Question 1

What is Picspace?

Accepted Answer

Picspace is where professional photos are delivered — and where they stay findable, years later. It is for everyone who has to get photos to people and find them again: photographers delivering a shoot, agencies collecting from several photographers, and organisations such as clubs, companies and press offices building an archive.

Deliver: a gallery or one portal per client, with access and download control.
Find: search by keyword, face or what is in the frame.
In the EU: stored in Frankfurt, operated from Vienna.

Question 2

Do I need an account to try it?

Accepted Answer

No. Drop your photos at picspace.io/get-started and see your grid instantly. You only need an account when you're ready to share or save your work.

Question 3

Where do the photos I dropped before signing up go?

Accepted Answer

Into a new gallery in your account, and you land on it straight away. The first few are there at once; the rest keep arriving while you look — the gallery says “Saving your photos” with how many are done, and you can leave the page in the meantime. Photos over the limit before sign-up are marked “After sign-up” and upload into the same gallery as soon as your account exists, as long as you stay in that tab.

Question 4

Is Picspace free?

Accepted Answer

Yes — the Free plan costs nothing, needs no card and is the whole of Picspace: search, sharing, invite-only and password-protected galleries, client comments and ratings, and your portfolio.

Paid plans add volume (more photos a month, more storage), team seats, and the features that cost us to run:

Studio: choosing your portfolio address, your own address for galleries and portals, ratings analytics, AI enhancement with your own OpenAI key, the blur filter
Professional: face tagging, full analytics, SFTP
Agency: video review

Question 5

What do I see when I sign in?

Accepted Answer

Your home adapts to who you are. As a photographer it's a launchpad — recent galleries, your plan usage at a glance, and quick links to your portfolio, sharing, and settings. A client you've invited gets their own home instead: every gallery shared with them, in one searchable place.

Question 6

What file formats are supported?

Accepted Answer

In the browser: JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF and HEIC/HEIF. Over SFTP upload you can also send TIFF and the major RAW formats (ARW, NEF, CR2, CR3, DNG, RAF, RW2), stored as-is with their EXIF; ZIP import also takes TIFF. On Agency and Enterprise plans you can also upload videos as MP4, MOV or M4V in the browser.

Question 7

What happens if I upload a photo that is already there?

Accepted Answer

Picspace never stores the same file twice, and never adds a different file with the same name without asking.

Identical file: Picspace compares the exact contents and skips the copy — no extra storage.
Same name, different file (a re-export, say): before the upload starts you choose “Skip”, “Replace” or “Keep both”, per file or for the rest of the batch.
“Replace” puts the new file in the old one’s place, keeping its galleries, cover, ratings and comments.

Uploads over SFTP and through an upload link have nobody to ask, so they keep both.

Question 8

Can I upload directly from my camera?

Accepted Answer

Yes, over SFTP — included in the Professional, Agency and Enterprise plans, not an add-on. A camera with built-in FTP, or a tool such as FileZilla or Cyberduck, sends photos straight into Picspace while you shoot.

Switch it on in Settings under “SFTP Upload”.
To send into one gallery, open its Settings → “SFTP Upload” and choose “Set up SFTP upload” — the gallery gets its own login.

Photos sent with your main login are grouped into galleries by when they were taken.

Question 9

Can my team upload to the same gallery?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on Professional and above: invite second shooters or team members to a gallery and they upload straight into it — in the browser, or over SFTP with the gallery’s own login — without access to the rest of your account. Professional includes 3 team members, Agency 6 and Enterprise unlimited; on Agency and Enterprise they can upload videos and new versions too.

Question 10

Can I import from Google Drive, a ZIP or Instagram?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on Import. “ZIP archive import” takes any ZIP of photos — Instagram, Facebook and WeTransfer exports included — and Google Drive connects with read-only access and imports the photos in your Drive in one go. Either way they land in a new private gallery, photos already in your library are skipped, and the import counts towards your plan’s monthly photo allowance. Videos and other files in a ZIP are left out.

Question 11

Can I bring a whole folder archive — from Picdrop or my disk — into a portal?

