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up vote 9 down vote favorite

Most of my visitors are just friends and family and for some reason they have the absolute most trouble finding the 'Download' button - despite my several attempt to show them where it is.

I've not done any real code customization on the site, but is it possible to provide a custom button in a gallery that will download?

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1  
It isn't just your visitors! It is everyone's! – dpollitt♦ Jan 26 '12 at 16:25

4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

This customization script I wrote will install a Download Image button in your gallery to make it a lot easier for viewers to download original images. When installed, it looks like this:

enter image description here

The Download Image button initiates a download of the original-sized image (not the smaller size that is diplaying). This customization works site-wide. The Download Image button will display automatically in any gallery that is enabled for public access to the original size and where right-click protection is turned off. It will not display in any gallery that is set for right-click protection or for which originals are not set to be available to the public in gallery settings. As such, it works automatically. If you've made originals available (via gallery settings), it shows - if you haven't it does not show.

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this sounds like what I was looking for. I'll give it a look and respond. – rfusca Jan 27 '12 at 3:12
up vote 1 down vote

I've had some success by setting the style of the album to Thumbnails. Then family members will click on a thumbnail to see a photo and they can usually find the Save photo at the top of the page.

With the otherwise very nice default Smugmug style they click on the thumbnail and have to find out or remember to hover on the actual photo on the right to see the download icon.

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up vote 1 down vote

Another option, if you don't mind allowing people to download the full resolution photos (usually OK if it's just photos for friends/family) is to use the Tools -> This Gallery -> Download All option to generate a download URL. You can only pick that command yourself, while you're logged in, and it will e-mail you a URL to download a ZIP file of the entire gallery. You could then put that URL in the album description to allow easy bulk downloading.

Keep in mind that the download URL expires after two weeks, so everyone either needs to download quickly or you have to generate a new URL (run the command again and update the link) if you need it to work for longer.

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This doesn't add the button for visitors, correct? Does this really answer the question about a custom button for visitors? – dpollitt♦ Jan 26 '12 at 16:27
It's an alternative solution to making the photos downloadable by the visitor. It's not a perfect solution, since you have to put the URL in the album description, but it will be hard for the visitor to miss one that has been done. – Andrew Maiman Jan 26 '12 at 17:30
My fault, I totally missed the part about adding that URL to the album description. In that case this does make sense for a workaround. Without that part I didn't get it, Sorry! – dpollitt♦ Jan 26 '12 at 17:44
That URL will only be valid for a short period of time... 30 days I think it is. – cabbey Jan 26 '12 at 17:55
14 days (at least for the last one that I requested), and yes, I mentioned that in my answer :-) – Andrew Maiman Jan 26 '12 at 21:04
up vote 0 down vote

As the issue seems to be mostly linked to the visitors understanding how to use the download function, you can first direct them to this site:

From there, they should be able to follow instructions without a hand-holding required from you.

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