Collections
What's a collection?
A collection is a private space for sharing photos with a particular group of people. Folders are about what you're organising; collections are about who you're sharing with. Nobody sees anything until you invite them.
A few you might make:
- Family, for parents, kids, siblings and grandparents.
- Uni friends, to keep the old stories alive.
- Just us, somewhere private for you and your partner.
- A trip, shared with everyone who was there.
How collections work
- Posts live inside collections, and a post can be in several. Put the Christmas photos in both "Family" and "2024".
- Collections are private until you invite people.
- You decide who can do what: view, add photos, or help organise.
Browse your memories
The same collection, six ways. Switch between them with the controls at the top.
Everything in one stream that reads like a group chat: it opens at the bottom on the newest updates, and older ones load as you scroll up. Your own updates sit on the right, tinted in your highlight colour, and everyone else's on the left, each with its sender's picture and a line saying who added what at its foot. Photos keep their own shape, and when an update holds more than it shows, its last photo says how many more (+N). The heart on each photo and post gives it a lov (with a mouse, it shows when you hover). Under an update come its latest comments, each in a bubble of its own: on the right under your own update, on the left under anyone else's. Yours are tinted and say You. The reply arrow (Reply) under any comment or reply answers in that thread; close the reply box with its ✕ or Esc. To start a new comment, open the photo or post and write it in its details panel. When you come back after a while, a quiet line ("New since Tuesday") sits above the first update someone else added since you last caught up, and if there's more than a screen of new updates, the feed opens at that line instead of the newest. When events are coming up, a line just above the bar says how many there are and how many invitations are waiting for your answer; select it to see the events' cards. The bar along the bottom has Upload media and New post. Upload media turns the bar into a drop area for new photos. Under it, Bulk upload and Swipe sort open the upload page on its grid or one photo at a time, and the back arrow returns you to the bar. New post is a short form for a quick post: pick its type and date, attach photos, choose its collections, or select Full view to finish it in the full post form. Once you've scrolled up, an arrow at the end of the bar (Jump to latest) takes you back to the newest updates; it fills in and reads New updates when something has arrived meanwhile. The best way to catch up on what other people have added.
Every photo as a thumbnail. Select one to open it with its details alongside. The Sort button in the toolbar sets the order: Newest first, Oldest first, Closest to a date (pick the day under it) or, once you've dropped a pin on the map, Nearest the pin. Photos without a date (or, for the pin, without a place) come last.
The number in the toolbar's size control is how many columns the gallery shows (rows, in the horizontal orientation): + adds one, − takes one away, or type the number you want.
The Slideshow button beside it shows the photos one at a time over the gallery, with previous, Play / Pause and next. Slideshow options sets the speed, the transition and Shuffle, and Full screen fills your whole screen (where your browser supports it). The arrow keys, the space bar and Esc work too.
Your memories in date order, so you can watch the story unfold. Turn on Show people to see everyone with a birthday alongside the photos, with lines drawn between people who are connected.
Where your photos were taken, clustered by place. Good for trips, and for noticing where you keep going back to. Click or tap an empty spot to drop a pin; the bar at the top shows its coordinates, and its gallery button opens the gallery with the photos nearest the pin first. A cluster's + count in its preview, or Open all when you right-click it, does the same from the cluster's centre.
Scroll through the months, with birthdays marked. Find that party from 2019. When a day holds more than fits, its + count opens the gallery sorted closest to that day.
The people in the collection and the connections you can see, as a family tree or a grid.
Filter what you see
Filters apply to every view of the collection. Open the filter panel with the funnel button in the header, next to the collection name. A badge on the button counts the active filters, and Clear all filters at the top of the panel resets them. Filters are saved in the page address, so you can bookmark a filtered view or share it as a link.
- Filters. Narrow by content type (media or posts), then by post, event or note type. The Properties row covers the rest: in a collection or not, has a location, has a date, has photos, added by you or by others, tagged or untagged.
- People. Search for people and tick them to see only the photos they're in. The icons above the list choose whether a person counts by Tagged photos, photos they Uploaded, or Both. The AND / OR / NOT switch decides how several people combine.
