Table of Contents
Sharing an album
Learn how to share an album with coworkers or external users.
26. March 2025
Table of Contents
Video: Sharing an album
For an introduction to sharing albums, watch this video, or scroll below for written instructions.
Controlling access to the album
When you have created an album you can share its contents with others. To do so, open the album using the Albums link in the top banner and select the Share link in the top right corner.
To share the album with other Fotoware users or groups, simply start typing the person's name or the name of the group you want to add. You can also give each person or group access to contribute assets to the album, and/or to download files.
Note: A user can only delegate download rights if they have access to download files in the archives where the assets originate.
Through sharing and delegated downloads, a user can access assets through a shared album that they would otherwise not have access to in an archive.
An example:
- John adds assets from an archive News Feed to a new album Superbowl. John has permission to download assets from News Feed.
- John shares the album Superbowl with Wanda. Wanda does not have permission to access the News Feed archive. John gives Wanda download permission for the album.
- Wanda can view and download the assets in the album Superbowl but has no other permissions. For example, Wanda cannot send them to an action or edit metadata.
Sharing with users who don't have a Fotoware account
You can also invite people without a Fotoware account to the album. Simply enter their email address and set their permissions as usual. They will receive an email containing a link with a special access token that grants them access to the album. An album owner can only do this if they have been granted privileges to share the album with guests.
Did you know? You can copy a whole list of contacts from an Excel sheet or Outlook and paste them directly into the album-sharing dialog.
Private vs public sharing
When sharing albums with a registered user or group in Fotoware, access is restricted to that user/group only - this type of private sharing requires user authentication for access to the shared resource and is the recommended way to share content securely. It is also required to make an invited user a contributor to the album.
Public sharing is used when an album invitation is sent to a person using his or her email address, where the recipient does not have a user account in Fotoware. It also applies when generating a public link to the album or when showcasing an album on the homepage. Anyone in possession of that link can then access the album but with read-only access. Additional download permission can be given when sharing an album publicly this way.
Setting access rights
You set access rights per user or group by clicking on the little triangle on each entry. By simply adding a user or group to the album access list but not selecting Contribute that user will only get view and preview permissions in the album.
| Access right | What an invited user can do |
|---|---|
| Basic sharing permissions (no other permissions ticked) | Only Browse permissions |
| Contribute |
View and Preview, plus: Add new assets to the album (only available for Private sharing, see above) Remove assets from the album (only available for Private sharing, see above) Sort and reorder assets in the album (only available for Private sharing, see above) |
| Download | Allow the user/group to download files from the album |
Notes about the Download permission:
- The owner of an album can allow other users to download assets from the album by sharing it. This requires a special permission set on the group level, namely the delegation of download rights. If this permission is given, the album owner sees a Download checkbox in the sharing dialog for each album. Download permissions can then be delegated when sharing an album, when getting a public link to the album, and when showcasing an album publicly on the Fotoware homepage.
- When an album owner shares an album and delegates download rights from the album, invited users can also download assets, but only so long as the album owner has permission to download the assets from their original archive. In other words, a user may not give permission to download assets that they themselves cannot download.
- If a user has download permission in the archive to which an asset in a shared album belongs, then that user also has permission to download the asset from the shared album.
Adding a message when sharing
If you want you can add a message to the album invitation. Individual users who are invited receive an email with an album invitation. Groups, on the other hand, do not receive email notifications of new shared albums. They will, however, see the album on the Albums page in Fotoware after logging in.
Other sharing options
When sharing an album, you can also create a public link that anyone can access, and it is also possible to showcase an album on the home screen of all users that access Fotoware.