How to use Img Transfer

Img Transfer sends a batch of photos to someone with a link that expires on its own. You need an account to send; whoever receives the files needs nothing but the link.

Getting an account

Accounts are created by invitation only. There is no sign-up form, so an administrator has to send you an invite link.

Open the invite link you were sent. It works once, and it stops working after a while if it is left unused (seven days by default).
Check the email address on the form. If the invite was addressed to you it is already filled in and cannot be changed.
Choose a password of at least 12 characters and confirm it.
Select Create account. You are signed in straight away and land on your transfers.

If the page says the invitation cannot be used, it has already been accepted or it has expired. Ask an administrator for a new one.

Signing in and out

Sign in with your email address and password. A session lasts seven days by default, so a browser you use regularly will usually still know you; after that, or after you sign out, you are asked again.

Sign out is at the right of the bar at the top of every signed-in page. Signing out ends that session only, and none of your share links are affected: a link keeps working until it expires, runs out of downloads, or you revoke it.

If you have forgotten your password

Select Forgotten your password? under the sign-in form and give the address on your account. A link to choose a new password is emailed to you; it works once and expires within the hour, so use it while you have it. Choosing the new password signs you out everywhere, including on this browser, so sign in again with it afterwards.

The page says the same thing whatever address you type, so nobody can use the form to find out who has an account here. If nothing arrives, check the spam folder and check the address. Asking again straight away will not send a second message: there is a short wait between links.

If the sign-in page offers no such link, this server is not set up to send email. Ask whoever runs it to reset your password for you.

Sending photos

A transfer is one batch of files uploaded together. Select New transfer on your transfers page to start one.

Step 1: choose the files

Name the transfer if you like. The name is what the recipient sees as the heading on the download page. You can type or change it at any point before you create the link, including while the files are still uploading; it is fixed once the link exists. Leave it blank and the transfer is listed as untitled.
Drag photos onto the drop zone, or select Choose files and pick them. You can pick several at once.
There is no separate upload button: choosing or dropping the files is what sends them. Two go at a time, and each row shows a thumbnail, the size and a progress bar.
Files added while others are still going join the same transfer rather than starting a second one.
The drop zone states the largest file this server accepts (1 GiB by default). A file over that is never queued: a notice at the top of the page names it and says it was skipped.
A file that has not started yet can be taken back out with Remove. One that failed offers Retry, and everything that already arrived stays in the transfer.

Step 2: share the files

The sharing step appears once at least one file is up. Its options are described in the next section. Create link waits for anything still uploading, then mints the link and shows it with a Copy button beside it. Send that link to the recipient however you normally reach them: by chat, by mail, however you like.

If this server is set up to send mail, a Send email form appears under the link as well, so you do not have to leave the page. It is described under Sending a link by email below. If you do not see it, this server has not been given a mail provider, and copying the link is the way to hand it over.

Creating a link seals the transfer. No more files can be added to it afterwards, because a recipient holding the link must not watch the batch change under them. To send more photos, start another transfer.

Share links and their options

Every share link is a long unguessable address. Anyone who has it can download the files, so treat it as the key it is. A transfer can carry more than one link, each with its own options, which is how you give two recipients different terms.

Expires: In 1 day, in 7 days, in 30 days, or never. Seven days is preselected. After that moment the link stops working, whatever else is true of it.
Passcode (optional): Leave it empty for no passcode. Set one of at least 4 characters and the recipient is asked for it before they see anything. Send the passcode by some other route than the link itself, or it protects nothing.
Download limit: 0 means no limit. Any other number is how many downloads the link allows in total: each file a recipient downloads counts as one, and Download all counts as one for the whole archive. Looking at a preview does not count. When the budget runs out the link stops working.

A link with no expiry, no download limit and no revocation never dies, and neither does the transfer behind it, so prefer an expiry unless you have a reason not to.

Sending a link by email

When this server has been set up to send mail, every live link carries a Email button, on your transfers page and on the last step of the upload page. It opens a short form and sends the link straight from here.

Send to: The recipient's address. One per send; to reach two people, send twice. The message goes out as soon as you press the button, so check the spelling before you do.
Reply to: Already filled in with your own address, which is what you want almost always: the mail itself is sent by this server, so without this a recipient pressing Reply would be answering nobody. Change it when the answer should go somewhere else, a shared team address for instance.
Message (optional): A few lines of your own, shown above the link. The transfer's name, the link, whether a passcode is needed and when the link expires are all added for you.