Accepted Answer

Yes — on Import, drop the archive’s top folder onto “Import a folder tree” (or press “Choose folder”) and it becomes a portal:

folders of folders become its collections
folders of photos become galleries in them

You see the whole tree with its counts before anything is sent, and “Import folder” starts the upload. Dropping the same folder again adds only what is new. RAW files are left out — cull them in Picspace Cull first.

Question 12

Can other people send photos into my gallery?

Accepted Answer

Yes — open an upload inbox on any gallery and share the link. Anyone who has it can add photos without an account, and you can set an end date and a limit per person. Their photos land in that gallery and count towards your plan, not theirs.

Question 13

Who can see the photos sent to my upload link?

Accepted Answer

You can, and each sender sees only their own. People uploading through the same link never see each other’s photos. In the gallery you can filter by who sent what, and that view is only for you and your team — clients you invite to the gallery never see the sender list.

Question 14

What is Picspace Cull?

Accepted Answer

A culling tool that runs in your browser at /cull. Open a shoot folder, flag keepers and rejects with the keyboard (P keeps, X rejects, 0–5 set stars), then hand the keepers over to a gallery in one step. It reads RAW straight off the card, so there is no import step first.

Question 15

Are my photos uploaded while I cull?

Accepted Answer

No. Culling happens entirely on your machine — the folder is read locally and nothing leaves it. Photos are only uploaded at the end, when you hand the keepers over to a gallery, and only the keepers.

Question 16

Do I need an account to cull?

Accepted Answer

No. Culling works before you sign up — open a folder and start. You only need an account at handover, when the keepers become a gallery you can share.

Question 17

Which files can I cull?

Accepted Answer

RAW from every major system (ARW, CR2, CR3, NEF, RAF, RW2, ORF, DNG, SRW, PEF), plus JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF and HEIC/HEIF — so iPhone shoots and Canon HIF work too.

Question 18

Can I use my ratings in Lightroom afterwards?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Picspace writes .xmp sidecars next to your files using Lightroom's convention — rejects as Rating -1, keepers as 0–5 stars, plus colour labels — so Lightroom and Capture One pick them up when you import.

Question 19

Can Cull find the blurry frames for me?

Accepted Answer

Yes — open the Filter menu and choose “Blurry only” (B), or “Hide blurry” (Shift+B) to see only the usable ones. Cull scores every frame on your own machine while you work, so nothing is uploaded for it, and it is free on every plan. Flagged frames show a “Blurry” label, and nothing is rejected for you: press X on the ones you agree with.

Question 20

How does Cull decide a frame is blurry — and can I make it stricter?

Accepted Answer

A frame is flagged when it is very soft on its own or far softer than the rest of the folder, so a dim shoot is judged against itself. To change how strict it is, reopen the Filter menu while “Blurry only” or “Hide blurry” is on and move Sensitivity from “Only clearly blurry” to “Also slightly soft” (“Balanced” is the default). Cull remembers it on this computer.

While scoring is still running, the Filter button shows a percentage; frames not scored yet are never flagged.

Question 21

How does Picspace handle RAW+JPEG pairs?

Accepted Answer

Turn on “Stacks” (G) and a RAW and its JPEG appear as one card, so you judge each shot once. The same stack also catches a file copied in twice, and burst frames that look alike and were shot within seconds of each other.

The arrow beside “Stacks” sets “How alike” (Strict, Normal, Loose) and “Shot within” (1, 3 or 10 seconds).
S opens or closes a stack, V compares its frames side by side.
Shift+K keeps the selected frame and rejects the rest of the stack.

Question 22

How do I create a gallery and add photos to it?

Accepted Answer

On Galleries, choose “New gallery”, type a name and press Enter. Then open it and drop photos onto the page or use “Upload”, or select photos you already have in Photos and choose “Add to gallery”. Who can open a new gallery follows “Default access” under “New gallery defaults” in Settings; change it for one gallery in its Settings → Access.

Question 23

What is the difference between “Remove from gallery” and “Delete”?

Accepted Answer

“Remove from gallery” takes a photo or video out of one gallery; “Delete” removes it from your whole space and cannot be undone.

Remove: it stays in your space and in every other gallery it is in.
Delete: it is gone from this gallery and every other one.

