Allowing Visitors to Select Their Favorite Photos

Visitors can create Favorite Lists, grouping together photos and videos they love, even across multiple galleries on your site. This is a fantastic way for clients to curate selections for albums, choose images for retouching, decide on prints, or simply gather their top picks.

To support this, visitors can now create a free account on your site. This account allows them to save their Favorite Lists and access them anytime. It also provides them a central place to see all the galleries they've interacted with on your site where they've saved favorites.

Let's dive into how it works!

Enabling Favorites in Your Galleries

First things first, you need to enable the Favorites feature within the galleries where you want clients to use it.

1. Navigate to the specific Gallery you want to enable favorites for.
2. Click on Settings.
3. Go to the Social Features tab.
4. Toggle the Favorites switch to ON.

The Client/Visitor Experience: How They Create Favorite Lists

Now, let's walk through what your clients or gallery visitors will see and do.

1. Accessing the Gallery: When a visitor opens a gallery with Favorites enabled, they'll see your photos and videos.
2. Favoriting an Item:
   • Grid View: When hovering over an image or video thumbnail, a Heart icon will appear.
     
     
     
   • Lightbox View: When viewing an image or video larger in the lightbox, the Heart icon will appear near the top.
     
     
     
3. First Favorite Action: Clicking the Heart icon for the first time triggers the next step.
   

Visitor Account Login or Creation

What happens next depends on the visitor's email address:

1. Enter Email: When the visitor clicks the Heart icon for the first time in a gallery session, they will be prompted to enter their email address.
2. Account Check: Zenfolio uses this email address to check if an account already exists.
   • Existing Account Found: If the entered email matches an existing visitor account on your site, the visitor will be prompted to Log In using their created password. Once logged in, the item they hearted is added to their default list ("My Selections," unless they change it), and they can continue adding items.
   • No Account Found (New Visitor): If no account matches the entered email, a window will appear explaining the benefits of creating a free account (like saving lists permanently across galleries). The email they just entered will be pre-filled. They will have two options:
     • Create Free Account: Choosing this sends a verification email to the address they provided.
       1. They click the "Create Account" link in the email.
       2. They are directed to a page to enter their name and create a password.
       3. Once done, they return to the gallery. A default list called "My Selections" is automatically created, and the item they initially hearted is added to it.
     • Continue without Account: If they choose this, they can still click the heart icon  to mark favorites. These favorites are saved, but only associated with the specific gallery they were viewing.
       • They will not be able to create named Favorite Lists.
       • They will not have access to the central Favorites Dashboard.
       • To see these saved favorites again, they must return to the exact same gallery where they initially marked them. The heart icon will appear filled for previously favorited items within that gallery.
       • They can still choose to create a free account later by clicking the Account icon in the gallery header and clicking “Create Free Account”.

Managing Favorite Lists

Once logged in and a list is started:

1. Adding Items: Visitors can continue clicking the Heart icon  on any photo or video in any gallery (where Favorites are enabled) to add them to their current list.
2. List Indicator: At the top of the gallery, the visitor will see the name of their active Favorite List (e.g., "My Selections") and the number of items currently in it.
3. List Options: A  three vertical dots icon next to the active list name at the top of the gallery allows the visitor to:
   • Switch Active List: If the visitor has created more than one list, they can select a different list to make it the active one for adding new favorites.
   • Create New List: Start a new, separate list.
   • Edit List: Rename the current active list and add or modify its description.

Viewing and Using a Favorite List

Clicking on the list name at the top of the gallery takes the visitor to their dedicated Favorite List page. Here they can:

• View Items: See all photos and videos added to that specific list.
• Manage Items: Hover over a favorited item and click the Heart icon to:
  • Remove it from the list.
  • Add it to a different list.
  • Go directly to the gallery where the item is located.
• Send to Photographer: Click the "Send to Photographer" button. This allows the client to send you a notification along with an optional personal message. This is perfect for communicating their selections for purchase, editing, or album design!
• Edit List Details: Modify the list's title and description.
• Shop This List: If the favorited items in the list belong to galleries linked to a Price List, a "Shop" button will appear. Currently, this allows purchasing à la carte items directly from the list.
• Download: If the favorited items are in galleries where you've enabled downloads (Free or Paid), a "Download" button allows the client to download the selected items directly from their list.
• Return to Gallery: A link in the top left corner allows easy navigation back to the last gallery they were viewing.