The passcode is never in the email. The message says one is needed and leaves it there, because the mail is exactly what the passcode protects the link from: an address typed with one character wrong, or a thread forwarded on. Pass the passcode along some other way, which is the whole point of having one.

A line under the form says whether the message went. If it failed, the link is untouched and the button is still there to press again. There is a limit on how many you can send in an hour, so a slip cannot turn into a flood.

Managing your transfers

Your transfers page lists everything you have sent, newest first, with the number of files, the total size, when it was created and whether it has been sealed. Under each one sits every link you have minted for it.

What a link's badge means

active: Working now. The line beside it says whether a passcode is set, how many downloads have been taken, and when it expires.
expired: Its expiry has passed.
used up: Its download limit has been reached.
revoked: You withdrew it.

What you can do

Copy puts the link on your clipboard, so you can send it again without minting a second one.
Email sends the link from here, if this server can send mail. See Sending a link by email.
Revoke kills that link immediately and for good. The other links on the transfer keep working. If you revoked one by mistake, mint a fresh link with Create link; the new address is a different one, so anybody you already told has to be told again.
Create link opens the same options as the upload page, for a second recipient or for a replacement.
Delete transfer removes the files and every link to them. You are asked to confirm, and it cannot be undone.

Transfers are also cleaned up on their own. A transfer is deleted, files and all, once the retention period (30 days by default) has passed since the last of its links died, or since it was created if it never got a link. A link that never dies keeps its transfer indefinitely, which is the other reason to give a link an expiry.

Receiving files

You do not need an account to receive files, only the link you were sent. Opening it shows the transfer's name, how many files there are, how large they are in total, how long the link stays available and how many downloads are left, when either is limited.

Images show as thumbnails you can select for a larger preview; anything else gets a plain file icon. Previews do not count against a download limit.
Download under a file saves that one file.
Download all at the top saves the whole batch as a single zip archive.
If a passcode was set, you are asked for it first. Enter it once and the browser you are using is remembered for twelve hours, so you can come back without typing it again.

Files are yours to keep once downloaded. The link is not: when it expires, is used up or is withdrawn, the page says only that the link is not available. Ask whoever sent it for a new one.

The download page carries no navigation, because there is no account behind it to navigate to. This manual stays readable at /manual.html on this server whenever you want it again.

For administrators

Administrators see an Invitations entry in the bar at the top. It is the only way anybody gets an account.

Enter the address you are inviting, or leave the field empty for an invite whoever opens it can claim with their own address.
Select Create invite. The link appears with a Copy button.
Copy it before you leave the page. The link is shown once and is not recoverable afterwards; if you lose it, create another.
Send it to the person and have them follow Getting an account above.

An invite works once and expires unused after seven days by default. The list under the form shows the ones still outstanding.

If something goes wrong

"This link is not available": The link expired, ran out of downloads, was revoked, or was never real. The page deliberately does not say which. Ask the sender for a new link.
The passcode is refused: Check it with whoever sent you the link, watching for a stray space at the start or end. Repeated attempts are throttled: if you are told to wait, wait the minute out and try again.
A file will not upload: A file over the size limit is skipped with a notice naming it, and has to go another way; the drop zone states the limit. Anything that failed part way through gets a row of its own with Retry on it.
You were signed out unexpectedly: The session reached its lifetime, or it was signed out elsewhere. Sign in again; nothing you uploaded is lost.
A password reset link will not open: It has been used already, it has expired, or a newer one has taken its place. Ask for a fresh link and open it straight away.
No reset email arrived, and asking again changes nothing: Check the spam folder first. After that: the form says the same thing whether or not a message went out, and an account may only be sent one every fifteen minutes, so a send that failed at the mail provider is quiet and the next attempt waits out that window. Wait a quarter of an hour and ask once more; if a second attempt brings nothing, ask an administrator to check the server log, which records every send and every failure.
An invitation will not open: It has been used already or it has expired. Ask an administrator for a fresh one.
A transfer will not take more files: It was sealed when its first share link was created. Start a new transfer for the rest.