Using Collections to Get Around the Zenfolio Archive Limitations

I think I found a a workaround help keep your photos live on zenfolio and avoid everything ended up in the archive abyss.

Jump to How To

 

Backstory


At some point, zenfolio added a "collections" tool. This allowed you to upload an image once to a "gallery", and then add it to multiple "collections".

Say I had photos from a Cal Football game. I could:

Upload Image to Cal Football vs XYZ Gallery

From there I could Select All

Add to "Cal Football" collection

Add to "College Football" collection

and if there were any particularly great images, I could select just those images

Add to "Portfolio" collection

This seemed genius - because the price list on the original image would apply across all galleries. And is a feature PhotoShelter still uses where one image can be included in multiple galleries.

It was also zenfolio's method for saving storage. Instead of having to pay for that image to be uniquely uploaded multiple galleries, it would be uploaded once and then just "pointed" to the different collections.

KLC ƒotos used collections so that a photographer could upload their gallery to their personal folder, but then they could add those images to a collection in various client folders.

We could have 4 photographers cover a game, they would all upload to their unique gallery, but then add to one big collection of all the images.

This all worked great until the archive "tool" came around.

 

Now, any image in a collection, that has been added from a gallery which has since been archived, is no longer visible AND (this is the real problem) can only be restored from the gallery. Therefore, our entire Cal Athletics folder, compromised of collections populated from various photographer's galleries, just looks empty.

Clients can't restore on their end (because they can't see what galleries the collection was populating from)

Even when the images are restored, the cover album of the collection is not restored.

Zenfolio used collections as a way to save space on storage, now they use the "archive" to save even more space on storage costs, but I have a method that makes it all kind of backfire.

Here's how you can use the Collections feature to make sure your images do not archive but your site organization remains.

How To

1) Create one or more bucket Galleries

2) Create a Gallery Named "Incoming"

3) Create a Collection with what you would otherwise name the gallery (ex: 2024-09-14 Cal Football)

4) Upload images to the "Incoming" gallery

5) Select All --> Add to the Collection you created

(Optional) --> Set price list

6) Select All --> Move to one of your bucket galleries

And here you would move the images out of your "Incoming" gallery, to an all-encompassing bucket gallery that won't archive, either because you are updating it frequently enough, or because you've set it as one of your 20 that does not update.

Your encompassing bucket galleries might be chronological, say by year

2024 - 2023 - 2022 - 2021

Although if you have an archive of over 20 years like me, you'll max out your 20 galleries limit 

Your encompassing bucket galleries might be by genre.

I've broken mine down into

Portrait - Action (with individual bucket galleries for the sports I cover regularly MLB/NBA/NFL) - Event - Travel - Personal - MISC

 

How/why exactly does this work?

Collections don't archive only galleries

Bucket galleries are either updated within a year or part of your 20 galleries count

Collections can be individually downloaded - for whenever you need to access/move photos

 

Check It

This still might be a heavy lift if your galleries are currently archived

Check In

Any other ideas for managing the archive abyss?


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Hello! I am a photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I primarily photograph sports (action, events, and portraits) ... and my feet.

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