User guide

This guide describes Proofing Gallery 0.5.0 for gallery owners and managers. The controls available to you can be restricted by your Nextcloud administrator.

Create a gallery

1. Store the deliverable images and supported videos in a Nextcloud folder.
2. Open Proofing Gallery and choose New project.
3. Select a folder gallery or a collection, enter a title, and choose the presentation or proofing purpose.
4. Review the source and media count before configuring delivery.

A folder gallery references one existing folder. A collection combines files from several folder galleries without copying them. Collection sources must belong to the same owner, and collections cannot accept guest uploads.

Work through a project

The gallery workspace separates the common tasks:

• Plan shows source, status, purpose, and media summary.
• Photos manages folder content, uploads, metadata, and collections.
• Cull provides ratings, picks, rejects, color labels, saved views, and explicit XMP synchronization.
• Style controls the opener, title visibility and size, photo-count visibility, title typeface, layout, theme, logo, cover, accent, welcome text, metadata, and preview watermark. Originals are never watermarked.
• Deliver creates independently configured public links.
• Results contains feedback, client selections, exports, and upload moderation.
• History records relevant gallery activity.

Changes to gallery settings use revision checks. If another browser changed the same gallery, reload the current state instead of overwriting it blindly.

Cull and organize photographs

The culling view is keyboard friendly. Arrow keys move between images, number keys 0–5 set ratings, P toggles pick, X toggles reject, Space selects, and Ctrl/Command+Z undoes the most recent batch. Named views store filters and sort order in your Nextcloud account. The virtualized filmstrip remains in the workspace viewport and can be placed automatically, on the right, or below; the choice follows your Nextcloud account across devices.

App culling values remain separate from XMP until you explicitly preview and apply an XMP synchronization. Concurrent changes to the source or sidecar stop the write and are reported for review.

Publish and share

Open Deliver, create a public link, and configure its audience. Each link can have its own start folder, folder depth, language, presentation, password, expiry, download scope, metadata fields, feedback, upload permission, and minimum owner rating. Proofing Gallery uses native Nextcloud public-link rules and can make instance policy stricter, never weaker.

Copy the link or send an invitation through the configured Nextcloud mail server. Leaving an existing password field empty preserves the password; use the explicit removal action to remove it. Revoking one link immediately blocks that audience without affecting other links or source files.

Client proofing and selections

Proofing mode lets guests identify themselves and, when enabled, like, rate, pick, reject, label, comment, annotate, and save named selections. Guests do not need Nextcloud accounts. Their identity and mutation token are stored in a private browser session; clearing site data ends access to private feedback.

Client ratings and decisions stay separate from owner culling. Authorized owners can inspect aggregates and individual responses, then preview an explicit promotion. Client signals never update XMP automatically.

Selection exports can include paths, owner culling values, client aggregates, selection names, or comments. Guests can export only filenames and their own rating or decision. Review the UTF-8 CSV preview before downloading or copying it.

Downloads and guest uploads

Depending on link policy, guests can download individual originals, a ZIP of a saved selection, or a printable contact sheet made from previews. Large deliveries are bounded by administrator limits.

Guest uploads are resumable and enter a hidden moderation inbox. Owners or authorized managers accept an upload with a conflict-free filename or reject it. An upload does not appear publicly before acceptance.

Metadata and XMP

Folder galleries can index a bounded set of EXIF/IPTC fields. Owners can filter by capture date, camera, lens, keywords, or rating and edit descriptive values in an Adobe-compatible <basename>.xmp sidecar. The original is never changed.

Public metadata starts disabled. Owners may expose selected safe fields such as capture date, camera, lens, exposure, title, or copyright. GPS, private keywords, owner ratings, and workflow labels are never disclosed publicly.

Managers, archive, and recovery

Owners may grant Nextcloud users or groups scoped gallery roles. Viewers inspect overview and activity, editors also change permitted gallery settings, and owner-level managers can publish, revoke, manage access, archive, and restore. These roles do not grant unrelated access to the owner’s Files.

Archiving disables active delivery but does not delete source files or feedback. Restore the gallery from Archive. If a source folder is missing, select a replacement owned folder; the existing link and review history are retained only after the server validates the new source.

Privacy and troubleshooting

If a link may have leaked, revoke it first and create a new one. Do not send passwords in the same channel as links. Report unexpected access behavior to your administrator and security defects through the repository’s private security-reporting form, not a public issue.

When content is missing, verify the source still exists, you can read it, the link starts in the intended folder, media matches its rating/type filters, and background jobs have completed. Administrators can inspect the system-status section without exposing guest credentials or private paths.