your FTP access and have the selections, image comments etc. of all galleries sent to you as a bundled PDF. (soon!)

Note: Your data is safe with us. Nevertheless, we do not see PicDrop as a backup solution for you, but as a tool for communicating with your clients. Solid backups are a completely different subject, and as a photographer, you should always keep in mind delimited backups and a solid data architecture. Your pictures are your capital. By the way, the American photographer Chase Jarvis has prepared more information on this topic very well in his blog.

We clearly recommend SFTP. The access data remains exactly the same, only the port changes to port 22. The upload via SFTP serves your own security because otherwise you can transfer your access data unencrypted with every login and every upload and someone else can intercept and steal them if necessary.

To ensure that visitors of a gallery do not have access to existing sub-galleries, the item “View Sub-Galleries” in the parent gallery must be inactive. Thus no one in the parent gallery can see the lower galleries – and vice versa.

See also: How do I prevent visitors to a gallery from accessing the parent gallery?

To ensure that visitors to a sub-gallery in the left menu do not have access to the parent gallery, the option “Navigation to sub-galleries and vice versa” must be inactive in this parent gallery. Therefore, no one in the parent gallery can see the sub-galleries – and vice versa.

In order to additionally prevent a “clever” visitor from shortening the address of a sub-gallery by one level and still being able to access the parent gallery, we recommend using the “secure link”. This link consists of only one code and does not allow any conclusions on your folder structure. You can find it in the “Send” section.

PicDrop GmbH is a purely German company and our image servers are located at various large and well-known providers in Germany. Your data is therefore subject to the strict German data protection regulations.

For the reliable delivery of data (preview images etc.) as well as for dealing with our clients (newsletters, support, credit card collection etc.) we use further, international services and tools from industry-leading companies. It is important to us that each of these companies is contractually bound to the same GDPR obligations towards us, you and your clients.

On May 25, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was enforced in the EU. This standardizes the strict data protection laws of all European countries and thus ensures an even better and more effective protection of your data as well as the data of your clients.

What changes with the GDPR?

Actually, not much has changed. German legislation on data protection has already been very strict, so the changes are more in the details. The protection of your data has always been an important concern for us, in which we invest a lot of money and effort. Your photos at PicDrop are automatically subject to German jurisdiction and data protection.

What changes for me?

The changes for you can be divided into two areas. The first area concerns your PicDrop account. Not much will change here. We will have revised our data protection regulations at the latest by the time the GDPR is enforced and will inform you in good time. Since your rights as a client are significantly strengthened with the GDPR, this is only to your advantage.

Sharing data? Do we have to do this?

For example, in order to send a newsletter or to debit money for the monthly services from your account, we use other but serious and reliable service providers who support us like any other website. We carefully select these service providers and ensure through contracts that your data is also secure there and that all parties involved are adhering to the high legal data protection standards.

As part of the order processing agreement, we accurately list the service providers we work with and keep you informed of any changes.

If you process personal data of your clients with the help of a service provider (e.g. PicDrop), it is a Data Processing Agreement (in the past this was called order data processing or ADV; but in principle, it is the same thing). This data processing must be regulated by contract, which ensures that the service provider (i.e. us) adheres to the rules of the GDPR and also ensures the protection of your data (and that of your clients) if it is passed on to third parties.

The conclusion of such an agreement with us is voluntary. The decisive criterion is rather whether you process “personal data” of your clients (i.e. “information that refers to an identified or identifiable natural person”; §4 GDPR) via PicDrop. According to some experts, this term could already include portrait photos. Depending on the nature of your work, however, this may not be necessary. The deciding factor is always the specific individual case. To find out whether this applies to your work, please contact your lawyer or your photographers’ association directly.

Either way, it cannot hurt to conclude a Data Processing Agreement with us.

You can conclude and print out a Data Process Agreement (DPA) here in your PicDrop. Of course, we offer this agreement independent of your chosen plan and without additional costs.

