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A client can't open their gallery

Work down this list. It is ordered by how often each is the answer.

Ask which. "The link does not work" very often means "I got in and it will not let me save anything". That is a different problem with a different answer. Skip to the download section below if so.

1. Has the expiry date passed?​

By far the most common cause of a link that worked and then stopped.

If you set an auto expiry date, the gallery goes offline when it passes. Your client sees a page saying the gallery has expired. Shortly afterwards the gallery moves to Unlisted and the link stops loading.

Check Auto expiry under Settings → Sharing. If that is it, publish the gallery again. Publishing clears an expiry date that has already passed, so you do not trip over it a second time. A date still to come is left alone.

Unlisted means offline. It does not mean "hidden but reachable", which is what the word suggests elsewhere.

If it is unlisted, publish it.

3. Was it ever published?​

A draft gallery is not reachable. Creating and uploading is not the same as publishing.

Check the address they are using against the gallery's actual link. Common causes:

  • The gallery's address was edited under Settings → Sharing after you shared it
  • They are using an old link from a previous gallery
  • The link was broken across two lines in a message and they only copied half

Send them a fresh link rather than working out what is wrong with theirs.

5. Is there a password they don't have?​

Three separate gates live on the gallery's Settings → Access. Any of them stops someone who was not told about it:

  • Gallery password, which everyone with the link needs
  • Client access, a second, private password just for your client, chosen on the first screen
  • Email registration, which asks every visitor for an email before letting them in

Check which are on. It is easy to add protection and forget to tell anyone. See Passwords and access.

6. Did your CoreHue URL change?​

Changing it breaks every link you have ever sent. If you changed it lately, that is your answer, and every client with an old link is affected.

7. Is your subscription active?​

A locked account takes every client-facing page offline. The client sees a page saying it cannot be found, and is not told why. See Plans and free trial.

The download PIN. Every new gallery has a four-digit PIN switched on. Without it nothing downloads, one photo or the whole set. Find it under Settings → Downloads, send it to them, or switch it off.

Downloads are off, or off for that chapter. Allow downloads is a gallery-wide switch, and when a gallery has more than one chapter you can also turn downloads off chapter by chapter.

They are waiting for an email. Preparing a whole-gallery download gives them the files on the page they are already on. Nothing is emailed. If they closed that tab, they need to prepare it again. A prepared download stays available for 48 hours, and the page offers Request again once it runs out.

They only took the first part. A large gallery arrives as a list of parts, and nothing downloads on its own. If they say some photos are missing rather than all of them, send them back to the page to click every part.

If some photos are missing​

Hidden chapters. A chapter switched off under Settings → Sharing disappears for everyone.

Client-only chapters. A chapter kept for client access is invisible to anyone who came in as a guest, including your client if they used the wrong password.

Checking it yourself​

Open the link in a private or incognito window. That shows exactly what your client sees, signed out, with none of your own access.

Ten seconds, and it settles most of this list immediately.

Avoiding it​

Be careful with expiry dates. If you use them, say the date in the email so clients download in time.

Do not edit a gallery's address after sharing it.

Send the passwords and the PIN in the same message as the link. The gallery email can carry them for you: the send screen's Include in email offers Contact password and Download PIN.

Check the link before sending, in a private window.

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