With “Delete photos” on several at once, Picspace asks first with the number, then reports what was deleted and what was skipped — a team member can delete only their own uploads.

Question 24

How do I find the blurry photos in a gallery?

Accepted Answer

On Studio and above, open the gallery, choose Filters and, under Sharpness, “Blurry only” — or “Review blurry photos” in the gallery’s ⋮ menu; “Hide blurry” shows only the usable ones. Photos are scored when they are uploaded, older ones the first time you open Filters. Clients never see the filter or the labels, and videos are never flagged.

Question 25

How strict is the blur filter, and can I change it?

Accepted Answer

A photo counts as blurry when it is very soft on its own or far softer than the rest of that gallery, so a dim indoor shoot is judged against itself. Sensitivity under Sharpness goes from “Only clearly blurry” to “Also slightly soft” (“Balanced” is the default). The space owner can choose “Save as default for this space”; a team member’s change applies only to their own view.

Question 26

Does the blur filter delete anything?

Accepted Answer

No — nothing is deleted for you. Select photos and choose “Keep — not blurry” to stop them being flagged (Undo is on the message), or “Delete photos”, which asks first and removes them from your space. Team members can use the filter too, and delete only their own uploads.

Question 27

What are collections?

Accepted Answer

Collections organise the galleries on one client portal, like folders on a computer — a league holding its clubs, a club holding its action and team photos. A collection belongs to one portal, a gallery can be in several of that portal’s collections, and putting a gallery in one also puts it on the portal. Deleting a collection never deletes a gallery.

Question 28

How do I create and arrange collections?

Accepted Answer

You make and arrange them on the portal page itself:

“New collection” makes one where you are, “New gallery” makes a gallery there.
The ⋯ on a folder moves, renames or deletes it.
“Collections” in the header arranges the whole tree.
“Collections” on a gallery in the list view — or “Collections…” for several selected — puts galleries in them.

On your galleries page, pick the portal in the filters and choose “Group” → “By collection” to see the same structure.

Question 29

How do I move galleries — or a whole collection — into another collection?

Accepted Answer

In the portal’s list view, tick galleries, collections or both and choose “Move to…”: they leave the place you are in and go into the collection you pick, and “Undo” moves them back. Or drag a row by its handle onto a collection’s row or a name in the list on the left; hold ⌥ (Alt) to add a gallery to a second collection instead of moving it. “Collections…” adds without taking out.

Question 30

How do my clients browse collections?

Accepted Answer

As folders, when the portal’s “Grouped view” is on. A client opens one by clicking it or its name in the list on the left, and goes back up with the path above the list (“All galleries” › …) or the browser’s Back. The list on the left can be resized by dragging its edge or hidden with ⌘B — “Show sidebar” brings it back.

Question 31

Can my clients sort the galleries on a portal?

Accepted Answer

Yes, when search is on for the portal. The button beside the search sorts the list by “Date created”, “Last added” (when photos last went in) or “Shoot date” (when the photos were taken), “Newest” or “Oldest”. Galleries without a shoot date stay at the end. The portal opens in your own order again next time, and the × on “Sorted: Newest” (or “Sorted: Last added”, “Sorted: Shoot date”) goes back to it.

Question 32

Can a collection have its own cover or banner?

Accepted Answer

Yes. A folder shows its galleries’ covers until you choose “Choose cover…” on the folder’s ⋯ to show one photo instead. “Choose banner…” gives a collection a banner above its path, positioned with “Adjust position”.

Question 33

Can someone run my space for me?

Accepted Answer

Yes — invite a manager in Settings → Managers (Professional and above; a manager takes one team seat). The picker shows exactly what they can and can’t do before you send, and they see it again before choosing “Accept & manage”.

Can: upload, organise and delete photos and galleries, share galleries and portals, invite team members and viewers, edit the portfolio and settings, see the plan, usage and invoices.
Can’t: transfer or delete the space, change the plan, payment details or invoices, connect or remove the OpenAI key, use your SFTP login (they get their own), invite other managers.

Question 34

What can a team member do — and not do?

Accepted Answer

A team member works inside the galleries they are invited to, and nothing more. When you add someone, the picker shows this before you send.