Of course, you can use PicDrop under your domain and with your logo etc. If you want, none of your clients will notice that you use our service for your work. You can find more information in your account settings. There you will find the following options:

PicDrop under your domain

With the web integration, you can run PicDrop under your own domain so that we remain invisible to your clients.

For example, www.picdrop.com/maxmustermann/gallery becomes www.maxmustermann.com/client/gallery.

Client login on your site

You can also display the login field for your client accounts (BETA) on your own website. For this, you need knowledge in the area of web programming or some support from your webmaster. This feature is also still in beta and details may change.

The web integration and installation instructions can be found in your PicDrop Account Settings under the menu item “Website“.

You can find instructions for installing the web integration. If you have any questions, you can always contact us at hello@picdrop.com.

If your server meets all basic requirements (Apache and PHP support), but still displays error messages during installation, please send us an email to hello@picdrop.com. In this email please tell us your username and the exact address under which your (non-functioning) web integration is located. We will immediately send you a customized web integration that should fix all problems.

There can be several reasons for this.

1. You are using an exotic server that does not run with Apache or does not support PHP. Unfortunately, we cannot do anything for you at the moment.
2. During the installation, you first named the address in the browser and then renamed the folder. Unfortunately, this is not possible and can cause errors. Please delete the folder again, upload the web integration again, rename the folder first if necessary and then move it up via your browser to complete the installation.
3. Have you possibly uploaded your image data to your own server? Note: You must continue to upload your images to your PicDrop space and not to your own server. The web integration is “only” a kind of redirection that ensures that you can use PicDrop with your own address.
4. Complications may occur if you have WordPress or other additional software running on your server. In this case, please contact your webmaster, as we have no influence on this.
5. Still nothing? Write us an email to hello@picdrop.com and we will see what we can do for you!

There can be several reasons for this error:

1. Deactivated cookies for you or your clients:
Make sure that cookies are activated in your browser and that your clients have also activated PicDrop cookies for third parties. Access to password-protected areas is not possible without cookies. Alternatively, deactivate the password to allow your client access to the gallery.

2. An outdated web integration on your server:
You are still using an old web integration. Please download and install the latest version of the web integration. You can find the download of the web integration again in your account settings and you can simply overwrite your old web integration.

3. Other installations on your server (WordPress and Co.)
Probably other applications such as the popular WordPress or Drupal, Joomla or a framework are running on your server or storage space. They often save certain addresses like www.yourname.com/gallery etc…. If you or your client try to call PicDrop via your web integration, this application “kidnaps” the entered address and displays error messages instead of PicDrop. To eliminate or exclude these applications as error causes, please change your WordPress or other programs on your server and exclude your PicDrop folder from their functional range. If you have detailed questions, please contact your programmer or system administrator or the manufacturer of the corresponding program to change this behavior.

You have managed to install the web integration on your server. The gallery overview can easily be called up via the new address (www.yourname.com/picdrop/), but when you call up individual galleries via their addresses (www.yourname.com/picdrop/gallery), your website only spits out errors.

The solution is very simple: please also upload the file “.htaccess”, which is included in the ZIP of our web integration. It seems to be missing.

Unfortunately, uploading this file is often forgotten as it is not displayed on many PCs. Some operating systems view the .htaccess file as part of their system files and therefore hide it. If you can’t find the file, show the “hidden files” (or similar) in the settings of your operating system or your FTP program. After that, you can also see the .htaccess file and upload it to your PicDrop folder.

If that doesn’t work or you need help, you can reach us anytime at hello@picdrop.com.

We know the problem of users whose website is hosted by Host Europe.

Please send us an email to hello@picdrop.com. In this mail please give us your username and the exact address under which your (not working) web integration is located, e.g. www.mypage.de/clients.  We will immediately send you a customized web integration that should fix all problems.

All you need to do is unpack this new web integration to your hard disk and select the folder contained in the FTP program as a whole, upload it and overwrite the old folder on your server.

With a permanent client access, we offer you a second option to send pictures to your clients.