The Favorites Dashboard

Visitors can get a complete overview of all their favorited items and lists by accessing their Favorites Dashboard. They can reach this by:

• Clicking the Favorites button in an open favorite list.
  
• Clicking their Account icon and selecting Favorites from the menu.
  

Inside the Dashboard:

• Lists Tab: Shows all the different Favorite Lists the visitor has created.
• Galleries Tab:
  • All Favorites: Displays every single item the visitor has ever favorited across all galleries on your site in one comprehensive view.
  • Individual Galleries: Below "All Favorites," lists each gallery from which the visitor has favorited items. Clicking on a gallery name shows only the items favorited from that specific gallery.

Viewing and Managing Shared Client Favorite Lists

One of the most powerful aspects of the Favorites feature is your clients' ability to share their curated Favorite Lists directly with you! When a client sends you their list (perhaps their final selections for an album, prints they want to order, or images needing retouching), here's how you can access and manage them within your Zenfolio account.

Receiving Shared List Notifications

When a client shares a Favorite List with you, you'll receive a notification directly within your Zenfolio account dashboard.

This notification will typically include:

• A message indicating a list has been shared.
• The name of the client (or their email) who shared the list.
• A direct link to view the shared list.

Accessing All Shared Lists

While notifications provide direct links, you can view and manage all lists shared with you at any time:

1. In your Zenfolio account, click on the Galleries icon in the left-hand navigation menu.
2. Under the "My Library" section, click on Client Favorites.

The Client Favorites Area

This area is dedicated to managing lists shared by your clients. You'll primarily see two tabs:

1. Shared Favorite Lists: This is the default view and contains all the lists currently shared with you that are awaiting action or review.
2. Completed Favorite Lists: This tab stores lists that you have reviewed and marked as complete.

Working with the "Shared Favorite Lists" Tab

On this tab, you'll see a table summarizing all the active shared lists:

• List Name: The name the client gave their list (e.g., "Album Selections," "My Selections").
• Gallery Name(s): Shows which gallery or galleries the items in the list come from. It will indicate "Multiple Galleries" if items span more than one.
• Shared By: The email address of the client who shared the list.
• Message Preview: A snippet of the message the client included when sharing (if any).
• Shared Date: The date the client shared the list with you.

Searching and Sorting:

• Use the Search bar at the top to quickly find lists by entering the client's email address.
• Click on the column headers (Set Name, Shared By, Message Preview, Shared Date) to sort the list accordingly.

Viewing a Specific Shared List's Details

Click anywhere on a row in the table to open the detailed view for that specific Favorite List. Here you'll find comprehensive information:

• Media Items: View thumbnails of all the photos and videos included in the list.
• Item Information: See the filename and the originating gallery name for each item.
• List Details: View the date the list was created and last modified by the client.
• Galleries Used: A list of all galleries contributing items to this list. Each gallery name is clickable, taking you directly to that gallery in your account.
• Client Email: The client's email address is displayed. Clicking on it may open your default email application to easily send them a message.
• Client Message: View the full message your client wrote when they shared the list.

Actions Available for a Shared List

When viewing the details of a shared list, you have several helpful actions:

• Export: Clicking the Export button provides options to easily work with the selected files:
  • Download all files: Initiate a download of the original files included in the list (subject to file availability and storage).
  • Copy filenames to clipboard: Copies a list of all filenames for pasting into other applications (lightroom, spreadsheets, etc.).
  • Export CSV of filenames: Creates and downloads a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file containing all the filenames in the list, useful for batch processing or record-keeping.
• Mark as Complete: Once you've finished processing the client's request related to the list (e.g., ordered prints, finished edits, designed the album), click Mark as Complete.
  • This action moves the list from the "Shared Favorite Lists" tab to the "Completed Favorite Lists" tab, helping you keep your active list tidy.
  • Need to undo? You can typically find the list in the "Completed Favorite Lists" tab and click "Mark as Incomplete" if you marked it complete by mistake.