Can: upload photos and videos into those galleries (also by SFTP), edit and remove their own uploads.
Can’t: edit or remove other people’s photos, share galleries or invite people, see billing or the space’s settings.

To hand someone the whole space, invite a manager instead.

Question 35

What can I search for — keywords, colours, cameras?

Accepted Answer

Titles, captions, descriptions, keywords, file names and places, plus what is visible in a photo — objects, settings and colours described in plain words. People you have tagged are searchable by name on Professional and above. Add NOT to leave something out (Schulball NOT Handball), and open Filters to narrow by “Keywords”, “Color”, “Camera”, “City”, “Country” or “Date taken”. To find photos that look alike, right-click one and choose “More like this”.

Question 36

How does visual similarity search work?

Accepted Answer

Type a visual description — "red jersey indoor sports" or "racing car night" — and Picspace finds photos that look like what you described, without any manual tagging. It works best with visual details (colours, composition, setting). For sport or subject names, combine it with a keyword: "handball jump" rather than just "handball".

Question 37

Does Picspace keep my EXIF and IPTC data?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Picspace reads them when a photo arrives and leaves the file itself untouched — a download is always the original you uploaded, with all its metadata. The photo’s info panel shows them under “Capture”, “Caption”, “Keywords” and “Credits”; IPTC titles, captions and keywords are searchable, and capture date and camera become the “Date taken” and “Camera” filters.

Question 38

Which galleries does a search show?

Accepted Answer

Every gallery that holds matching photos, not only those whose name matches — each card says how many inside match, for example “3 matching items”. Where search is on for that gallery, opening it shows just those photos.

Question 39

What can clients find when they search a portal?

Accepted Answer

Only what they can open. On a portal with search on:

anyone with the link searches the open galleries
someone signed in as one of the portal’s People also finds photos in the private galleries you gave them
password galleries stay locked

You, signed in, search every gallery in the portal — Preview shows what the page looks like, not what a particular client can open.

Question 40

How does face tagging work?

Accepted Answer

Name a face once and Picspace finds that person in your other photos. Switch it on in Settings → “Face recognition” (or “Enable face recognition” on the People page), open a photo, choose “Detect faces”, click a box and type a name under “Who is this?”. Picspace then offers “Tag more photos as” that person, with the likely matches to pick. Detection runs on Picspace’s own servers in the EU.

Question 41

Which plan includes face detection and tagging?

Accepted Answer

Professional, Agency and Enterprise. Studio and Free do not include it: the Faces page and Settings → Face recognition read “Face detection & tagging is included from Professional.” If you move down from Professional, nothing is deleted — the people and faces already found stay in your library, you can still browse them and dismiss faces on the Faces page, and everything works again when you upgrade. Only finding and tagging new faces stops.

Question 42

How do I get rid of face boxes on people I will never tag?

Accepted Answer

Dismiss them — strangers, faces on posters and things that are not faces at all. Tagged faces are never affected, and every message has Undo.

In the photo viewer: click the box and choose “Remove”, or “Remove all untagged” for every untagged box on it.
On the Faces page: the ✕ removes one face; “Dismiss all untagged faces” clears the whole Untagged list after showing you the number.

Background scans never bring a dismissed face back; re-running detection on one photo (“faces detected” in the viewer) does.

Question 43

How do I rename or merge a person I tagged?

Accepted Answer

On the People page, open the ⋯ menu on the person’s picture.

“Rename…” fixes a misspelt name on every photo at once. If the name already belongs to someone else in People, you are offered “Merge into…” that person instead.
“Merge into…” folds one person tagged under two names into one: every photo of the other name is tagged with the one you keep, and the other name is removed.
“Delete person” removes the name; the faces stay on the photos as “Untagged faces”.

This works on every plan — tidying names you already have never needs face detection.

Question 44

Can my clients see or search for the people I tagged?

Accepted Answer

Only if you allow it, per gallery — the people filter is off by default, because names are personal. Switch on “Allow people filter” in the gallery’s Settings → Display & Search, and wherever clients can search that gallery (its link with “Allow visitors to search photos” on, a portal or your portfolio) they get a “People” section in Filters. On a portal, names show only when every gallery on it allows them.

