Galleries

A gallery is a curated, permanent collection of images. Galleries are the client-facing piece of ZenTransfer — public share links give clients access without a ZenTransfer account.

Galleries vs the Browser¶

The Browser is your private workspace where every incoming file is visible — for culling and metadata editing. A gallery is a curated set you deliver to a client through a public share link.

Creating a gallery¶

From your dashboard:

1. Navigate to Galleries
2. Click Create gallery
3. Name it for the client or assignment
4. Save

You can also create a gallery inline from the Browser's Transfer panel (small + icon next to Galleries).

Adding files¶

Three ways:

1. Auto-ingest — enable the gallery destination on your dashboard and select this gallery as the active gallery. Every incoming file (auto-transfer path) is copied to the gallery.
2. Manual transfer — from the Browser's Transfer panel, select this gallery as a destination.
3. Upload directly in the gallery editor — drag-drop files into the gallery page.

Gallery editor¶

The gallery editor has the same layout as the Browser — grid, filmstrip, side panels. Use it to:

• Curate the final set (reorder, rate, flag)
• Edit per-image metadata
• Generate share links
• Bulk-download

Creating a share link¶

1. Open the gallery
2. Click Share (or the Share gallery modal)
3. Choose permissions: - VIEW — clients can browse the grid and preview images - VIEW + DOWNLOAD — clients can also download files (single or bulk ZIP)
4. Set an expiry: - 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 3 months, 1 year, or unlimited
5. Copy the share URL and send it to the client

What the client sees¶

Open the share URL in any browser:

• A thumbnail grid of the gallery
• Click a thumbnail for a full preview
• Three preview sizes available (thumbnail, mid-size, and full-screen)
• Download button (single file or bulk ZIP) — if DOWNLOAD permission granted
• Live updates: if you add files while they're viewing, the page updates automatically

The page is mobile-friendly. No login required.

Renditions¶

ZenTransfer generates three preview sizes for each file — thumbnail, mid-size, and full-screen. The original file is delivered when the client downloads (DOWNLOAD permission required).

Expiry strategy¶

Expired links return a friendly error page; you can extend or recreate without losing the gallery contents.

Revoking a share¶

From the gallery's share settings, revoke the link. The gallery itself is preserved — only the public URL is killed. You can generate a new link at any time.

Multiple shares per gallery¶

You can have multiple share links for the same gallery, each with different permissions and expiry. Useful if one client gets VIEW-only previews and a second client gets DOWNLOAD for final delivery.

Bulk download¶

When DOWNLOAD is enabled, clients can:

• Download one file at a time
• Request a bulk ZIP of the whole gallery

ZIP generation runs in the background; the download starts once the archive is built.

Live updates during the shoot¶

Useful for events where the client is watching from afar:

1. Create the gallery
2. Enable auto-ingest with this gallery active
3. Generate the share link and send it before the event
4. As you shoot, files appear in the client's view
5. Disable ingest at the end of the event to avoid bleeding into other shoots

Branding¶

Galleries display under your ZenTransfer account branding. For deeper customisation, consider this the polished default; a fully white-labelled portal is the boundary at which a downstream tool fits.

Common mistakes¶

• VIEW-only share when client needs files — they can browse but not download
• Expired share before the client retrieved files — extend it
• Wrong gallery enabled as active when ingest is on — wedding files appear in a corporate client's gallery
• Sending the Browser URL instead of a gallery share — the Browser is your private workspace; clients see galleries

Related reading¶

• Client workflow
• The Browser
• Multi-destination delivery