- Date. Pick a range on the calendar or a preset such as Last 30 days or This year, measured by Taken at or Uploaded at. No date finds the photos still waiting for one.
The view toolbar
Each view has a small floating toolbar with its controls: the zoom or thumbnail-size slider (on a touch screen, just − and + around the value, since you pinch or drag the view itself), actions such as Fit to view, and a View options button (the sliders icon) for settings you pick once and forget. It starts at the bottom centre and stays on screen. When you stop moving the pointer it fades back so it doesn't compete with your photos, then returns as soon as you hover over it or tab into it.
- Move it. Press anywhere on the bar (buttons included) and drag it, with a pointer or a finger. It sticks to the edge you drag it to and slides freely along it; drag towards another edge and it hops across. On the left or right edge it stands up vertically, which suits a tall, narrow panel. The middle of each edge pulls it in as you pass, and Lovd remembers where you left it. A press without a drag is just a normal click, so the buttons still work.
- Or right-click the bar (long-press on touch) and pick a position: Top centre, Bottom centre, Left side or Right side. The same menu has Hide toolbar and Keyboard shortcuts.
- Hide it for an edge-to-edge view. Hide toolbar shrinks the bar to a single ⋯ handle; select it (Show toolbar) to bring the controls back. Each view remembers this separately, so hiding the map's toolbar leaves the gallery's alone.
? anywhere, or choose Keyboard shortcuts under Help in the user menu, to see every shortcut available right now. There's a tab for each open view, and it opens on the one you're pointing at, so in a split layout each panel keeps its own keys.Select several photos at once
Selecting is how you do things in bulk: tag the people in photos, add them to another collection, fix a date, or delete them.
- Hover over a photo in the gallery and select the checkbox in its corner.
- Ctrl-click (⌘-click on a Mac) any photo to add it to the selection or take it out again.
- Shift-click in the gallery, timeline or calendar to take everything between your last pick and this one.
- Press and hold a photo in any view (long-press on touch, or hold the mouse button down). On the map, right-clicking a photo and choosing Add to selection does the same.
- On the timeline, map, calendar and people graph, you can also press
Sand then select photos one by one.
Once something is selected, the toolbar turns into the selection bar. From left to right: ✕ to leave the selection, a running count ("3 selected"), buttons for Add to collections, Tag people and Edit date (plus Group as a burst when only photos are selected, two or more of them, or Split burst group when the one selected is a burst group; only the person who added the photos can use them), then a ⋮ Selection options menu with everything else (edit location, add to a post, create a post from the photos, remove from this collection, select all, clear selection), and Delete at the end. In a narrow window, these buttons move into the ⋮ menu.
Some actions are only for photos and posts you added. Edit date and Edit location are greyed out when anything selected is someone else's. Add to collections and Delete are greyed out only when nothing selected is yours; with a mix, they act on your own items and say how many they leave alone. A greyed-out action says why, under its name in a menu or as the button's tooltip (tap it on a phone).
Deselecting the last photo ends the selection and brings the normal controls back. Esc clears the selection at any point, and Delete asks to delete whatever is selected.
Managing collections
Each collection has its own Settings page. Only the owner can change settings; everyone else sees the collection but not these controls.
Edit a collection
Open the collection and go to Settings (the General tab). Change the name and icon in the General card, then select Update. The Theme card below has sliders for Highlight and Background, which save as soon as you set them.
Delete a collection
In Settings, scroll down to the red Delete collection section, select Delete collection and confirm.
Cover image
A cover photo gives a collection's card a header, so everyone recognises it at a glance.
Set a cover
Open the collection, right-click (or long-press on touch) any photo and choose Set as collection cover. You'll find the same option in ⋮ Selection options when a single photo is selected. The owner and editors can set a cover.
Remove a cover
Open the ⋮ menu on the collection's card and choose Remove cover image. Only the owner sees this option, and only while a cover is set.
The cover is visible to everyone in the collection, even if someone else uploaded the photo.