Question 45

How do I upload a video, and how large can it be?

Accepted Answer

On Agency and Enterprise, add MP4, MOV or M4V files exactly like photos — drop them on Photos, into a gallery or onto a portal. One video can be up to 10 GB on Agency and 20 GB on Enterprise, and it counts towards your storage. Videos go in through the browser only: SFTP and upload inboxes take photos.

Question 46

Why won’t my video play?

Accepted Answer

A video plays in the browser only when it is H.264 or HEVC, in MP4 or MOV, up to 4K, with AAC sound or none — what phones and normal exports produce.

HEVC (an iPhone’s default) plays in Safari, and in Chrome or Edge on most computers. Elsewhere, such as Firefox, the viewer says “This browser can’t play this video’s format (HEVC)” — open it in Safari or Chrome, or download it.
ProRes, 8K and other formats are stored exactly as uploaded and show their poster: there is no in-browser conversion yet.
Right after an upload, a video can say “This video is still being prepared — try again in a moment.”

Question 47

Can clients comment on a moment in a video?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on Agency and Enterprise. With “Allow visitors to comment on photos” on in the gallery’s Settings → Display & Search, a client opens the video, chooses “Pin a comment” and clicks the frame where something should change — the pin keeps that moment. Pins show as numbered markers on the progress bar, and every comment is listed in the viewer’s Comments tab, where you jump to it and resolve it.

Player keys: Space plays and pauses, ← and → jump five seconds, comma and period step one frame, M mutes.

Question 48

How does a client approve a video, and how do I deliver it?

Accepted Answer

The client approves it in the viewer, and you deliver it once it is final.

Every video starts “In review”. Invite the client to the gallery; signed in, they see “Approve” and “Request changes” in the Info tab, and you are notified either way. Those two buttons are the client’s alone.
When it is final, choose “Deliver”: invited reviewers get an email, and everyone who can open the video sees “Download original” — the file as you uploaded it, never in a ZIP.

“Reopen” puts a video back “In review”. Someone with only the link sees the status and “Invited reviewers sign in to approve”.

Question 49

How do I send a client the next cut of a video?

Accepted Answer

Choose “Upload new version” in the video’s Info tab — you or anyone on your team for that gallery. The new file replaces the old one on the same video, so the shared link, its place in the gallery and its comments stay. The status goes back to “In review · v2” and invited reviewers get an email; pins on the earlier cut are kept under “Earlier versions”. Support can recover the previous file for 30 days.

Question 50

Can my team upload videos and new versions?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Team members can upload videos into the galleries they work on, and choose “Upload new version” on a video there, just as you can. Your plan decides: video review is part of Agency and Enterprise, and their uploads count towards your storage. If your plan does not include it, they see “The gallery owner’s plan does not include video review.”

Question 51

How do I see only the videos in a gallery?

Accepted Answer

Open Filters next to the search bar and choose Type → Videos (or Type → Photos); choose it again to see both. It appears in a gallery once it holds both, and under Photos once your plan includes video. Cards count the two separately, for example “15 photos · 3 videos”. With Type → Videos, sections such as colours or cameras disappear, because videos have no values for them.

Question 52

Can I find a video by name?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Search finds videos by their file name, title, description and keywords — in your library and, for clients, inside a gallery or portal where search is on. Choose Type → Videos to see only videos. Search does not look inside a video: describing what is in the picture, colours, faces and “More like this” work on photos only. Videos uploaded before search covered them appear after “Rebuild search index”.

Question 53

What does AI enhancement do to my photos?

Accepted Answer

It never changes the photo itself — “AI Enhance” only adds a title, a short description and five to eight keywords, written in the language set under “AI language” in Settings, so the photo is easier to find. It runs on your own OpenAI key on Studio and above (paste it under “Your OpenAI API key” in Settings), and a photo goes to OpenAI, on your own account, only when you enhance it.

Question 54

Can I ask Claude about my own photos?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Connect Picspace once under “Connected assistants” in Settings, then paste a gallery link into the chat and ask — for example, which photo to enter in a competition. The assistant looks at downscaled previews and their facts in the background; it never gets your originals, GPS positions or the names of people tagged in your photos, and it changes nothing unless you allow it. “Disconnect” cuts it off again.