In contrast to the direct gallery address that you previously sent to your clients, you can create fixed, permanent logins for your clients here. You can now add new galleries to these logins or remove them at any time. Your client can enter his personal client access login at picdrop.com/your-user name/ in a large login field and then will see all galleries that you have released for their client access in a very personal gallery overview.

Client access is particularly useful if you work with a client over a longer period of time. This can be a single project or years of cooperation with a regular client. Furthermore, you can give access to a specific part of your PicDrop archive via the client accounts, which you do not want to make public but would like to show on request.

If you have decided to enable your customer’s access to PicDrop, you can allow this in your account settings within the client login BETA section.

Enter the name and a clear, unambiguous access code that your customer can use to open the account later. Additionally, you can also leave an e-mail address and an internal note for yourself. The e-mail address is currently not used, but optional automatic notifications to your customers are planned for a later version, so it makes sense to store them now.

You have now created the client login, but have not yet added a gallery to the login.

Please click on “Add/remove galleries” and select the galleries your customer is allowed to see after entering their password.

ATTENTION: Please also read our other client login notes, which describe why they are in a BETA-stage and do not necessarily make sense for all your customers. Click here for more information.

No. The client login is just an additional way to send pictures to your clients. In 95% of all cases, the fast, uncomplicated way to send a gallery to your client is via the gallery URL or by using the “Send” function.

This difference is very important.

The password of a gallery, set and activated in the gallery settings, is there to protect your gallery from possible unwanted visitors. If it is activated, your client must enter it when calling up the direct link to the respective gallery. Only then are the pictures of this one gallery are visible.

With a client login, however, your client can use a password to access an overview of all galleries that have been activated for them. You can create such login codes in your account settings. There you can also change the client login at any time or add or remove galleries to a client login. The advantage, your client does not need the latest, direct link to a new gallery every time, but logs in with his client login and automatically sees all new images available for him. It is planned that your client will be notified automatically when new galleries are available for him, but it is currently still necessary that you inform him directly.

At the moment we are unfortunately not yet very good at communicating the difference between these two ways directly in the tool. The reason for this is that the client login function is currently not yet final but rather in beta status. We improve it every week based on user feedback and only when we are 100% satisfied with the result will we officially introduce this function.

Currently you have to send the client login “manually”. For the future we are planning an automatic dispatch to the stored email address.

No, not yet. But soon.

Currently, sub galleries are automatically included if this is set in the gallery settings of the added gallery. In the future, however, we will change this so that each gallery must be explicitly added to a client login, even if they are sub-galleries. This will make it easier to understand. As soon as there are changes here, we will of course inform you in time.

When galleries are sent directly to clients without a secure link, the “navigation from sub-galleries and vice versa” are available. The function in the settings of the original gallery controls whether their sub galleries are visible. If this function is activated, the client can view all sub-galleries from an original gallery and pull them up with a click. Of course, this also means that they have to be able to navigate up to the parent gallery again from a lower gallery. To put it simply: a staircase that you can walk down from the ground floor into the basement must also be able to walk up again. If you now want the client to be able to navigate from there, you must deactivate the function “Navigation to sub-galleries and vice versa” in the parent gallery. Thus no one in the parent gallery can see the sub-galleries – and vice versa.

Update: These settings are still effective if e.g. only one single sub-gallery is released by a client login and the client came directly into the sub-gallery. This point and a few less important points are the reason why client logins are currently still “BETA”. In the future, we will change this function so that every single gallery has to be explicitly added to a client login, even if it is a sub-gallery. Also, the permission settings of top galleries will then be ignored at client logins. This will make it easier to understand.

PicDrop is an idea by designer Tobias Friese and photographer Andreas Chudowski. In 2012 they started PicDrop to finally offer photographers a smart tool for their image transfer. Wanna know more? Check out our About page or send us an email at hello@picdrop.com.

All news about updates to PicDrop etc. can always be found in our Blog, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
As a registered PicDrop user, we will of course also keep you informed by e-mail.