The photos it shows you appear in the chat as cards with “Open in Picspace”.

Question 55

Can Claude create galleries or portals for me?

Accepted Answer

Yes, once you turn on “Can make changes” for it under “Connected assistants” in Settings. One message can then create a gallery from search results, add an upload link, set up a portal with collections and put the gallery in it. Inviting people, e-mailing a portal or sharing by link needs your OK each time: it shows you who and what first, and e-mails you when done. Every change is listed under “Recent changes”.

Question 56

How do I share a gallery with a client?

Accepted Answer

In Photos, select your photos, open “My Selection” and choose “Share as gallery”, give the gallery a name and press “Create share link” — done. You get a link your client can open in any browser, no app download required.

Question 57

Can my clients view photos without creating an account?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Public and password-protected galleries are fully viewable without sign-up. Private invite-only galleries require the recipient to sign in with the invited email address — a free account, created in the same step if they don't have one.

Question 58

Who can see my photos?

Accepted Answer

Only the people you give access to.

Galleries Picspace groups automatically from an upload start private.
A gallery you create opens for anyone with its link — nobody has it until you send it — unless “Default access” under “New gallery defaults” in Settings is “Private”.
Per gallery, Settings → Access offers “Anyone with the link”, “Password protected” or “Private — invite only”.

Inside any gallery you can still hide single photos or videos from clients.

Question 59

How does private gallery access work?

Accepted Answer

Set the gallery's Access to “Private — invite only” and invite clients by email. They open the link in the email and sign in with that address — a free account, created in the same step if they don't have one yet, no plan needed. You can revoke access at any time.

Question 60

Can I password-protect a gallery?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Choose “Password protected” when you share, or later in the gallery's Settings → Access — clients enter the password once to unlock the full view.

Question 61

How do I hide a photo or video from clients without deleting it?

Accepted Answer

Open it and choose “Visible — hide from visitors” — or right-click it and choose “Hide from visitors”, or select several and choose “Hide from visitors”. It then shows as “Hidden”. A hidden item never appears on share links, portals, your portfolio, in search or in downloads for clients — only you and your team see it. Changing a gallery’s access never un-hides it; “Hidden — show to visitors” brings it back.

Question 62

Can I control what clients are allowed to download?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can allow all downloads, set a per-client download quota, or hand-pick exactly which photos are available for download — without removing anything from the gallery view.

Question 63

Can clients pick favourites or tell me what to retouch?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on every plan — with likes for favourites and pinned comments for retouching.

Favourites: clients mark photos with “Like” or “Dislike”. “Liked” under “Client feedback” in the gallery’s Filters shows their picks, and sorting by “Most liked” puts them first.
Retouching: with “Allow visitors to comment on photos” on in Settings → Display & Search, a client chooses “Pin a comment”, clicks the spot to change and writes what to do. You resolve it in the viewer’s Comments tab.

Question 64

Can I be notified when a client downloads my photos?

Accepted Answer

Yes, on Professional plans and above. Turn on download notifications in Settings and you'll get an email when a client downloads — batched intelligently, so a client grabbing 200 photos sends you one notification, not two hundred.

Frequently asked questions

Getting started

Upload & receive

Import

Receive from others

Picspace Cull

Organise

Collections

Running a space together

Search, metadata & video

People & faces

Video

AI

Plans, data & account

Frequently asked questions

Getting started

Upload & receive

Import

Receive from others

Picspace Cull

Organise

Collections

Running a space together

Search, metadata & video

People & faces

Video

AI

Plans, data & account

Frequently asked questions

Getting started

Upload & receive

Import

Receive from others

Picspace Cull

Organise

Collections

Running a space together

Search, metadata & video

People & faces

Video

AI

Share & deliver

Invites

Portals

Portfolio

Your address & brand

Plans, data & account

Frequently asked questions

Getting started

Upload & receive

Import

Receive from others

Picspace Cull

Organise

Collections

Running a space together

Search, metadata & video

People & faces

Video

AI

Share & deliver

Invites

Portals

Portfolio

Your address & brand

Plans, data & account